Waynesville leaders interviewed two potential candidates Tuesday night to serve as an interim town manager following the dismissal of Town Manager Marcy Onieal.

Waynesville Town Manager Marcy Onieal was fired last week in a 3-2 split vote by the town board following a nearly two-hour closed-door discussion among board members.

SEE ALSO:
• The full version: Alderman Jon Feichter's explanation behind his vote
• The full version: Town Manager Marcy Onieal's address to the town board

Waynesville Town Manager Marcy Onieal was fired Tuesday night in a 3-2 split vote by the town board following a nearly two-hour closed-door discussion among board members.

Marcy Onieal had mighty big shoes to fill when she walked through the doors of Waynesville’s town hall four years ago as the new manager.

A move afoot by two Waynesville aldermen to push out Town Manager Marcy Onieal might seem incongruous with their campaign message in last month’s town election.

SEE ALSO: Waynesville’s Marcy Onieal faces a double-edged sword daily

When Josh Ward was earning his bachelor’s degree in environmental health, he never thought it would lead him to running a small town government.

After a closed session Monday, the Franklin Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to give Interim Town Manager Summer Woodard a permanent place in town hall. Woodard, who has been acting as town manager since Warren Cabe resigned in May, now has the job for good.

“We were unanimously very pleased with her work,” said Alderman Barbara McRae. “She is very qualified and has been an employee for years.”

Woodard, a Franklin native, received a master’s degree in public administration in 2010 and has worked for the town ever since, including serving as assistant to the town manager under three different managers. As a student, she did an internship that gave her experience working in every town department. 

The board voted to award her the same contract they signed with former manager Warren Cabe, an annual salary of $85,000. They did not go through a search process for the position, agreeing that Woodward was highly qualified and up to speed on everything happening in the town. 

“Since she proved herself, why go through the expense of a major search when we already had a viable candidate in-house?” asked Mayor Bob Scott. 

As part of the same discussion, the board also did some shuffling of positions in town hall, with the moves expected to save about $25,000. Woodard told the board she did not need an assistant but did not want to serve as human resources director, since that could cause a conflict of interest. 

“If you get into a conflict with an employee and the HR director decides something, the employee should have the opportunity to appeal,” McRae said, “and if the town manager and the HR person are the same individual, there’s nobody that you can appeal to.” 

The board gave the human resources job to Chad Simon, who has been working in the front office for several months, splitting the HR job with the town clerk position. Janet Anderson had been doing that job in addition to her responsibilities as finance director but now is continuing solely as finance director. 

“The town has grown and we have to look periodically at positions and how we can operate more efficiently,” Scott said.

— by Holly Kays, staff writer

The search for a new town manager is on in Franklin after Warren Cabe submitted his resignation at the town board’s April meeting. His old job as emergency services director for Macon County came open again, and Cabe applied. He’s already accepted the position and will leave his post as town manager on May 2.