First, they just looked shocked. A split-second later, half of the crowd at Signal Mountain Town Hall stood up and left before the meeting was even adjourned, some shaking their head in disapproval on their way out.
The disbelief of the Signal Mountain residents was a result of the Council’s 3-2 vote to terminate Town Manager Chris Dorsey’s contract at the Jan. 13 regularly scheduled town meeting. Mayor Bill Lusk, Vice Mayor Susan Robertson and Councilwoman Annette Allen voted in favor of terminating the contract. Councilmen Dick Gee and Bill Wallace voted to the contrary.
“Small town politics as usual,” PatGass Don Hill commented on the news of Dorsey’s firing that was posted to the Signal Mountain Community News Facebook page.
“I would like to know what he did that warranted this action by the Council,” commented Richard Graham.
The reasons
Lusk, Robertson and Allen have declined to give specifics on why they voted to terminate Dorsey’s contract.
“I feel as if the job wasn’t getting done up to expectations; that’s really it in a nutshell,” Lusk said in a phone interview after the vote. “I feel that six months is ample time to determine if someone can do the job or can’t. Folks either have it or they don’t. It’s a sad thing. I feel badly for Chris and his family, but my responsibility is to the town and the residents of the town.”
Some grievances did come to light, however, during the Friday work session that immediately preceded the Monday firing – a contract was misplaced, vacation days were taken but not documented, tasks weren’t completed in a timely manner. Lusk later mentioned that calls from residents weren’t being returned.
Dorsey denied during the work session that some of the grievances noted on his six-month evaluation were true and he attempted to explain others.
Repeated attempts to contact Dorsey after last Monday’s vote were not returned.
“Some of the things I have tried to put in my control and tried to move forward and be proactive and do those things,” Dorsey said during the Friday work session. “Yes, there has been a backlog with some things; trying to catch up on things that were either from the past or try to work through brand-new things that are going on with the town that haven’t happened before.
“I am hopefully pretty much caught up on all of those things,” he continued. “I hope that I still have the chance to be able to show you, for the next six months at least, where I can go with these items.”
The majority of the council, however, didn’t choose to give him another six months.
“There were suggestions that we wait another six months,” Allen said in a follow-up phone interview, “and that might have made us look like more reasonable people, but I don’t think it would have been in the best interest of the town.”
The background
During the Friday work session, Councilmen Dick Gee and Bill Wallace both expressed their support for Dorsey.
“I was not only surprised by the anger in the meeting directed toward [Dorsey], but [also by the] comments given to Judy Frank [who wrote a Chattanoogan.com article recapping events of the work session],” Gee said just a few hours before that Monday’s vote. “No one can pass the 100-percent-perfect test, and unfortunately that’s what [Dorsey’s] been measured by.”
Gee moved that the discussion involving Dorsey’s employment be suspended during the work session until the council could find out if it is legal to have it behind closed doors. The motion was seconded by Wallace but ultimately voted down.
According to Lusk, Dorsey was given an informal evaluation after three months of employment, during which Lusk’s, as well as Robertson’s and Allen’s, concerns were brought up.
Lusk said the council gave Dorsey “every opportunity” to improve in the areas he was lacking. Some things improved in Lusk’s eyes, but not others, he said.
Police Chief Boyd Veal is currently acting as interim town manager. Discussions on hiring a new town manager are forthcoming.