Township manager, office worker out in Robinson
About a year and a half after hiring them, Robinson Township supervisors terminated the township manager and a part-time office worker during a special meeting Thursday.
In a series of unanimous votes, supervisors voted on motions to “separate” manager Monica Miller and administrative assistant Debbie Amrhein with severance offers, effective immediately. The three-member board also voted to hire a new manager and look for a replacement for Amrhein.
Supervisors Chairman Rodger Kendall cited confidentiality rules when asked about the reasons for the moves.
“I can’t tell you – no matter what somebody did or didn’t do – (an employer) can’t tell you that,” Kendall said Friday.
An assistant from a temporary staffing agency was filling in Friday in the township offices. Kendall said Crystal Brown of South Franklin, whom supervisors voted to hire with a $45,000 salary, will start Monday as township manager if she accepts the offer.
Kendall refused to discuss the details of the severance offers to Miller and Amrhein before the former employees agree to the terms.
“At the moment, until that’s settled, I can’t comment,” he said. “If they do sign off on it, then it’ll become a public document.”
Miller was a full-time employee with a salary of $50,000, according to Kendall. Amrhein was paid about $14 an hour and worked five-hour days.
Miller was the fourth manager in the rural township in about six years. The McDonald native was hired in March 2016 to replace Erin Sakalik, who’d resigned a month earlier after 19 months on the job. Sakalik had replaced Michael Behrens, who was terminated in March 2014 after less than two years as township manager and zoning officer. Behrens was let go two months after Kendall and now-former supervisor Stephen Duran joined the board. Behrens’ predecessor, Richard Ward, was on the job less than a year.
Kendall said supervisors chose not to advertise for a new manager because they wanted to avoid having the position vacant for months. Kendall said township solicitor Gretchen Moore advised that supervisors “would be OK” handling the hiring in that manner. Moore didn’t return a call Friday.