A one-time local municipal leader is leaving the public-sector for a position with a private law firm.

Michigan Department of State chief of staff Mike Senyko will leave at the end of the month to take a position as executive director of Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap, P.C. Senyko, who has been chief of staff for Secretary of State Ruth Johnson since she took office in 2011, was the city manager for the city of Fenton from 2000 to 2008.

Secretary Johnson credited Senyko’s leadership with helping initiate the new computer modernization system, called the Customer and Automotive Records System (CARS) project, to upgrade and expedite services at all 131 Secretary of State offices. It is scheduled to be operational by February 2019. She also said that during Senyko’s tenure, the department upgraded the state’s voter file system, procured the funding for new statewide cyber secure voting machines for each community and started voter post-election audits.

Rose Jarois, the director of the Department Services Administration, will serve as chief of staff through the end of the year. Secretary Johnson was term-limited from running again and is being succeeded by Democrat Jocelyn Benson in January. (JK)