By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

Gretchen Gomolka is now officially Brighton’s new city manager. The City Council formally approved her in the city’s top administrative position earlier this month after meeting with Gomolka in closed session.

Gomolka had been acting manager since she was appointed by council on an interim basis effective June 1st to replace former city manager Nate Geinzer, who resigned from his position at the end of May.

Gomolka has said that she is, in her words, “deeply humbled by council’s confidence…and will strive to meet the expectations of council, the staff and the community.”

Gomolka was one of 38 persons who originally applied for the manager’s job, a number that was eventually narrowed down to three finalists. Gomolka said the process of approving her for the permanent position went exceptionally well with “no problems or points of contention.”

Like her predecessors, Gomolka is classified as an “at will” employee, meaning that she serves at the council’s pleasure and council may dismiss her with, or without, cause at any time and without incurring any legal liability. However, a caveat to that is that council would be obligated, should she be terminated without cause, to provide her a severance payment equal to three months of her base salary. As an at-will employee, she is free to leave at any time for any (or no) reason - without suffering any legal consequences.

Gomolka will be earning a $130,000 salary during her first year. As the city's former finance director, she has also been temporarily handling those duties, although the city will be interviewing candidates for the vacant finance director's position later this week.