Governor’s Office makes leadership change at local DHHS office

MARQUETTE — Changes have been made at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services office in Marquette.

This comes nearly two weeks after State Representative John Kivela, who held a rally with employees from that office, asked Governor Rick Snyder’s office to look into what employees there called, ‘A toxic work environment’. Rep. Kivela says he heard from Governor Snyder’s office Wednesday morning about the leadership change at that office.

A director there was reassigned to another position and a new director has been assigned to start there on Monday. Kivela says he commends the governor’s office for taking action on the matter.

“It’s a step in the right direction. To me, in my opinion, we’ve still got a little more work to do, but certainly this is a big step. It’s a good day for employees in that office.”

An interim director has been appointed to lead things at the office through the end of the week. The director change comes on the heels of multiple public protests by workers there, dating back to last July.

Kivela added that the investigation of the office is still active at this time.