Leelanau County’s finance director is on paid leave for publicly undisclosed reasons, the latest development in a long-running set of troubles connected to that position. 

County Administrator Jim Dyer placed Finance Director Cathy Hartesvelt on paid administrative leave Friday afternoon. He wouldn’t provide details about what led to the leave beyond clarifying that it’s not tied to any sort of criminal investigation.

“I can confirm that she was placed on paid administrative leave, and in the normal course of events for this type of thing, employee access to the building and access to computer resources are suspended during that period of time,” he tells The Ticker. “Other than that, there's really not a lot more that I can say. I really can't get into the details of why, and no decision has been made about the consequences of that administrative leave.”

Dyer could not say how long Hartesvelt will be on leave.

“It’s just until the issue at hand is resolved,” he says. "The finance director is my employee, so it's my decision as to how to resolve it. Obviously I've got my own job to do on a day-to-day basis, but I'm continuing to corroborate facts that have been brought to my attention."

Steve Yoder, county board chair, deferred to Dyer on the situation.

“I don’t really have too much comment other than that Jim’s dealing with it. We’re going to let him do his process on that, and what happens after that, we’ll see,” Yoder tells The Ticker. “That’s in his department, and…his subordinates are not our employees, they’re his.”

Hartesvelt could not be reached for comment for this story.

A longtime county employee who previously worked in the county clerk’s department, Hartesvelt served twice as interim finance director and took the role on a permanent basis in July 2024. She is the fifth person to serve as county finance director in a permanent capacity since the position was created in 2021 (before that, the county clerk’s office managed county finances).

This very high turnover has attracted considerable public attention and questions about overall county management and structure, particularly as some of the people who held the position – including one who did so for only a matter of months – publicly stated that they did not have the resources or support to succeed in the position. Click here for a full rundown of the first few years of the finance director saga.

Hartesvelt, who reports to Dyer, also filed a grievance about Dyer with the county board last year. Though the full details were not released, Hartesvelt alleged Dyer violated county policy. The board investigated and cleared Dyer of any wrongdoing.

Dyer says Hartesvelt’s leave is in no way connected to this grievance.

"It's not (related)," he says. "That was resolved as unsustained."