Ishpeming Police Chief Almost Done with Double Duty

Ishpeming’s new city manager is almost ready to take over the job.

The city’s police chief won’t have to do double duty for much longer.

Chief Jim Bjorne has been serving as interim manager since October.

That’s when former manager Alan Bakalarski resigned.

Jered Ottenweiss is on his way to the area from Trenton, Florida, where he also served as city manager.

But his lack of familiarity with Ishpeming will mean a steep learning curve.

Bjorne says he’s relieved Ottenweiss is about to come on board, but he knows he’ll have to work closely with the new manager in his first few weeks to get him up to speed on projects the city has going.

Ottenweiss isn’t in the area yet.

He’ll be moving in sometime next week.

So his initiation to the job will involve a crash course with Bjorne, probably the weekend before he officially starts the job.

Bjorne says they’ll likely get together at City Hall that weekend, a time when it won’t be bustling with the regular business of the work week.

Among other things, Ottenweiss has a master’s degree in urban planning, and that knowledge may help Ishpeming going forward.