Walker’s New City Manager

Walker is growing quickly, and growth has a way of turning “city hall” into something personal. We’re joined by Shay Gallagher, the new City Manager for the City of Walker, Michigan, to talk about what the job actually demands and why Walker’s stability and momentum made the opportunity impossible to pass up. Shay shares where he’s from, how his career path led through other communities, and what he learned before stepping into this role.

We also break down the city manager role in plain English: the mayor and city commission set the direction, and the city manager leads the staff that delivers the work. That includes the unglamorous but essential parts of local government like roads, finance, water and sewer, labor issues, and the daily coordination that keeps services running. Shay  explains why strong department leaders matter and how he balances staying informed with letting experts do their jobs.

Public safety becomes the heart of the conversation as we talk about the city’s push to modernize fire services toward a 24/7 fire department, building on Fire Chief Rusty Shoultz's vision after a heartbreaking loss. We dig into what it takes to fund and sustain that shift, what station upgrades might be needed, and how improved fire protection can influence an ISO rating that may lower insurance costs for both residents and businesses. We also look ahead to strategic planning, trail connectivity, the new library opening, and the opportunities and challenges tied to future road funding.

If you care about how Walker makes decisions as it grows, this is a must-listen. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave us a review with the topic you want us to tackle next.

If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY

Transcript

Welcome To Made In Walker

Nicole DiDonato 0:03

Welcome to the Made in Walker Podcast. It's the podcast that connects you to the people, the stories, and the ideas shaping our community. From local innovators to everyday change makers, we're diving deep into what makes Walker a great place to live, work, and grow. Now here's your host, Steve Kelso.

Meet City Manager Shay Gallagher

Steve Kelso 0:24

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Made and Walker Podcast. If you've been watching this podcast for any length of time at all, you know that there is a new city manager in town. And joining me today, Shay Gallagher. Welcome, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you for having me today. You came in February, March? March 5th was my official start date. Tell me a little bit about where you were from, how you ended up in Walker.

Shay Gallagher 0:49

Yeah, so originally grew up in a small community north of Traverse City called Elk Rapids. After that, I came down to Grand Valley where I did my master's and undergraduate. My master's was in political science. From there, I bounced around to a few small communities, most recently in the city of Kentwood before coming over to Walker.

Steve Kelso 1:07

You uh at some point in your career, you hear about Walker, you hear that there's an opening there. What kind of uh what how did how did all that formulate for you? How what would you start thinking at that point?

Shay Gallagher 1:18

Yeah, so I wasn't really looking for anything in particular. I was very happy with the city of Kentwood and, you know, the folks that I work with. But um, in knowing Daryl and knowing Gary the mayor, um, knowing Walker's got a history of being very stable and um a community that's growing exponentially with a lot of great opportunities ahead of it, it was something that I really, really wanted to go for and something I couldn't pass up.

City Manager Role In Plain English

Steve Kelso 1:40

We hear the um we hear the term city manager a lot and strong mayor, weak mayor, how different commissions are made up. Tell me what the city manager does in as plain a language as you can tell the folks at home.

Shay Gallagher 1:55

Absolutely. So basically I run all of the day-to-day operations of the city. So the city council and the mayor kind of set the direction of where they'd like the community to go, and then I go out with the staff and execute that direction. So I oversee everything from roads, um, finance, water, sewer, police, fire. I'm over all of that and then answer directly to the commission.

Steve Kelso 2:14

So all of the details fall to your desk.

Shay Gallagher 2:16

Absolutely.

Steve Kelso 2:17

So when it's time to build a road or negotiate a labor contract with one with your employee, your represented employees, that all ends up on your desk. Either that or I delegate to our awesome department heads to handle things.

Shay Gallagher 2:29

So, you know, as far as roads, you know, I'm kept in the loop, but I really let Scott Conders and the engineering team run with that. Um, they're equipped and they are the uh the experts in the field on that. But yeah.

