The Manchester mayor said he's sorry to see Town Manager Terry L. Short leave, but hopes the resignation will remove one point of division in a council known for deadlocks and contentious votes.
But it might add another. At least one council member isn't convinced the town should hire another professional manager.
"A few of the council members didn't agree with Mr. Short. [The resignation is] probably best for him and best for the town," said Mayor Earl A. J. "Tim" Warehime. "He's done everything I've asked him to do. He's done well."
Mayor Warehime said he was working on how to replace Mr. Short, and he may recommend a temporary manager at the next council meeting Tuesday.
While the mayor remains firm in believing that a professional manager is what the town of 3,000 needs, at least one council member does not agree. "At this time, I think we need to sit back and see if we even need a town manager," said Councilman Douglas Myers, who had not been one of Mr. Short's supporters.
Mr. Short resigned Nov. 22, 2 1/2 years after being hired as the town's first professional manager.
The mayor supported Mr. Short, but faced the reality of a split in the council and resentment from those who saw the Damascus resident as an outsider and an agent of unwanted change. Mr. Short's opponents have been reluctant to specify their complaints, except to say they found it difficult to work with him.
And Mr. Short, from his home, said he is "relieved" at his departure. It came at his initiation, despite attempts by some council members to remove him and a 300-signature petition presented last month to have him fired. No one has acknowledged initiating the petition.
"When you make a change in structural form in any institution, it's generally followed by a period of turbulence," said Mr. Short of the friction associated with his time as the town's first manager. "Frequently, the person associated with that change isn't the best person to carry forward into the next stage."
He said the petition did not affect his decision, and he doubted whether all who signed it had first-hand knowledge of his work.
Mr. Short said he does not have another job, but is confident he'll find one. He has held several town and county administrative posts.
Although some council members have wanted to fire Mr. Short, the closed sessions over the past months never yielded enough votes to do it. Council members have made no public statements about their dissatisfaction with him, but they have clashed over many procedural matters, including the way he organized the budget.
Councilman Myers said the town charter, amended since Mr. Short was hired, requires the votes of three of the five council members to fire the town manager. But Mr. Short's contract, which predates the charter amendment, says he could have been removed by a vote of three council members only if the mayor had joined them. Otherwise, it would have taken four council members.
"We did not have the four-fifths vote," said Mr. Myers, who had not been a supporter of Mr. Short. To avoid a discrepancy between the charter and the town manager's contract, he said, a town manager should not have a contract.
Mr. Short's annual salary was $39,383. His contract would have expired June 30, 1996.
He might have been secure in his job until at least the next election, but before a closed meeting Nov. 22 called to discuss him, Mr. Short said, he informed Town Attorney Charles O. Fisher Jr. that he would be willing to resign. "I had discussed [with Mr. Fisher] some potential circumstances under which I would resign," Mr. Short said. "Those involved specific terms and conditions."
Mr. Short and Mr. Fisher declined to discuss the terms of the severance agreement. "Yes, there is a severance package, but that's all that I can say about it," Mr. Fisher said.
Councilwoman Charlotte Collett, one of Mr. Short's strongest supporters, did not start out that way. She said he won her over by proving himself through aiding her in several community projects, including the building of a nature center and other parks and recreation ventures.
Mr. Myers declined to comment on Mr. Short's performance, he said, because lawyers are still involved. No legal agreements have been signed, all parties said.
"Maybe we don't need a town manager. I don't know," Mr. Myers said.
But Mayor Warehime said he does know: The town needs a full-time manager because it has a part-time mayor who has to run every four years and earns only $1,200 a year for the job.
"The council can hire a professional with the proper training and education to run the town," Mr. Warehime said. "Someone who can be here on a long-term basis. Myself, I would not want to have my job on the line every four years."
Mr. Warehime works for Colonial Pipeline, a fuel transportation firm. He is on vacation this month, he said, and will be devoting much of his time to the town office and finding a replacement for Mr. Short.
"I'm trying to get everything to run smoothly," Mr. Warehime said. However, he said the disagreement among council members is not all bad. "I would rather see varied opinions than have it rubber-stamped."