‘Because I want to be here’: Port Huron city manager looks back at 10 years on job
PORT HURON — When James Freed first clocked in as city manager, a lot of little things were different.
He’d been the manager in Stanton and Lakeview on the state’s westside when tapped unanimously by City Council to be Port Huron’s next top administrator, and soon in early 2014, the then-29-year-old was returning to an area he was native to growing up.
At the time, there were no lights strung across downtown buildings on Main Street. New amenities like splash pads at Lakeside or Knox Field hadn’t been erected in local parks. The carpets in council chambers were a bright burnt orange. And the conversation about city facilities had yet to migrate to building a new, now operating fire station.
However, for Freed, and perhaps the biggest difference of all, there were no small children in the family photos decorating his office on the fourth floor of the Municipal Office Center.
Just a few weeks after passing his 10th anniversary in the role earlier this month, it was there that the 39-year-old — now, with a little gray peeking through his dark black hair — lounged casually at his desk with a mug featuring photos of his kids, Lucy and Annie, in hand.
“I’m not here because I need this job. I’m here because I want to be here,” Freed said in an interview last Monday. “This is where my wife and I want to raise our kids. I was raised here. I had a wonderful childhood here. I want my daughters to experience what I got to experience and all the opportunities Port Huron has to offer.
“The cost of living is affordable here. The schools are fantastic. The parks, the water, I mean, this is a true ‘Pure Michigan’ experience for a child to have. I want my two daughters to have it. So, that’s why I’m here.”
Freed’s wife, too, talks about raising their daughters long-term in Port Huron, though in a separate interview Monday, she joked she “definitely came kicking and screaming” across the state a decade ago.
Since then, Jessie Freed said they’ve grown into their lives with kids and a larger circle of friends with “no plans on leaving” — even after a spurt in national and state headlines within the last year over James’ litigation against a managers' professional organization and a years-long bout over First Amendment claims that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, occasionally amplifying negative chatter on social media.
“It’s stressful at times, I will say, living the public life. You go out to dinner, and people are watching you or approaching you,” Jessie said. “And the phone never turns off with him. Even when we’re sitting at the dinner table. But it’s something that’s his job. We knew it’s what he signed up for. And he truly loves what he does. I can’t see him ever doing something not in the public sector like this because it’s his passion. And so, we’re here to support him.”
Stepping in financially, getting council's support
Any progress made in the last 10 years, Freed often credits someone else.
Voters for supporting the original public safety and parks and recreation millages passed in 2017. City employees for concessions in labor negotiations that helped clamp down the city’s once ballooning unfunded liabilities to retiree pensions and health care. And council members for painting with a broad brush to pay down the debt and support city staff.
It wasn’t until days later after an initial interview that Freed emphasized several city milestones among his accomplishments as city manager, including:
Codifying LGBTQ+ discrimination and harassment protections for city employees
Balancing 10 budgets without layoffs
$4 million invested in local parks
Also citing lower unemployment and higher community investment, Freed said on Friday, “No one’s achieving what we’re doing.”
But earlier in the week, it was all the numbers — financial milestones he also considered accomplishments — that, Freed said, made his early tenure “a whirlwind” akin to “drinking out of a firehouse.”
“What I didn’t know was just how dire the situation really was. We were running multi-million-dollar deficits. Both in the utilities and in the general fund. … So, the money’s running out, the cash reserves that they were using to cover the deficits were running out. Now, it was decision time,” Freed said. “I don’t think the public ever truly realized how close to insolvency the city came. Like we had enough cash to make it for 27 months.”
Seven years ago, Freed also took the unfunded liabilities issue to Lansing, playing a role in a legislative fix that allowed the city to pay down its massive retiree debt.
Refinancing those liabilities, the city reportedly saved taxpayers over $114 million with the city’s pension and retiree healthcare accounts going from 43% and 28% funded, respectively, toward the start of his tenure to 90% and 76% funded.
