Fired Poplar Bluff city manager may be hired by Michigan county

Fired Poplar Bluff, Missouri, city manager Heath Kaplan is one of three finalists for a job as administrator for Benzie County, Michigan.

Kaplan and the other finalists will make presentations Tuesday before the Benzie County Board of Commissioners.

The county is seeking a replacement for county administrator Karl Sparks, who is retiring in December at the end of his contract.

The person hired is expected to begin Oct. 1, and the salary could range from $55,000 to $75,000. Commissioners may vote on the matter this week, he said.

Kaplan had a salary of almost $160,000 while

working for Poplar Bluff, with a benefit package of about $50,000.

Kaplan was fired by the Poplar Bluff City Council in May after only nine months on the job. He received almost $20,000 in severance pay.

Council members said at the time Kaplan did not fit into the community, and he had acted on matters without their approval.

Benzie has looked mainly at Kaplan's time with Muskegon County, Michigan, when selecting finalists, Sparks said.

Sparks said he was aware Kaplan had issues in Poplar Bluff, and he was making phone calls to check references and determine the nature of those issues.

A county administrator has less authority than a city manager and tends to get things done by consensus, Sparks said. An administrator works for a board, rather than with a board, he said.

Government contracts Kaplan oversaw with Michigan-based technology firm Information Systems Intelligence are being investigated in Poplar Bluff and Muskegon, where Kaplan served as finance director before moving to Missouri.

Representatives for Kaplan and ISI owner Ryan Leestma have acknowledged to Michigan media Leestma provided Kaplan a private loan. The Daily American Republic first reported of notarized documents for a loan of almost $28,000, which was taken out by Kaplan while he oversaw ISI contracts in Muskegon. The payment schedule would have extended into Kaplan's time in Poplar Bluff.

Benzie is the smallest county in Michigan at 316 square miles, and its population in 2014 was about 17,500 -- less than half of Butler County's almost 43,000.

Sparks told the Traverse City Record-Eagle last week the county had received only 21 applicants, and some prospects cited the county's relatively unknown location and low pay as top concerns about the job.

Benzie County's general fund is about $6 million annually, less than the $8 million in new debt and technology spending taken on by Kaplan and the city council during his first four months on the job in Poplar Bluff. Poplar Bluff has an estimated operating budget of almost $18 million this year.