The City of Grove City has brought on a new deputy city administrator, safety director and assistant finance director.
Mayor Richard "Ike" Stage and City Administrator Sharon Reichard appointed Michael Wasylik to fill the positions of director of public safety and deputy city administrator. He will handle both positions in a part-time capacity. He assumed office on Jan. 2. Michael Turner was named as the new assistant finance director and took office on Jan. 7.
The deputy city administrator is a newly created position in the city. In this role, Wasylik will work under the supervision of the city administrator and will assist other department heads as needed.
Wasylik retired from the City of Westerville in January 2007 after 30 years of service. He was the public service director of Westerville from 1977 to 1985. After that, he was named the assistant city manager, where he managed nine city departments.
"He was my first choice for this positions," said Stage. "He had extensive experience and wanted to work part-time."
Wasylik said he will work about 20 to 30 hours per week.
"This will be a new challenge for me and I am anxious to get back at it," he said. "This is very similar to the work I did in Westerville and I like the work."
As the director of public safety, Wasylik will work with the police chief and police administration. He will also work with the building department.
"The safety director is a very important position in the city," said Stage. "He will be the sounding board, a decision maker, for the department."
Wasylik served on the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) and the Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Office. His work with MORPC included duties as chair of the Housing and Community Development Steering Committee, Legislative Task Force and the Local Government Committee.
For both part-time positions, Wasylik will be paid $45,000 a year.
The city also hired a new full-time assistant finance director, Mike Turner. Stage explained that Turner will eventually move into the position of finance director. Turner worked as the accounting manager in Reynoldsburg for over eight years. He lives on the Westside and had kids that were in the South-Western City School District.
"Right now, I’m working with Howard Whitney (interim finance director) and reevaluating investments in the city," said Turner. "I am also working on accounting software and getting a clean audit."
Turned explained that he will likely take over as the city’s finance director in early March.