Steve Kelso 2:39

I would imagine that you have to because there's so many different areas of expertise, right? Absolutely. Um so you're what, four or five months in now? No, not even three. Three months

Public Safety Push And Budget Reality

Steve Kelso 2:52

in. What would you, you know, we always hear the the president always talks about his first 100 days. What what would you like to accomplish in that first six, 12 months, 100 days?

Shay Gallagher 3:01

Yes. Um, obviously that changed uh with the passing of Chief Shoultz. Um, it kind of uh threw a little bit of a monkey wretch into things. So right now, given that, I kind of transitioned to overseeing putting more time and energy into police and fire and making sure that those are where we need them to be. Kind of looking at Chief Shoultz's goal and mission for modernizing our fire department to turn it into a 24-7 department. So we're really looking at how do we continue that and build off that. So um, police and fire are number one coming in uh in March. Draft one of the budget was already presented to the finance committee. So really understanding what the budgetary conditions were, where draft one was, and then looking at where we need to go, how do we get that to be a finalized budget by July 1?

Steve Kelso 3:44

Public safety, becoming a 24-7 fire department has been something that the citizens really kind of directed the mayor and commission to do. And now, Mrs. Lacking Rusty's direction, a horrible, tragic loss that the city has suffered. Uh, how do you go about that? And I mean, a lot of the stuff he had kind of laid out, you continue to follow that path, you have a job opening to fill.

Shay Gallagher 4:11

Absolutely, yeah. So both. We're going to continue following that direction that Rusty laid out. Chief Mangles stepped in as our interim fire chief, so he's directing both police and fire. Um, but we'll also uh look at what needs to be done to continue that effort. Um, our fire fire stations need to be modernized. There are no sleeping quarters in there and things like that. So so it's really building on that legacy that Rusty left behind.

Steve Kelso 4:35

And you have a balancing act then to for for the good and great citizens of Walker who have asked for this, and you now need to provide it, but you also need to balance that uh uh that that that stewardship of the taxpayer dollar as well.

Shay Gallagher 4:53

Yeah, absolutely. So that's what we're looking at right now. Um myself, the finance director, um, the the commission and our department heads are really scrutinized scrutinizing the budget to figure out how we fund um the fire department so that we can maintain that 24-7 fire department model. Um it's something that the city needs, and it's probably something that should have happened years ago.

Steve Kelso 5:14

Probably so, because your your growth in Walker has been, as you said, exponential, but you have new factories and facilities all the time in there that demand increased fire protection. Absolutely, yeah. And I would think that that is important when you go to when you when you go to outside groups and try to lure new businesses into the city of Walker, you probably are hearing that concern from them as well.

Shay Gallagher 5:39

That, yeah, and there's a thing called the ISO, so it's the rating that communities get um for their level of fire protection and safety. So as we add staffing, as we're able to staff all three department or stations full-time, our ISO rating goes down. That equates to money saved by both the businesses and the residents because you see a reduction in your insurance costs for your home or your business.

Steve Kelso 6:01

And that ISO is probably a metric that they use to do due diligence when it comes time to locate or not locate somewhere. Part of it, yeah. I would believe so.

Why Businesses And Families Choose Walker

Steve Kelso 6:10

What do you think are the other strong things that have really attracted so much business to the Walker corridor?

Shay Gallagher 6:15

I think geographically we're we're located in such an excellent position. You know, we've got major state and highway trunk lines around us, we're adjacent to Grand Rapids without Grand Rapids congestion, we're a growing population, we're we're doing the place-making things, you know, our concerts in the park and things that the cultural aspects that residents want to take part in. So it it truly becomes a place to live, work, and play.

Steve Kelso 6:40

Um, obviously, if you've watched this podcast before getting come on, did you watch the podcast before? All right, good. Absolutely. Um the whole reason this show exists is to engage residents. How do you uh how do you prefer to hear from from citizenry? What what's the what's the best route to get to you?

