Former Ann Arbor administrator Roger Fraser seeks city manager position in Kalamazoo

Former Ann Arbor City Administrator Roger Fraser is one of five finalists competing for the Kalamazoo city manager position, MLive reported.

Interviews with Fraser and other candidates were scheduled to start at noon Tuesday. Fraser is touting his experience with budget struggles in Ann Arbor as he makes his case for why he's the best person to lead Kalamazoo city government through a time of transition and downsizing.

"I think I'm very good at getting people to come together around an idea. I think my role as a coach and as a facilitator gets what council and community wants done," Fraser told MLive.

• Read the story on MLive

Fraser was Ann Arbor's city administrator for nine years before leaving in 2011 to take a job as the state of Michigan's deputy state treasurer for local government services.

He put on his resume that, while in Ann Arbor, he converted a "marginally dysfunctional, highly disaggregated, fiscally unsound" city government into a "high-performing, fiscally responsible, culturally healthy public service organization."

He pointed out that conversion involved completely reorganizing city government, eliminating all department head positions, and consolidating 14 operating departments into four "service areas." Meanwhile, he said, the city's full-time employee count dropped from about 1,004 to 730.

Fraser's resume also mentions his role in overseeing the construction of a new maintenance facility for field operations and a new police-courts building next to Ann Arbor's city hall.

• Download Fraser's resume

While his base salary was $145,355, Fraser made more than $156,400 a year on average during his three highest-paid consecutive years of service as Ann Arbor's city administrator, records show. He collected $59,470 in severance pay when he retired and now has a pension worth $38,061 a year.

Fraser spoke with AnnArbor.com in February 2012 about his new role in overseeing the state's controversial emergency manager program.

• Read the Q&A with Fraser

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.