Elkins council accepts resignation of recorder/treasurer
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007
ELKINS -- Just minutes before a special meeting by the City Council on Friday afternoon, Norrita Fisher, recorder / treasurer, presented aldermen with a letter of resignation and documents related to her job performance.
Mayor Jack Ladyman announced an executive session to discuss the resignation of the recorder / treasurer shortly after the meeting was called to order.
After a brief executive session, the mayor called the meeting back to order and Alderman Bobby McGarrah motioned to accept Norrita Fisher's resignation. It was seconded by Alderman Bruce Ledford and given unanimous approval by the council. Only Alderman Bonnie Wilcox was absent on the council.
The resignation followed Monday's firing of Fisher as city clerk, a position the recorder / treasurer in Elkins has traditionally held along with the elected position.
"She still remains recorder / treasurer," Ladyman said Monday. However, a special council meeting Tuesday resulted in the council unanimously passing a resolution that reassigned the duties of the city's treasurer to other city administrators. This left Fisher as recorder / treasurer by title only.
Ladyman told the Northwest Arkansas Times and the White River Valley News that he wished to take the city in a differ- ent direction. He did not give any other reason for relieving Fisher of the city clerk duties, nor did council members comment on why they had reassigned duties of the treasurer.
In documents obtained by the White River Valley News through a Freedom of Information request issued Thursday, Fisher had been given a Performance Improvement Plan by the mayor on Sept. 10 that included a written review by Ladyman noting deficiencies in the employee's performance.
The document states that the goals set forth by the mayor must be met for the employee to be taken off the improvement plan. Fisher was given 30 days to meet the goals.
Those goals included monthly income statements for departments, appropriate office hours, job focus, office cleanliness, and six-month financial reports for publication.
In another improvement plan dated Oct. 4, the mayor said he had met with Fisher and "no improvement has been observed since the original PIP meeting."
Fisher disputed the second meeting. "That did not happen," she said.
In written documents given to the council with a letter of resignation, Fisher responded to Ladyman's goals.
She surmised that Ladyman set deadlines for financial reports so he could enter the numbers into a spreadsheet, a step she called unnecessary because the accounting software had the capacity to show the desired information. She also stated that report timeliness was not feasible in some instances.
Additionally, her documents explained her work hours and stated that the mayor lacked authority to supervise her duties as recorder / treasurer.
One of the goals was for her to review financial and other documents with him before they were released from the office. She countered that doing so would be a violation of the FOI per the legal department of the Municipal League in North Little Rock and Elkins' city attorney, Danny Wright.
"I regret the decision the mayor and council has made," Fisher said. "I worked to the best of my ability to try to clear up the financial situation in the city and make it clearer to the citizens."
Fisher was approved by the Elkins council for the recorder / treasurer's position April 19 after the resignation of Peggy Barton, who was elected to the position in 2006.
Ladyman said the city would begin advertising to fill the position. According to state law, the recorder / treasurer must live in the city.
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