Former deputy administrator hired to oversee Wexford County
REGION – Former Antrim County Deputy Administrator Janet Koch, also known to many as village clerk for Bellaire before that, has accepted a position as administrator for Wexford County.
Koch began her new position in late February, she said last week. The new administrator had been working with Northern Lakes Economic Alliance in community development.
"The opportunity presented itself, and since I really missed being in a county government environment, I decided to take advantage of it," she said of her new position.
With her husband Jon, Koch moved to northern Michigan in 2001, finding employment first in Charlevoix with an engineering firm for several years. She then held the position of village clerk in Bellaire from 2010 until 2013, when she took over the deputy administrator position with Antrim County, leaving there in 2017.
The opportunity to return to county government this year, albeit at a higher level, didn’t come without a catch.
"Since the job requires residency in Wexford County, I rented an apartment just a short distance from the county building and now live there during the week," she said.
Koch returns to her husband and longtime family home on the eastern shore of Torch Lake in Central Lake Township on most weekends. That was the case last weekend when she could be found taking part in an annual tradition – boiling the last of the maple sap from the sugarbush on the Koch property.
"And sometimes we meet halfway in between Central Lake and Cadillac for dinner," she said.
"At some point, if Jon's work situation allows, he may move down to Cadillac, but we'll always have our home on Torch Lake."
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