Shay Gallagher 6:59

Absolutely. I'm an open book and I have an open door, so I welcome citizen feedback at any time. Um I can be reached by phone, email, stop into the office. I I also like to go out to community events to make sure that I'm in the community, hearing from the residents. My whole philosophy is meet the residents where they're at, you know, meeting them where they're at to understand the issues or concerns that they have.

Steve Kelso 7:20

You uh kind of new to the area? What what might I find you out walking around doing on a Saturday afternoon?

Shay Gallagher 7:29

Um hopefully in a few years, it's teaching my daughter to ice skate and maybe getting in to learn to play in the you know in the Hawks program. Growing up, you know, I've played hockey since I was four, so the with it being right next to City Hall is an amazing opportunity for us. Um, but it's also getting out and joining the trails, um, getting into Standale, all of those kind of things.

Steve Kelso 7:48

We see that trail network exploding and connecting with all of the other municipalities. Uh the work that was done on the Fruit Roach Bridge, going to connect all that. What are you hearing from folks about about that? Then excitement building.

Shay Gallagher 8:01

Yeah, it's it's an asset to the community. We just met with the Greenway Initiative Group to figure out how do we create better connectivity, understanding the backbone that count the Kent County's working on creating, and then all the offshoots that come off to that. That way we just create a a stronger trail network within the community. Yeah, absolutely.

Steve Kelso 8:20

What else excites you? What else is out there? You're you're month 13 now.

Shay Gallagher 8:24

What are you gonna dig into it's going to looking at where the city's at now and then where we want it to be. So maybe doing some strategic planning, understanding what are the needs going to be in the community in one, three, five, seven years, and looking at whether that's staffing, whether it's locating police and fire in different spots, um, understanding how we need to be better stewards of the taxpayer dollars and what we need to do to make sure that we're protecting those dollars.

Steve Kelso 8:53

When you look at things on the horizon, would do you have you identified maybe not only opportunities, but may where

Big Projects Ahead And The Walker Way

Steve Kelso 9:00

there might be snags in Walker's future.

Shay Gallagher 9:03

Yeah, I think so. Uh opportunities are going to be the library. Um, that's going to be awesome. It's going to open later this fall. So that'll be an amazing community asset. The influx of road dollars that Lansing has promised, that is a something that's going to be an opportunity and a challenge, I think, for the community. Um, if those dollars truly materialize in the amount that they promised, um, we'll be able to fix a lot of great roads within the community. But I wonder if that'll be a challenge. Will costs increase because all of the communities around us are also seeing those influx of dollars. And are there enough contractors and workers out there to get that done without driving costs up?

Steve Kelso 9:39

And while that typically happens, Walker stands with a um with a history of being able to keep the Fruit Ridge Bridge project at funded level and to completion. That had to be that was a very proud moment.

Shay Gallagher 9:53

It was, and that was a great help with our community partners, um, folks in Lansing providing dollars for that. It also helps we're a customer community of the city of Grand Rapids for utilities, so we don't necessarily have to worry about funding the underground utilities that falls on Grand Rapids. So we just make sure that we maintain the roadways.

Steve Kelso 10:11

And Mary Gary Carey likes to say we we did that the Walker way. And I would imagine that's part of why you're here, and that's something you'd like to continue. Absolutely. 100%.

Shay Gallagher 10:21

Carry on that legacy and continue to create a strong community and place where people want to live.

Steve Kelso 10:26

All right, very good. Thanks for joining us today. He again is the new city manager for the City of Walker, Shea Gallagher. If you like this podcast, please continue to tune in. Make sure you hit the like and subscribe and share it with your friends. We'll be back next time with another edition of the Maiden Walker Podcast.

Nicole DiDonato 10:44

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Maiden Walker Podcast. If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or if you have ideas for future episodes, we would love to hear from you. Please send us an email to podcast at walker.city. Maiden Walker is the official podcast for the City of Walker, Michigan. You can find Maiden Walker wherever you get your podcasts.