Hope council members want more oversight of town’s manager

Members of the Hope Town Council are looking for changes to their contract with the Hope Town Manager.

The contract is due for renewal and Town Council President Ohmer Miller, along with council members Ed Johnson and Nellie Meek said they want changes including making the contract for one year at a time with the ability to terminate at any time with a 30 day notice. They are also looking for performance reviews, more accountability for how the town manager spends his time and mandating more interaction with the town’s not-for-profit groups.

Town Attorney Scott Andrews said that some of the contract details are mandated under state law. For example, a town can either have a manager hired and fired at the will of the council, or have a contract with a set expiration date, but not both. And a list of duties for the town manager were taken from state statutes.

Several audience members said they were happy with the way Town Manager J.T. Doane is doing his job.

Andrews will work on changes suggested by the council and an executive session will be scheduled to go over those.