HOPE — Main Street of Hope Executive Director Susan Thayer Fye is stepping down from the post.
When the first president of the organization, the late chiropractor Dr. Gregory Sweet, asked Thayer Fye to become executive director, she promised to stay for two years.
“It’s now four years,” Thayer Fye said.
But Fye said she will wait until her organization’s board of directors find a suitable successor before she leaves the job.
Thayer Fye was hoping that the Hope Town Council would combine the position of Main Street executive director with the position of town manager that is now being considered.
After going over two years without a town manager, the council has set a deadline to receive applications from candidates until the March 16th council meeting.
But town council president Jerry Bragg said he believes when a new town manager is hired, that person will already have enough work on their plate.
“I think Susan has talked about all the paperwork she has to do in order to write the grants,” council member Ed Johnson said. “That’s going to take away hours from the town manager when he should be out talking with people and businesses about their needs.”
Another concern was that if the two positions are combined, Hope residents might get the misunderstanding that Main Street of Hope is a municipal organization. In reality, it’s part of a state program administered by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural affairs.
No vote was taken at Tuesday’s work session, but Bragg said he will not support having the two positions combined.
Currently, the town manager has the authority to hire and fire employees written in the job description. But on Tuesday, council members said they believe individual department supervisors should have the ultimate authority, and the council should step in only in cases where a resolution between the town manager and departmental manager can’t be worked out.
Council members said the job description states the town manager “should solicit customer feedback to improve services.” In recent meetings, council members said they want to specifically state that the manager should call on every business in the town of 2,200 residents at least twice a year. That was repeated during Tuesday’s meeting.
Another change being considered is that each candidate for the town manager position must pass a background and security check. owever, a financial check won’t be necessary, according to town attorney Scott Andrews, because a town manager is already required by state law to go through a bond check before they can handle public money. That means the person will be assessed for any risk they might pose in handling public funds, as well as be required to reach a certain level on a personal credit score.
During Tuesday’s discussion, most council members said they would support the town manager providing a monthly report due on the Friday before a regular council meeting. While all town administrators have that same requirement, there is still discussion on the town council regarding whether the manager should also provide a weekly report.
Rather than increasing the paperwork, both Johnson and Bragg said they want very detailed reports from the town manager that is updated with the latest information the council needs to know.
Whether it’s weekly or monthly, Andrews urged that a specific description of “regular reports” be included in the job description.
