Crum Pulls Out On Job Ann Arbor City Administrator Job Goes To Colorado Man

Spokane City Manager Roger Crum lost his bid for the Ann Arbor, Mich., city administrator’s job to a Colorado man.

“It’s a relief to me,” Crum said, adding that he called Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon Friday morning to withdraw from consideration.

Despite Crum’s withdrawal, five Ann Arbor Council members at a Friday afternoon meeting voted to hire him, Sheldon said. He needed six votes, however, and in a later vote the job went to Neal Berlin, former city manager of Arvada, Colo.

Crum’s position as one of three finalists for the position got shaky earlier this week when an Ann Arbor councilman took offense to a remark Crum made during an interview.

Councilman Stephen Hartwell asked Crum how he dealt with frustration over council decisions he didn’t like.

“His response was ‘that he does not get to vent, he goes home and beats his wife,”’ Hartwell wrote in a memo to his colleagues.

Crum said he recalls responding to Hartwell’s question by saying “I don’t go home and beat my wife. I don’t go home and take it out on my family.”

In a letter to the Ann Arbor Council, an apologetic Crum called his remark “inappropriate.”

Crum went on to write that domestic violence “is so alien to my personal behavior and my view of families that I did not recognize anyone would give it serious credence.”

Crum was Mayor Sheldon’s first choice for the job and called it unfortunate that a “character assassination” by another council member created so much furor.

“You do have an impressive manager,” Sheldon said.

Crum said the incident caused him to lose interest in the job.

“I’m disappointed to lose for all the wrong reasons,” he said.

, DataTimes