It was 50 years ago last month that the Beatles hit No. 1 on the music charts with “Hello, Goodbye.” And that was the main theme of Monday night’s Wayland City Council meeting.
Council members said good-bye to interim City Manager Larry Nielsen and hello to new City Manager Josh Eggleston for his first day on the job. Eggleston succeeds Tim McLean, who left in August, and comes to Wayland from Durand, Wisc., where he had served as municipal administrator for the past four and a half years.
Eggleston, who introduced himself and his wife, Allison, originally hailed from Sparta, where he once served as a summer intern. He served in two communities in Ohio before taking his post in Wisconsin in June 2013.
In his brief remarks, the new city manager said he was glad to be back in Michigan to be nearer to family.
In the “Goodbye” section of the meeting, Nielsen told the council about how he enjoyed his five months of work in transition here.
“Every taxpayer and every citizen in Wayland should be proud of the job you’ve done,” he told council members. “You’re in really good shape.”
In the roundtable discussion near the end of the meeting, council members continued the mutual admiration society.
Councilwoman Tracy Bivins told him, “If you weren’t retired, we would have picked you for this job.”
Councilwoman Lisa Banas said, “Larry, you’re top drawer… you have taught us a lot.”
Councilman John Sloan commented, “I appreciate the forward direction… sometimes we were just spinning.”
