Meet our new Township Superintendent!
On December 7th there was a special Board of Oakland Township meeting. The purpose of that meeting was to interview six candidates for the Township Superintendent position. The total number of individuals that responded to the posted position was over 30. Based on comments made by the recruiting consultant and Supervisor Gonser, the Board had selected the final 6 candidates in a prior Closed Session meeting.
The interview process lasted all day. It was a very comprehensive process that the recruiting consultant, Jerry Richards from Voorhees Associates, used with the Board members. There were a series of 26 questions that the Board asked each of the candidates. After the interview process, the Board reduced the number of final candidates to two. After several minutes of discussion by the Board, they voted to extend an offer to Ann K. Capela.
Here is a brief summary of her Professional working experience in reverse chronological order:
July 9, 2012 to current – Wayne State University Office of International Students and Scholars
October 2011 to July 2012 – Vice President for outreach, GovServe LLC
December 2008 to September 2011 – City Manager, City of Inkster, Michigan
September 2007 to September 2008 – Transit and Parking Manager of CIty of Durango, Colorado
March 2004 to June 2007 – Town Manager of Minturn, Colorado
November 2000 to April 2003 – County Executive Officer for Imperial County, California
January 1998 to November 13, 2000 – County Administrative Coordinator for Walworth County, Wisconsin
September 1995 to January 1998 – County Administrative Coordinator for Livingston County, Illinois
1994 – Wayne County Commissioner Constituency Assistant1993 – Detroit Edison internships in the corporate Governmental Affairs Department
1993 – City of Southfield internship in Human Resources Department
1992 – Wayne State University, assistant to faculty
April 1979-May 1992 – General Motors of Canada Production and Quality Control
Ann has a B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Windsor, and a M.P. A. (Masters in Public Administration) degree from Wayne State University.
Here is a copy of her complete resume: Ann Capela resume
The interview process began by giving each candidate an opportunity to tell the Board more about their previous experiences, and why they were interested in the position of Superintendent of Oakland Township.
Here is a video of that portion of the interview. It will give you an opportunity to learn more about her:
If you want to watch the entire interview of Ann, please go to the Township website. It is located under the Special meeting category. It is at the beginning of the first video in that category.
Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? The Superintendent is the individual that leads and manages the day to day operation of the Township. She will be the person that most citizens will likely encounter when they come to the Township Office.
I wish Ann and the Township well as she works through the many issues facing our Township.
Richard Michalski
Oakland Township Watchers 
Question #27: Is Ms. Capela well versed in Agenda 21? How can the Board of Trustees be so certain of her qualifications to be intellectually fit to be the Oakland Township Superintendent until that answer is known?
That question was not asked by the Board, however, Ann has indicated on her Facebook page that she “likes” Rush Limbaugh, so one can assume that she is in line with the current Supervisor’s perspective on the Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theory. Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh are major believers that there is a Global UN conspiracy called Agenda 21. Our Supervisor is also a believer in this conspiracy, as this website has highlighted documents pertaining to his position on that subject.
Richard,
Had you not noticed a deeper concern of Ms.Capela’s Facebook “Like” of Tom McMillin.
McMillin states on his Facebook page his rant and disdain for Federal Laws. Those laws are in place for every citizens’ civil rights protection. The current Oakland Township Board of Trustees’ sanctimonious actions of holding the Township’s ordinances above that of Federal Laws (and State Laws) are repugnant. Unanimously the Board of Trustees did not break McMillin protocol or rank. I hope that Ms. Capela can sustain her own voice and guide the Township Board away from the dangerous precipice of which they are intentionally steering.
I will let Ann’s future actions influence my opinion of her. It was interesting that Ann was on the ‘top two’ list for all seven of the Board members. The other finalist was Darrel Fecho. He was on the ‘top two’ list for five of the Board members, and the top candidate for four of the Board members. Trustee Bailey commented that Darrel was not one of his choices, because he thought Darrel would not get along with Gonser. Bailey said interaction between Gonser and Darrel would be like “fire on water” since Darrel appeared to be a “strong” person, and “we have a strong Supervisor”. Interestingly Darrel was not a top two choice for either Gonser or Bailey. I guess they were looking for a ‘rubber stamp’ Superintendent. I hope that Ann will have the courage to provide her recommendations to the entire Board and not be overly influenced by Gonser’s opinions. She reports to the entire Board not just Gonser. As I stated in the original post, I wish Ann the best in her new position.
Didn’t Trustee Maureen Thalmann work for McMillan? It is not difficult to figure out it was Gonser and Thalmann who were the two that had Ms. Capela chosen as a finalist.
However, I agree that without the McMillin link, Ms.Capela’s record of achievements is stellar and she is well qualified to guide and lead the Township even void of her Agenda 21 indoctrination.
Her educational credentials are impressive. Her breadth of positions-held is also impressive. What might give one pause, is the length of tenure in any of the positions she’s held. I will leave it to those interested to do some internet searches. Let’s not forget Ms. Capela has been involved in politics, so take everything you find on a search with a grain of salt. The proof is in the (Oakland) pudding.
After looking at the resumes of all six of the final candidates, it became clear that those who go into a pubic administration profession are subject to the politics of the governmental body where they work. As the elected officials in a community change through elections, the supporting administrative people are at risk for loosing their job. I sat through most of the interviews on December 7th, and it became clear that most of the candidate’s contracts were either not renewed or were terminated when a new ‘regime’ came into office at one time or another during their careers. That is precisely what happened to Ann when she had a job in Colorado. That is also precisely what happened to Jim Creech in Oakland Township after the current Board was elected in 2012. Oakland Township was blessed with very little disruption over the years, so we are not accustom to what has happened in other communities.
Oakland Township can certainly use a “woman’s touch” to run the day to day operations and she will hopefully be a strong buffer to protect the Twp. employees from the harassment and libelous threats that they have been experiencing by Supervisor Gonser and Commissioner Rogers over the past couple of months, which is now a matter of public record and much contention. I will not judge her based on anyone’s opinion or Facebook pages, I wish to support her and form my opinion and future actions in holding her accountable on her actions as our new “Manager.” I hope nothing but wisdom, humility and fortitude in her new position. We need strong, not authoritarian leadership at the helm in Oakland Township.