Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
CHECKING OUT Bessemer's current master plan on Tuesday are three newly appointed members of the city staff. From left are Clerk/Treasurer Mandy Lake, Deputy Clerk Samantha Dorr and City Manager Christopher Frazer. They were in the City Hall office of Frazer, who just started his position on Monday.
By P.J. GLISSON
Bessemer - As of Monday, Bessemer has a new city manager on board.
He is Christopher Frazer of downstate Imlay.
Frazer - who is originally from Detroit - joins Clerk/Treasurer Mandy Lake and Deputy Clerk Samantha Dorr, each of whom also just started their new roles on Oct. 2 and Oct. 26, respectively.
The council voted unanimously to offer Frazer the job during a special meeting on Oct. 30.
"It feels a little euphoric," Frazer told The Globe on Tuesday. "I spent the last three years learning how to do this."
Most recently, he had worked for nonprofit interests in Black Lake, which is in Cheboygan and Presque Isle counties.
Between 2022 and 2023, he had worked as an assistant to the city manager in Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina, where he gained grant-writing experience.
From 2020 to 2022, he also worked as a lead project coordinator for the city of Vassar, where he developed a new orientation packet and helped the Michigan city to gain status as a Redevelopment Ready Community.
Frazer earned his bachelor's degree in political science/public and nonprofit administration and a master's degree in public administration, both from Central Michigan University.
Frazer started his new role at a busy time in Bessemer, with elections on Tuesday and a 3-year utility and road project winding down as other projects begin to wind up.
He said he has no particular priorities at this time. "I'm just in the process of learning what the community wants."
He added of community members, "If they have any questions, or if they have any concerns, they can reach out to me or the City Hall office, and I'll try to help."
Lake, who had been on the job for five weeks as of Monday, said all was well so far.
"It's going really good," she said. "It's been pretty busy the first month. It's a lot of transition and a lot of work."
Lake is also the Wakefield Township supervisor and recently spent a couple years working as the Wakefield city treasurer.
"It's been interesting to see how each place functions," she said, noting that she draws from her various experience as needed.
Dorr started working for the city as a part-time secretarial assistant in September 2021. By September 2022, she had become a full-time secretary and now has been busy learning new tasks while working as deputy clerk for a week and a half.
In May 2022, she also took on the additional responsibility as coordinator of the Downtown Development Authority, a role that requires four hours of work per week.
"Sam's wonderful to work with," said Lake of Dorr, "and I think Chris is going to be great, too."
Frazer and Lake replaced Jennifer Adams, who resigned as city manager and interim clerk/treasurer, effective Sept. 22. Dorr replaced Kristi Stutz, who resigned, effective Oct. 25.
Frazer will attend his first Bessemer City Council meeting - one that will include new council members after Tuesday's election - on Monday at 6 p.m.
