Council selects finalist for city manager

Wayne City Hall.

By Sarah Shurge – Wayne’s next city manager should be selected soon!
After eight years of serving the community, Lisa Nocerini resigned as Wayne city manager effective Thursday August 31st. On Tuesday, September 5th, the city council voted 7-0 in favor of Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong being interim city manager.
The council also agreed to hire the Michigan Municipal League to do a search for a new city manager.
During a meeting Tuesday, December 5th, the city council narrowed down the candidates from seven to the final four. The council voted unanimously to conduct a second round of interviews with the four finalists: Chief Strong, Ken Marten, Diane Webb, and Mohamed Ayoub.
Chief Strong has been with the Wayne Police Department for over 20 years and has been the acting city manager since Nocerini’s departure.
“Chief Strong really blew me away with his interview,” said Councilperson Donald Quarles. “I think that as a city manager, he’s already embedded into our city and I believe that his vision that he has moving forward for our city is an absolutely great vision for us.”
Marten works as a clerk and village administrator for Bingham Farms, where he’s been since 2018. He has also worked for Lathrup Village.
“For Marten, I liked that he had a background as a journalist and he talked about openness, transparency, and being a city manager who would be approachable. I think those things are important to us in moving forward,” said Councilperson Mathew Mulholland.
Webb is the superintendent of Redford Township, where she’s been for three years.
“My number one overall recommendation would be Webb, based on her depth of diversity of experience that all applies to the job. That to me is an important component,” said Councilperson Kevin Dowd.
Ayoub is currently the planning director for the City of Westland. Ayoub has been with Westland since 2019 and previously worked as a lecturer for Eastern Michigan University.
“I liked Ayoub. He had the qualifications he needed for it. He’s a little green yet but as he said, he’s able to be molded into the position,” said Councilperson Eric Cleereman.
After the meeting on Tuesday, Ayoub dropped out of the running via email.
The council is working on scheduling the second round of interviews for the final three candidates within the next few weeks. The three finalists will also be asked to meet with the city’s department heads.
Good luck to Chief Strong, Marten, and Webb during the next stage of the interview process!