Robbins Board Forcing Manager Out

George Hayfield, town manager of Robbins, resigned from his position Jan. 13 after being told that he must either resign or be fired by the Robbins Town Board. Photo by Hannah Sharpe

By John Chappell

As of Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Robbins will fire its town manager if he doesn’t resign first, Mayor Lonnie English said Friday.

Town Manager George Hayfield initially said he wouldn’t quit without a severance package. Later in the day, he submitted his letter of resignation to English, who — after speaking by telephone with several commissioners — indicated he thought it would be accepted by the board, Hayfield said.

“I am hereby giving my resignation, effective this day, Jan. 13, 2012, as town manager of the town of Robbins due to the majority of council giving me a vote of no confidence in closed session on Jan. 12, 2012,” Hayfield wrote. “I am giving this resignation on condition of being paid salary through March 15, 2012.

“I appreciate the opportunity to have served the town of Robbins for the past three years and wish the town all the best in the future. I am available for questions by the interim on projects that are at a critical juncture.”

While the letter said the resignation was effective Friday, the commissioners would have to vote to accept it, either in a regular meeting or one specially called.

English, who took over as mayor last month, came to Hayfield’s office Friday morning to tell him he could either resign or be terminated. He gave Hayfield to the end of the day to remove his personal belongings from the town hall.

The surprise move came despite an announcement by English that the board “took no action” in a closed session Thursday night at its regular January meeting. State law requires that votes by town boards take place only in open sessions, but no such action took place Thursday.

Instead, based on an apparent expression of sentiment by a majority of board members in favor of dismissing Hayfield, English sought a letter of resignation from the manager.

“What they wanted me to do, the council, was to talk to him and see if he would resign,” English said. “I did not come in there and fire him. I just told him that the council told me to come in there and ask him if he’d resign, because they were — what was it? — his characteristics were not working for them.”

English did as the board asked.

“I went in and asked him if he would resign, because the board asked me to do that,” he said. “I did tell him the council had their mind made up.”

No final action was taken in that closed session, according to English.

“They didn’t take a vote on it, as far as voting,” English said. “That’s what they all together agreed. They had three votes or more to get rid of him. We felt like it would be in his best interests instead of having ‘terminated’ on his (record) to ask him if he would resign. That’s what I did.

“We asked our lawyer, and he said if he would resign, that might be the best way to handle it. That’s the reason I had the lawyer here in the closed session.”

Doug Gill, of Southern Pines, is the town attorney, but he made no comment on the matter.

“I know the majority of the board wanted to get rid of him, had made their mind up that they were going to fire him,” English said. “We knew we couldn’t make that decision back here. I was trying to save face for George.”

Town and county managers are frequently dismissed, and job loss is considered one of the hazards of the profession. Hayfield said it would make little or no difference to him professionally whether he resigned or was terminated.

He said it will likely hurt the town. He said there are many matters in play of a complicated nature that need immediate and continuing attention.

“There are many things that need to be done on our grant for the new fire station,” Hayfield said. “There is the clean water grant we might be able to get together in time to meet the Feb. 29 deadlines. I doubt anybody new could come in here and get those done in time.”

Robbins stands to lose the federal grant for its new fire station, and is nearly certain to lose a $1.5 million matching grant — at 20 cents on the dollar — the town recently qualified to receive from the state, he said.

“I am not going to resign without a separation package,” Hayfield said Friday afternoon as he prepared to write a letter offering to resign with conditions including such a package. “I am not going to quit. They can fire me if they want to.”

Former Mayor Theron Bell said she was heartbroken about the way the board acted.

“I am very disappointed in the events of this day,” she said in a telephone interview. “That the board has asked our manager to resign or be fired? This is the first meeting of the new year. I am not surprised, but I am very disappointed.”

Dismissing the first experienced town manager in the town’s history will hurt Robbins, Bell said.

“That would have an adverse effect on this town, but that’s just my opinion,” Bell said. “All I ask is for people to be fair, and I do not think this has been fair. I thought it was supposed to be done fairly — I mean publicly. The board is supposed to come out to the public and announce a letter of resignation or that they intend to fire the town manager. I am for open meetings. I have never liked closed sessions, closed meetings.”

In the past year, the commissioners rejected a proposal that a few of its members meet privately with a few county commissioners about a water deal — with the public excluded.

“Everything in this town belongs to the citizens of the town of Robbins,” Bell said. “It does not belong to a very few commissioners or people or the mayor. It belongs to all the people of the town of Robbins. Everything should be done in open session. It is getting more and more bizarre. It is just unbelievable, the events of this day.”

Contact John Chappell at jfchappell@gmail.com.

