Friday, May 2, 2008

Corinth city leadership shakeup: “Everything’s OK,” says spokesperson

By John P. Meyer

It's all over the (North Texas) news: in the Denton County community of Corinth, occupiers of three high-level positions have suddenly flown the coop. I phoned public information officer Frank Lott to find out what's going on.

According to Lott, the former police chief simply retired after a long career; the fire chief got a more lucrative job offer (and thus quit); and the city manager - well, that's a different kettle of fish, it appears.

Says Randy McIwain in this nbc5i story, City Manager Clovia English "quit because city council wouldn't give her money to conduct a search for police and fire chief." But judging by this writeup in the Denton Record-Chronicle, something more seems likely to be involved.

Captain Ed Norton, interim Police Chief of Corinth

English, who settled with the city on April 24 under terms whereby she receives a $192,322 lump sum and a positive reference letter, had eight months remaining on her contract - but the balance remaining on her contract (based on another eight months service) would have been $80,000. And the mayor wouldn't comment to Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe (the Denton RC reporter) on the reason for the additional payout, citing a gag order.

Mr. Lott went on to tell me that management personnel in all city departments are trained to step into next-level positions as the need arises; in the police department, for example, the top three officers should be able to run the department in the chief's absence without hiccup. (That number is currently down to two, of course, given that Captain Ed Norton has been pulled up from the ranks to serve as Interim Chief.)

"There are perfectly capable people in the interim spots," concluded Lott. "We're in good hands."

Related stories

• 2008 Corinth election results (May 11, 2008)
• Pegasus News Week in View: Non-presidential election edition (May 8, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Politics and Government > City Government > Corinth

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