“I think that James has done a phenomenal job for the city, especially when it comes to finances. He saved us pretty much from going into possible bankruptcy at the time,” said Mayor Pauline Repp. Pointing to the unfunded liabilities issue, she said, “That’s worth its weight in gold right there.”
Other City Council members, too, have recognized the big-picture financial transitions Freed has spearheaded. Mayor Pro Tem Sherry Archibald said, “He was so instrumental in being able to help the city overcome all the massive cuts we were doing in ’09 when I got on to now. It’s just been a tremendous change for us.”
And in his last performance review, other qualities higher rates with officials ranking him at 3, meaning satisfactory, and above on a 1-to-5 scale — 4.3 average overall. A Freedom of Information Act request for past reviews was not immediately returned last week.
When reached, multiple council members said they found Freed knowledgeable, approachable, and responsive.
“He just has a mind that works way ahead than what we are doing,” said Councilman Bob Mosurak. Councilwoman Teri Lamb called Freed a “young, very active” leader who “doesn’t give up when we have emergencies.”
Archibald admitted there’d been “room for growth and maturity” when he first came on in his late 20s, adding, “We’re seeing that happen over time.”
Meanwhile, Councilman Jeff Pemberton said he thought they were “incredibly blessed,” comparing Freed to the executives he’s encountered in his day job in marketing and outreach
“James is on par with all of them,” he said. “… I think sometimes we’re in our bubble here, and we’re not really aware of what we have.”
Facing critics, making headlines, and looking ahead
Although Freed said city manager tenures are often only three to five years, serving a lengthy term in non-elected administration for local government isn’t necessarily new — nor rare in St. Clair County.
Marysville City Manager Randy Fernandez made the transition to top administrator a few months ahead of Freed’s arrival after three years as assistant city manager. St. Clair County Administrator Karry Hepting, already a long-time county employee, became its chief non-elected official eight years ago.
The International City/County Management Association — a professional organization that publicized a censure of Freed two years ago, prompting an ongoing defamation lawsuit in response — has itself reported increasingly longer tenures among managers in council-manager cities in the past, going from an average of three and a half years in the 1970s to close to seven years by 2000.
But the longer in the role, the bigger variety of feedback, including from critics, those managers may face. For Freed, that’s at times come aloud at public comment, on social media, or on paper.
Longtime Councilwoman Anita Ashford, who is running against Repp in this year’s mayoral election, left all threes in her last review without any comments.
“Because I didn’t really think they were being adhered to,” she said. In the same vein, citing professionalism, she declined to elaborate on “some reservations” she has on things “that could be better managed.” When asked, she said she hadn’t always felt that way and that it was a set of concerns about Freed and the city that grew over time.
Local social media influencer Kevin Lindke said he thought Freed “has cost the city” both financially in fighting lawsuits — officials have said insurance typically covers litigant costs — or from a liability sense in accusations about Freed’s personal life that both the city manager and other associated parties have rebuked as untrue. Lindke has made accusations at past meetings, and it was his free speech claims against Freed after being blocked online four years ago that were sent back to local federal court by SCOTUS this year over a state authority test.
Freed said he doesn’t like “a false narrative being put out there,” making a host of media appearances last year.
There is a status hearing for the ICMA case in St. Clair County Circuit Court June 27. The federal free speech case’s next date in U.S. District Court is at the end of July.
With all the attention, Jessie Freed it was strange seeing her husband popping up in news stories and in comments across social media. She said she also wasn’t surprised it garnered speculation over whether Freed would remain a city administrator or seek higher elected or state-level office.
While Jessie said, “He just really likes being city manager,” the couple said separately last week they haven’t ruled the latter out. And as in Port Huron, any remote desire to do more was motivated by their kids.
“It is something that my wife and I have talked about. It is something that my family and I have talked about. It’s not something we’re actively pursuing. There are challenges that our state faces that cannot be fixed within the borders of Port Huron,” he said. “… I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m not going to limit myself by ruling something out.”
Contact reporter Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: ‘Because I want to be here’: Port Huron city manager looks back at 10 years on job