More like this story

difflook 1 year, 4 months ago

Things change, it appears the people spoke at the election, doesnt matter what past board members think, they had their time, now its in the hands of others, I was told by Robbins business owners that they had never seen or been spoken to by the town manager, its been done, so all there should join together and do their best, not debate what should or shouldnt have been done.

cantstandya 1 year, 4 months ago

Have no idea of the politics of Robbins but did like the statement made by Mrs Bell that it belonged to the citizans of Robbins and not a few commissioners,if our own federal government was under those same restrictions and more citizan input was taken into consideration not just a few advocates or lobbyist things would certainley be different.

Green 1 year, 4 months ago

Terri I totally agree with you. The people have spoken! Keep up the good work in Town.

kst101 1 year, 4 months ago

Closed sessions are used to protect the employees personal information as was done here.

Satch2929 1 year, 4 months ago

I take exception to the headline. The Pilot seems to be picking sides. When a newspaper uses the word "forcing" in any headline, the reader is already primed for the negative. The article is slanted in the negative toward the Town of Robbins. John Chappell's opinion is evident and therefore the slant. Right or wrong, the Town will move on.

bubbasmith 1 year, 4 months ago

Looks like the Town tried to let the manager go peacefully instead of making a spectacle out of him but Mrs.Bell made a spectacle out of him and herself.

mcguy1 1 year, 4 months ago

The town commissioners have not made a wise decision at this point. Two major grants, that would greatly improve the town, are now left hanging. Without anyone else that had the know how or authority to handle them then the grants are now useless, might as well consider them lost.

bubbasmith 1 year, 4 months ago

@mcguy1- Mr Hayfield said" I am available for questions by the interim on projects that are at a critical juncture.” This was in exchange for additional pay. Also, Commissioner Davis has a lot of experience on projects like this, so the Town will be in good shape.

tarheelborn 1 year, 4 months ago

Well... Finally looks like the Town of Robbins is moving forward. The previous Pilot story mentions that one of our county commissioners visited the Robbins town meeting, stating he was not there to answer questions, only to let the town know, Moore County is ready for a deal for their Water and Sewer facilities. Nothing in the updated story mentions this. However, this is Great News, for various reasons. (1). Given this very bad economic recession, we are committing and spending our local money with local people on local resources. (2). There is now No Need to look outside Moore County for Water, therefore Disallowing ANY Outside Sources or Powers To Be, which would hold Moore County hostage and trying to Control Us! Kudos to Moore County and the Town of Robbins!

mcguy1 1 year, 4 months ago

@bubbasmith - No where in this article does it state that information. You also have to have someone there that has the legal authority to sign papers and financial. Even though Davis has experience, he nor the other 4 commissioners, is going to step up and make the phone calls, fill out the needed paperwork, or sign on the dotted line when needed. So the grants are still left hanging, they are not going to finish themselves.

bubbasmith 1 year, 4 months ago

@mcguy1- Scroll up to the forth paragraph, I copied and pasted it so it is there.

difflook 1 year, 4 months ago

other employees, or contracted staff can carry on grants, any grant is not dependent on one person seems the writer must be a fan, i was told that when he FIRED the former Finance officer she didnt get a severance pacjkage and he fought her for WEEKS for her unemplyment, even though she put $3,000.00!! of her OWN money in a town account to cover a check he had written!!!

difflook 1 year, 4 months ago

Im sure that the town has appinted somneone to be the interim manager!

MooreNorth 1 year, 4 months ago

This story has been a long time coming. In fact, too long. Good luck Mr Hayfield. I'm sure some town out there needs a grant seeker. Robbins needs a manager.

mcguy 1 year, 4 months ago

I, for one, am very excited about George's departure. I have been very involved in matters of the community for years and every interaction with George has been left something to be desired. It wasn't that he was particularly bad, but there was nothing remarkable about him either. The town must find someone who will be aggressive in his advocacy projects. We need a manager who will make economic revitalization and safety the number top areas of focus for our town. We have gotten alot of publicity recently but little of it has been in the way of significant economic achievement. We need to make the teir system battle number one. We need volunteers to advocate the legislature....and we need a many who will work hard on these mangers. We have had someone with little expirance before and it didn't work. We have hired a passive puppet most recently and it has not worked. We need a leader as a town manager. We need someone with people skills, innovation, knowledge, and well, guts to try knew things. This is a golden opportunity for Robbins!

riverrat 1 year, 4 months ago

True, George has been a manager who brought in grants to improve services. Hard to call that a bad thing in a town with limited resources! He was an active part of the community - and he offered good ideas to improve Robbins - the positive changes were noticeable over the last few years. The new council could at least have taken time to assess the state of the town before they took this action.