The Newport City Council voted abruptly this week to dismiss interim city manager Karen Geraghty, bringing the city back to square one in its ongoing attempts to fill the position for the long term.
The decision to oust Geraghty after four months on the job was made at a special council meeting Monday. A vote on the matter had not been listed in the original meeting agenda posted on the city’s website.
The ouster follows weeks of debate between the interim city manager and the city council over the respective duties of newly elected Mayor Linda Joy Sullivan, Geraghty and the councilors. Earlier this year, a similar dispute resulted in the surprise resignation of Sullivan’s predecessor as mayor, Beth Barnes.
The topic was added to the agenda at the beginning of Monday’s meeting, according to a recording posted online. After deliberating in an executive session that was closed to the public, the city council voted 3-2 to terminate Geraghty, effective Oct. 27, and did not offer an explanation to the public for their votes or for the decision in general.
In an email to VTDigger, Sullivan declined to comment on the matter. “We’re in the middle of a process that’s really important to the future of our city and discretion is a must,” she wrote.
Councilor Clark Curtis likewise declined to comment in an email to VTDigger, saying only that he wished Geraghty the best in her next endeavor. The other city councilors — Kevin Charboneau, John Wilson and Chris Vachon — did not respond to voicemails or emails requesting comment.
In an emotional speech at the end of Monday’s meeting, Geraghty acknowledged she’d had disagreements with councilors, but said she harbored “no bad feelings” toward the council for its decision.
Geraghty also urged residents to overcome an atmosphere of hostility that she said had plagued Newport’s public meetings in recent years.
“I would ask that the community really think about how we as a community can come together more and stop going after each other for the littlest infraction,” Geraghty said.
She did not respond to voicemails or emails requesting comment.
Geraghty was appointed interim city manager in late June following the retirement of Laura Dolgin, who’d been the city manager since 2015.
Geraghty had been in contract negotiations with the council for the permanent position when the council abruptly voted at an Oct. 16 meeting against hiring her, citing “concerns about the candidate’s ability to work collaboratively with the city council.” Immediately following that vote, the mayor indicated that Geraghty would remain the interim city manager until the council voted otherwise.
The decision not to hire Geraghty for the permanent position came shortly after she issued an open letter to the council and the “voters and taxpayers of the City of Newport.” In the letter, which is posted on the city website, Geraghty identified what she sees as points of “significant conflict and tension” in the various city and state policies and laws that define the roles of Newport’s mayor, city manager and councilors. Those tensions became an issue during the contract negotiations as a result of debate over the city manager job description.
At the Oct. 16 meeting, Sullivan expressed vehement frustration over Geraghty’s letter. “I disagree with a lot of the characterizations and statements of supposed fact made in the letter,” Sullivan said. She said she viewed the letter as an attempt by the interim city manager to “expand her authority.”
When the earlier meeting was opened for public comment at various intervals, Newport residents took turns expressing their anger at the different parties involved. Some denounced the council for its treatment of Geraghty or expressed their frustration with the city’s inability to find a long-term city manager. Others took issue with Geraghty’s letter and her contract negotiations, with one calling Geraghty’s actions an attempt at “a hostile takeover” of the city government.
Monday’s meeting was similarly turbulent. While some residents at the meeting supported the council’s decision to terminate Geraghty, several expressed outrage about what they perceived to be an unexpected move by the council.
When the floor opened for public comment, one resident called the process “disgusting” and accused the council of acting behind the public’s back. Another said the lack of transparency in the decision-making process marked “a dark day” for Newport.
For now, the council’s plan to fill the role of city manager remains murky. At Monday night’s meeting, the council voted to formally begin a new search for candidates for city manager. With Geraghty departing Oct. 27 and the next council meeting set for Nov. 6, the process for appointing a new interim city manager was unclear.
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