Hope Council opts not to renew town manager contract

Hope is without a town manager, as of the start of the year.

The Town Council voted last night 2-3 against simply renewing the contract for current town manager J.T. Doane. Instead, the dissenting council members said they wanted to open the contract to bids.

However, there is no process in place yet on how they will solicit bids, or a timeline of when or if that might happen, according to council members Nellie Meek, Ed Johnson and Council President Ohmer Miller.

Doane said that he needs to evaluate what to do next, but he also is proud of his achievements in Hope.  After the meeting, he touted bringing Hope Wellness Pharmacy and Studebaker International to the community, as well as quality of life initiatives such as town cleanup projects and the grant dollars he applied for and brought to the community.

The Town Council has been wrangling over the town manager contract with Meek, Johnson and Miller asking for more oversight of the town manager position . They wanted to cement working hours and determine which after-work commitments counted as town business or not. Johnson said that for his part, the contract changes were not aimed at Doane in particular. However, he also made the suggestion to put the contract out to bid instead of awarding it to Doane.

Doane said he did not know beforehand what the council members intended to do with the contract.

Doane said that the decision to put the town manager contract out to bid was something he had never heard of before.

Doane said he had no comment on whether he planned to submit a bid for the town manager contract.

Several members of the audience were angry at the council’s decision. They shouted at the council members and stormed out of the meeting.

Council members Clyde Compton and Jerry Bragg strongly defended Doane and his work for the community and spoke against a decision to put the contract out to bid.