Interim City Manager Thanked for Leadership During 'Darkest Hour'

After five months as interim city manager, Mark Wollenweber's tenure is ending.

Wollenweber's last Ferndale City Council meeting was Monday night and his last work day is Thursday. In June, council selected . She is also the first woman to hold that position in Ferndale.

"Your leadership and experience and knowledge of city government has been so useful," Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter said during Monday's council meeting.

Coulter commended Wollenweber for stepping into a less than ideal situation. "I had you do four budgets. Two, two-year budgets and lots of other issues," Coulter said.

Wollenweber came into a city government that was facing a nearly $2 million projected budget shortfall, an as well as police and fire negotiations. .

"I appreciate your professionalism," Councilman Scott Galloway said. "You take care of problems and access problems. ... A lot of us up here were wondering in January and February what the future of Ferndale would be. Whether we were going to pass a millage and have a police department. You moved in, in some ways, during the darkest hour of Ferndale and took control and made things happen."

Wollenweber was one of two candidates for interim city manager in January. The other candidate was Michael Culpepper, most recently the city manager in Auburn Hills from 2007-2008 and director of public works before that.

Wollenweber brought nearly four decades of city administration experience to Ferndale. He was city manager in Huntington Woods for 12 years, city manager in St. Clair Shores for 15 and, most recently city administrator in Grosse Pointe Woods for six.

"Thank you all," Wollenweber told council Monday night. "The council, I found to be wonderful to work with and the citizens are blessed with creative and caring individuals."

Though Wollenweber came into a stressed situation, he made the most of it. "It was fun, most of the time. ... I'll be back for many of the activities," he said.

The permanent city manager, April McGrath, starts Aug. 1. She was assistant city manager in Ypsilanti. Three other candidates sought the position.