GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The City of Grand Rapids will be looking for a new city manager in early 2018.
Current City Manager Greg Sundstrom tells 24 Hour News 8 he will retire at the end of 2017.
An official announcement is planned for Tuesday during the Grand Rapids City Commission Committee of the Whole meeting.
Sitting in his sixth-floor city hall office, Sundstrom talked with 24 Hour News 8 about his love for the city, the job, the challenges and the accomplishments.
So his advice to his replacement may come as a surprise:
“If it’s a friend, I’d tell them not to take the job,” he said. “This is a tough job. It’s not worth the life that you give up.”
A month before his 60th birthday and two years after a lifesaving heart valve replacement surgery, Sundstrom said he’s come to the realization that life is short.
“I have joked that you age in dog years around here, so I’ve been doing this for 50 years, it feels like,” Sundstrom said.
Sundstrom first joined the city in 1981 as a seasonal employee. The Grand Valley State University graduate went full-time in 1986 and worked 12 different jobs with the city over the next 23 years.