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February 28, 2006

Rusk mayor given city manager duties

City council approves temporary status, 3-1

By Lauren LaFleur

RUSK — Rusk City Council gave Mayor Suzann McCarty authority to perform the duties of the city manager in a 3-1 vote Monday night.

Councilmember Donald Woodard was absent from the meeting, and McCarty abstained from voting.

Councilmember Ruth Ross was the lone dissenting vote.

“My understanding is we already have an assistant manager — (Police Chief) Ronnie Miller was assistant manager before now,” Ross said after City Attorney Forrest Phifer’s explanation that the resolution allows McCarty the authority to perform the city manager’s duties without the title or pay.

Phifer explained that Miller was only to take the place of the city manager in the city manager’s absence, but the position was now considered vacant since Kevin Bowden’s resignation was accepted by the council on Feb. 24, thus allowing the council to pass the resolution.

Ross asked about Article 4 of the Rusk City Charter, which states that no council member or the mayor can perform administrative duties.

“We are not appointing the mayor as city manager,” Phifer said, adding that as long as the council approved the resolution, the mayor could perform the day-to-day operations the city manager would normally perform.

“There is a need for someone to carry on those duties ... until such a time as the city hires a city manager,” Phifer said. “This is just, kind of, to cover your assets.”

Miller said he and McCarty had discussed the matter at length, and when asked by Councilmember Don Jones if he was comfortable with the passage of the resolution, Miller said yes.

“I’d rather table this until we had a full council,” Ross said.

McCarty said she had spoken to Woodard at length earlier Monday about the manner.

“I talked to Donny about this,” McCarty said. “He’s in favor of it.”

Jones, Mayor Pro Tem Walter Session and Councilmember Bobby Thrash voted in favor of the resolution.

In other business, the council voted 5-0 to promote Doris Robinson, city employee, to the position of the city’s bookkeeper for a six-month trial period.

Rusk City Council regularly meets at 5 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the council chambers, 408 North Main St. The meetings are open to the public and include a time for citizen input.

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