It’s official: Wayland City Manager Joshua Eggleston will become Zeeland Township’s first-ever superintendent.
The Zeeland Township Board took only three minutes in a special meeting Wednesday afternoon to vote 7-0 to approve a contract with Eggleston. The position of superintendent is similar to that of township manager. Zeeland has never before had such a position.
Eggleston, who was city manager at Wayland for six years, lives in Zeeland Township with his family.
Eggleston only last week withdrew as a finalist for the village manager’s post at Saugatuck. Sources say he lives only a couple of blocks away from the township hall, which would reduce his transportation expenses greatly. He is expected to earn more than $100,000 a year in salary.
It’s about time. He should have been gone years ago. Maybe the council will hire (Clerk) Leanna (Claussen) to run the city. She is about the only good one left in the city.
He is definitely NOT the right choice, nor a good one for the city. We need someone to come in who will not play a puppet to the others at City Hall. I’ve lived 36 years in this city and it’s in the worst shape I think it’s ever been in as far as the “community” feeling it once had.
We need someone who will let the DPW do it’s job and plow the sidewalks, and everything else they used to do to make the town look good. Not try to destroy it like Eggleston did in his six years here.
Have a great weekend
Eskimo, I’ve lived here just about as long as you and the problem with the DPW started way before Eggleston arrived. Like Mr Genther said, they need to replace the leadership at the DPW.
I’ve addressed many issues before, and after his arrival from sidewalk to sunken spots in the roads that somehow the DPW manages to ignore.
One example is about three years ago I saw a DPW worker using a gas powered edger for doing the sidewalks, which probably cost around $300, then the following year I saw the same worker using a weed trimmer for the same purpose, so I stopped and asked him what happened to the gas edger. He said he quit using it because the belt kept breaking I said it’s gonna take you a long time to complete this task. He said that’s ok, he’s got all summer. Never saw the gas one again and if you visit the city park, you’ll see that the sidewalks haven’t been edged for quite some time.
The City Council in Wayland will have an oppertunity now to find a manager that will get out of his office, drive around the City and take notice to what the infrastructure needs are and maybe hire a DPW supervisor that can do the same. Wayland has fallen apart under Eggleston. It’s time we get someone who cares and can plan ahead for more than salary increases and new vehicles.