Powder Springs seeking new manager
Powder Springs is looking for a city manager again.
Mayor Pat Vaughn has handled the job since November 2008, when former City Manager Charles Nickerson was placed on leave. After the city fired Nickerson, he filed a breach of contract lawsuit.
That suit was dropped last November with neither side having to pay the other’s attorney fees.
“He decided to let it go, and we decided to let it go,” Vaughn said. “We didn’t pursue [the search] actively for a while because we didn’t know how the lawsuit would turn out.”
The city complained Nickerson had not kept the council informed about the Powder Springs’ financial situation, such as not telling the council about delinquent payments in an intergovernmental agreement with Cobb County.
Nickerson, now economic development director for the Texarkana, Tex., Chamber of Commerce, didn’t say much about the lawsuit’s outcome.
“From my perspective it’s over,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’ve moved back home. I just chalked it up to experience and moved on.”
Vaughn said Powder Springs will start advertising the city manager’s job soon. She said the city will offer a salary to be $106,000, the same amount paid Nickerson, though the amount could change depending on an applicant’s qualifications. The city will conduct the search rather than hire an outside firm.
Vaughn had to take charge when floods hit the west Cobb city of 15,000 in September, damaging dozens of houses.
“She puts in a lot of hours in city hall and takes care of a lot of business,” said council member Rosalyn Neal. “But we do need a city manager, and that’s what we want to do this year.”
When asked the hiring timeline, Neal said, “ASAP.”
Vaughn, mayor since 2004, has done the job before. She served as acting city manager from late 2005, when Dane Perry was dismissed, until April 2007, when Nickerson was hired.
