COUNCIL TO MEET FRIDAY
ON CITY MANAGER FUTURE
By JIM KEVLIN • for allotsego.com
ONEONTA – The second effort to remove a city manager in as many years will be the topic of a special Common Council meeting scheduled for 6:30 Friday evening in City Hall.
A notice of the meeting was sent out at 6:36 this evening by City Clerk Doug Kendall, alerting the public that Acting Mayor Russ Southard called the meeting at the request of Council members Larry Malone, Mike Lynch, Maureen Hennessy and Madolyn O. Palmer. No particulars were provided.
In an interview this evening, however, Southard said Council intends to vote on a three-month severance package for Murphy, as called for in his contract. “It’s not clear cut how it’s going to come out,” he said. “Who knows if someone’s going to change their minds?”
According to various inputs, however, it was learned that Southard and Hennessy this morning asked City Manager Martin Murphy for his resignation, and he declined to give it.
If Murphy were asked to resign and declined to do so, he would be entitled to a public hearing, the mayor said. Council would then vote on contining the manager or ending the relationship.
