Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Two more Columbia Borough employees resign

The resignation of Finance Manager Tammy Bennett (above) was announced at Tuesday's Columbia Borough Council meeting. Highway maintenance worker Robert Warfel also resigned. 

During last night's Columbia Borough Council meeting, two more employee resignations were announced. 

Finance Manager Tammy Bennett, who also served as the borough's deputy tax collector, has tendered her resignation. Bennett has been with the borough since May 2021. Council voted to hire a temporary accountant to fill the finance manager role until a permanent replacement can be found. Council appointed borough employee Laurie Gerfin-Lutz as deputy tax collector.

Additionally, Robert Warfel, who joined the public works department in July 2022, has resigned. Council voted to advertise for the position.

The resignations follow the recent departure of Borough Manager Mark Stivers, who resigned effective July 3 of this year. Other office personnel have also left the borough since the beginning of the year.

When resident Frank Doutrich asked about the reason for the high turnover, Council President Heather Zink stated that personnel matters could not be discussed. No other explanation was offered for the recent departures. Doutrich said he heard that morale, especially in the office, is bad. “Why are we having such a big turnover of employees?” he asked. 

At the end of last night's meeting, council adjourned to executive session “to discuss personnel matters related to replacement of staff,” according to the meeting agenda.

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