City manager apologizes after appointing internal staffer as recreation coordinator without prior board input

The Harbor Springs city manager told the Parks & Recreation Board he had appointed an internal staffer, Tina, to a merged recreation‑coordinator/assistant‑to‑the‑city‑manager role and apologized for not presenting the proposal to the board in advance. “I apologize that I didn't come to you,” Kyle said, explaining he picked an internal candidate to preserve program momentum and because the staffer already knows local parks operations.

Board members pressed Kyle to explain why the role changed from the previously discussed parks‑director position to a recreation coordinator, and they asked for a written job description and clarity about reporting lines. A board member said the lack of public notice had led to confusion among residents about whether the city still had a parks director and cautioned that transparency was important to build community buy‑in.

Kyle said he would provide the finalized job description to the board and try to include it in the council packet so members could review it before any public posting. He defended hiring internally as a pragmatic choice: he said an outside hire might not know local parks or the existing staff structure, whereas an internal candidate could help maintain momentum while Rachel, the retiring parks director, helps with handoff.

Board members did not block the appointment; some said they would support the internal candidate once they understood the duties, while reiterating the need for clearer communication and a formal job description to ensure the position protects parks functions rather than merely adding administrative capacity.

The board agreed to make the job description an agenda item at the next meeting and to discuss how the position will interact with DPW and other commissions. Kyle committed to sending the job description to the board before the next meeting.