MICHIGAN CITY – The newest round of appointments to Mayor-elect Angie Nelson Deuitch’s incoming
administration has been announced.
Human Resources Director Ta-Tanesha Clark George will retain her position.
Kila Ward will become the Promise Scholarship Director, a position the new mayor intends to rename
and restructure.
“I’m excited to bring Kila on board, especially because of her background in education,” Nelson Deuitch
said. “I plan to transition her position from Promise Scholarship Director to Education and Workforce
Director. We want our residents to have the opportunity to be connected with training and higher
paying jobs.”
Ward is making the move from TRIO Student Support Services at Purdue University Northwest, where
she worked for more than 16 years after being an undergraduate student in the TRIO SSS program at
Indiana University.
A Michigan City native, she has also been an assistant site coordinator for Michigan City Area Schools’
Safe Harbor afterschool program.
Ward is a graduate of Leadership La Porte County and the Institute of Innovative Leadership at Indiana
University Northwest, where she also earned a Master of Public Administration degree.
“I’m so excited to be back in education,” Ward said. “My mom wasn’t a licensed teacher but was very
much a teacher. I give her all the credit for showing me how to explain complicated subjects to make
them understandable, which will be a big part of my job. I’m looking forward to serving, and to learning
as I serve.”
Clark George has worked for the city for about 20 years, mostly in human resources and breaking after
16 to work six years in La Porte County government. She returned to the city four years ago, and is
looking forward to the culture shift she sees coming under Nelson Deuitch’s administration.
“My goal is to make sure everybody knows what they’re supposed to do and how to do it,” Clark George
said. “I know the mayor-elect is big on culture; and when I heard her speak about that, it really
challenged me – because most government is not concerned with culture.
“Culture is something they emphasize more in the private sector. They’re concerned about how their
employees feel and making sure they’re comfortable in the work environment in order to retain those
employees. Government typically pushes service. As a public servant, you don’t complain or object; you
take orders and you do your job. People tend to work in government a long time, but the condition of
the people that you keep can suffer.”
Michigan City employs approximately 400 people on a full-time, year-round basis, in addition to
seasonal workers and members of city boards and commissions.
“I think everybody will find their flow,” Clark George said. “We’re going to make some changes via
personnel policy, handbook updates. We want to make sure everybody is acclimated to the technology
we use.
“I’d like to bring in some quarterly training programs. For our newer employees, I want to focus on
building the culture. For our employees who are approaching retirement, I want them to have the ability
to make informed decisions on things like PERF, Medicare, end-of-career issues.”
Nelson Deuitch said, “I want Ta-Tanesha to focus on best practices in human resources to support our
employees by updating our employee handbook and creating a comprehensive onboarding plan for new
employees.”