By Judy Reed

Cedar Springs City Manager Christine Burns is one of the top four candidates being considered for the job of Village Manager in Spring Lake.

The Village of Spring Lake made the announcement last week.

Burns, who has been in Cedar Springs for five years, told the Post she wasn’t initially looking for another job, and had not planned to apply for this one, until she was urged to by several of her peers. “My mentors said that an opportunity like this might not come along again. They know I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason, that God has a plan,” she said.

Burns said her original intention was to stay until at least 2014, and that if she is not hired for the Spring Lake job, that is what she will do. “Either way I will continue to give 110 percent,” she said.

If she does get the position, she will still live here until 2014 and commute, so that her daughter can finish high school at Cedar Springs.

Spring Lake, a tourist community in Ottawa County, sits on the lakefront, and has a population of just over 2,500. It covers just over a square mile.

Burns said the other candidates for the position are all people that she considers friends. They include James R. Freed, who manages both the Village of Lakeview and the City of Stanton under a shared services agreement; Adam Umbrasas, village manager of Kingsley, and Chris Yonker, former manager of the City of Wayland. Michael Burns, assistant city manager of Fenton, was chosen as an alternate in case one of the others backed out.

There were 47 applicants for the job. Search consultant Bill Baldridge helped the village narrow the field down to seven, and then to four. He is the same consultant that helped Cedar Springs when they hired Burns.

The four finalists will be interviewed on June 2. Burns said her interview is at noon, and they should find out after that which candidate gets the job.