Lazarus taking Ann Arbor manager job

Howard Lazarus, director of Austin’s Public Works Department, said Tuesday that he has accepted the position of city administrator for Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has notified Austin’s city management of his intention to take the new job. Lazarus said he has yet to sign the contract with Ann Arbor but expects to do so soon. The Michigan Daily reported that the Ann Arbor City Council approved a contract with a base salary of $215,000 for Lazarus last week. Lazarus has been director of Austin’s Public Works Department since 2008, a position that has afforded him the kind of responsibility that made Ann Arbor take notice. He said the starting date on the agreement with Ann Arbor is June 27. He noted that Ann Arbor did a lot of due diligence, including sending a police investigator here last week to meet with a number of people. “I applaud the fact that they want to be diligent,” he said. “I think part of what they were curious about is that I had talked about what Austin (city government) is like and what the agency is like, and I think sometimes people don’t think things could be as good as you say they are, how the city government functions and our role within that.” But after looking into those things, he said, “they were pretty impressed.”