Page 12 — Thursday, October 7, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
Sarah Moyer-Cale takes over
as new Hastings city manager
Benjamin Simon
Staff Writer
Just a month into her role as Paw Paw’s
village manager, a rainstorm hit the town. To
this day, Sarah Moyer-Cale said she has
never seen more rain. Neither had the
113-year-old dam in the Van Buren County
village. Unable to withstand the rainfall, the
water poured over the dam and washed it out.
Moyer-Cale had never dealt with a dam
before, let alone a broken dam. But as Paw
Paw’s village manager, she had to get up to
speed quickly. She had to contact the county
emergency management director, draft press
releases, collect financial resources and sub-
mit a plan to reconstruct the dam within a
year.
“There’s just so many different aspects
that an infrastructure failure like that has,”
she said.
Her ability to handle such a crisis, with
little previous background knowledge, was
part of the reason the Hastings City Council
chose Moyer-Cale as the next city manager.
“The dam broke, and she’s never experi-
enced that, but she took the bull by the horns
and solved the problem,” Councilmember Al
Jarvis said during the June 6 decision-mak-ing process, noting that Moyer-Cale was his
No. 1 pick.
Monday, Sept. 13, Moyer-Cale began her
first day as the Hastings city manager after
spending nearly five years as the Paw Paw
village manager/zoning administrator/DDA
executive director.
As a teenager in Almont, an hour north of
Detroit, Moyer-Cale had no intention of
going into government. She wanted to do city
planning with nonprofits in urban communi-
ties. She attended the Moody Bible Institute
in Chicago and studied urban ministry.
“I just always found that fascinating – how
aspects of the built environment affect peo-
ple’s behavior and their ability to change
their lives,” Moyer-Cale said.
Moyer-Cale’s interests shifted in 2012
after she started studying for her master’s of
urban planning degree from Wayne State
University. Hoping to add a little more to her
resume, she contacted her local government
in Almont to see if any internships were
available. The village manager carved out a
position for her.
In 2014, a few years after her internship,
Moyer-Cale graduated with her master’s
degree. She was looking for a job when thesame village manager from Almont reached
out. He was retiring, and he wanted to know
if Moyer-Cale would take his role.
At first, she hesitated.
“I didn’t really know what his job was, to
be totally honest,” she said, laughing. “I did
my internship there but I was, like, I’m not
sure I fully understand even what the posi-
tion entails.”
She took a chance and accepted the job.
“I really fell in love with a profession,”
she said. “I absolutely love city management.
I love that it’s different every day. You get to
meet new people, you get to do meaningful
projects and things that really bring value to
people’s lives. I just, I absolutely love it.”
Moyer-Cale spent nearly two years as the
village manager in Almont when she decided
she wanted to work somewhere other than
her hometown. She took the position of vil-
lage manager of Paw Paw – three hours away
and on the other side of the state.
She started as assistant manager and, 10
months in, transitioned to head village man-
ager.
When asked about her greatest accom-
plishment in Paw Paw, Moyer-Cale pointed
to a $75,000 grant she helped secure through
the Michigan State Housing Development
Authority. Many of the homes in Paw Paw
are older, she said, and the city supplied peo-
ple with up to $7,500 to improve their
homes.
“There are people who just don’t have the
income to do some of these significant
improvements on their house,” she said. “If
you only make $25,000 a year, you can’t
afford a $10,000 roof.”
In Hastings, though, she’ll run into a dif-
ferent problem – pension and Other Post-
Employment Benefits liability, which she
called one of the biggest issues currently
affecting the city.
The topic has been at the center of recent
city council discussions. At the moment, the
city owes $20 million in unfunded liability
between both pension and OPEB. They are
still brainstorming solutions such as a mill-
age, cutting benefits or levying a special
assessment. Moyer-Cale already has been
tasked with putting together a corrective-ac-
tion plan draft that will be submitted to the
state at the end of the month.
“It affects our priorities as well and our
ability to do other projects and things
because you’ve got to make good on the
promises that you’ve made to past employ-
ees,” she said. “We have to pay our debt, we
have to make good on these things, so it’s
important that we have a plan in place to be
able to do that.”
First, however, Moyer-Cale is still trying
to get adjusted. It has been a busy few weeks.
The day before Moyer-Cale started working
in Hastings, she watched her older brother
get married. She didn’t return home to Paw
Paw until 10 or 11 p.m. The next morning,
she woke up at 5 a.m., drank some coffee and
made the hourlong commute to Hastings.
More than three weeks into the job,
Moyer-Cale is now trying to acquaint herself
with her new city. She has spent her first
couple of days meeting with department
heads, introducing herself to council mem-
bers and trying to find the time to hang pic-
tures up on her wall.
“There will be, I know, a significant learn-
ing process, finding out what the different
challenges and priorities are,” she said. “But
I see it more as an opportunity and some-
thing to be embraced and I’m just looking
forward to it.”Hastings mayor tapped
as vice president of
state association
Benjamin Simon
Staff Writer
Hastings Mayor David Tossava was select-
ed as the vice president of the Michigan
Association of Mayors, the organization
announced late last week.
The MAM board chose Tossava during its
annual board meeting at the Michigan
Municipal League 2021 convention. Tossava,
who was appointed to a one-year term, will
serve beside Port Huron Mayor Pauline Repp,
who was voted into her third term as the asso-
ciation’s president.
“It’s one more way that we can get
Hastings’ name out there,” Tossava said.
The Michigan Association of Mayors
includes representatives from 139 communi-
ties throughout Michigan. According to the
press release, “MAM works to assist the chief
elected officials of cities, townships and vil-
lages; advance the various interests and oper-
ations of communities represented by its
members and all Michigan communities;
promote cooperation among communities
statewide; and advocate local interests at the
state and federal level.”
As vice president, Tossava, who spent four
years on the board of directors, will work
toward promoting the Michigan Municipal
League, bringing more communities into
MAM, hosting training sessions and attend-
ing quarterly meetings.
“We have events where other mayors come
to these events and we share information,” he
said. “It’s all about networking and sharing
information with our fellow mayors.”
The vice president role often leads to serving
as president in the future, Tossava said. This
would allow him to host meetings and bring
other mayors and village presidents to Hastings.
“We can highlight the city Hastings more,
kind of showcase Hastings,” he said. “It’s all
we’re about – to get people here to enjoy
what we have to offer.”Hastings' new city manager, Sarah Moyer-Cale, in downtown Hastings.
(Photo by Benjamin Simon)Dave Tossava