When, on Sunday, May 19, the entire Summerfield town staff collectively and simultaneously announced their resignation – shocking town residents and Town Councilmembers alike – the main reason given was the treatment of Town Manager Scott Whitaker, who had led the town in that position for a dozen years, but wasn’t having his contract renewed by the Town Council.
Soon after the announcement, the Summerfield Town Council called an Emergency meeting for Monday, May 20 that was a closed session followed by an open session that lasted under five minutes.
In the open session, the town council addressed one of the grievances that town staff had stated in their resignation announcement.
The council voted to give the departing Whitaker both severance pay, and the motion the council adopted also allowed Whitaker to continue insurance benefits, which would also help cover his wife who is suffering from cancer.
The closed session lasted over two hours, but the open session was lightning fast. The council voted to pay Whitaker six months’ severance – worth just over $100,000 – and allowed him to continue on the town’s health insurance for six months after he leaves the town government in early June.
The vote in the emergency meeting may have been in hopes that some or all of the town staff might stay; however, town councilmembers did not return calls from the Rhino Times Monday night nor did the councilmembers explain their motivations at the meeting.
The resignation announcement the day before the meeting from town staff included this paragraph: “If they had treated Scott with the dignity and respect he has earned after 12 faithful years as Manager, let him go with his severance from the very beginning, and allowed his wife to continue her cancer treatments with insurance, we would have been sad to see him go; but we would have remained. However, that is not the path they chose.”
If the May 20 vote was a move to keep county staff from resigning, there’s no evidence it was successful. Several sources in Summerfield said the town staff was gone for good no matter what actions the Town Council now takes.
Sounds like something the DEI Greensboro city council would come up with. We have fools too.
The entire staff resigned. All 9 of us, including 7 full and part time and 2 seasonal parks employees.
I’m impressed with the staff in resigning. Doing so as a group and getting other jobs before announcing was a brilliant move. Having the integrity to do this because of your values is so unusual and I admire each of you. Understanding that the manager’s wife will never be able to get medical insurance coverage as she now has a pre-existing condition. The city needs to have a clear policy as to what happens regarding benefits when an employee’s contract is not renewed or is fired because this same situation could happen to anyone hired by Summerfield.
Good on you for standing on your principles.
I don’t live in Summerfield so I don’t know all the facts. However THANK YOU for doing what is RIGHT for Mr. Whitaker and his family. The actions of the town council clearly demonstrate just how clueless and vindictive they are. But you must cut them a little slack because It must be hard for them to see the light of day when their heads are stuck in a place where the sun never shines. It is long past time for city employees and engaged citizens to speak out about all of their governing bodies like town councils, school and library boards, and county governments. The same holds true for state legislators, the governor and other elected officials.
They did the right thing, ONLY after the entire staff resigned, then and only then this unscrupulous group of charlatans called a special meeting to then offer Mr Whitaker the insurance extension for his wife who is sick. This goes far beyond politics, zoning or a Peyton place little towns self entitlement. This move shows the true measure of their ego and absolute lack of character. Their hand was called and you think they did the right thing? Doing the right thing is not when its forced, and not because the perception that one might look bad. This Board all scrambled in the wee hours when they realized they screwed up. Had the entire staff not walked out in solidarity, this Kangaroo Board would’ve never done “the right thing”. In the coming elections they should all be summarily voted out. Surely, there are still some “adults in the room” with a moral compass interested in serving others above themselves. The right thing to do was weeks ago and the Board didn’t do it when they had the chance. They only acted when everyone resigned in a failed attempt to keep them on.