BY CERI LARSON DANES • STAFF WRITER • NOVEMBER 15, 2008
EXMORE -- The town manager here has notified elected officials that he will resign his position by the end of the month.
Herb Gilsdorf has prepared a letter to council members and Mayor Guy Lawson to be included in their agenda packets at Monday night's meeting.
In the letter, Gilsdorf refers to a recent facsimile communication -- one of many he said comprise an untenable amount -- indicating the 7 p.m. meeting would be "replete with lawyers and video cameras" because of a conflict between him and Councilman David Scanlan about the latter's utility bills.
At last month's council session Scanlan and Gilsdorf had a heated exchange on the topic -- Scanlan believed some residents were being singled out with bills because of their opposition to town actions, while other bills are forgiven.
Gilsdorf said he had twice paid Scanlan's bills, and the argument ended with Gilsdorf walking out of the meeting just before it was adjourned.
The situation is part of the last straw for Gilsdorf, who also said in his letter that fax communications from Scanlan and a group of citizens who act as government watchdogs last week asked for piles of paperwork.
The documents amounted to 167 pages of response to requests for information about Exmore's accounting and copies of canceled checks, which Gilsdorf referred to as "entertainment" for the individuals who made the request.
"Over the past two years the town staff has spent hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars humoring these people," he read from his letter in a Thursday telephone interview.
"This is typical 19th Century management policy. If you want to get rid of someone, give them impossible tasks, heap on insults and threats and keep it up day after day. Regrettably, it works," he stated in the letter.
Gilsdorf said fax requests for information from the group --referring to Scanlan and others as "fax mavens" -- were coming in at a rate of a half dozen a day, saying, "It got to the ridiculous point."
Scanlan said he made some of the information requests Gilsdorf refers to in his letter after the resignation. Other requests were made, he said, because the matters are not addressed in council meetings.
"If I'm the one who caused him to leave, I just feel like I need this information to do my job as a councilman," he said, adding that audits and financial reports have not been done and other projects are in process.
"If the town manager is leaving, what are we supposed to do?" Scanlan said.
He was preparing a draft letter response, which was not complete at press time.
Mayor Guy Lawson supported Gilsdorf, saying he is "one of the best things that has ever happened to Exmore."
"I'm going to miss him in two ways; as a manager because of the good job he did, and as a personal friend," Lawson said. "He has brought Exmore a long way in the short time that he's been here."
Gilsdorf, who earns $54,000, has 47 years of experience in town management and was previously the city manager for Ann Arbor, Mich. -- population 120,000 -- among other posts.
He retired several years ago and moved to the Shore, working for three years as the zoning administrator in Onley before taking the top spot in Exmore.
"All we do is dance with the fax machine; it's half our jobs," he said.
Gilsdorf currently has no plans for other employment and said he was not actively looking for work.
Despite his departure, he called his nearly two years as manager "enjoyable," and thinks Exmore is poised for more growth, especially once the real estate market turns around.
"We've done a lot. We brought in Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, and we've got a good solid shot to get Lowes," he said, adding that three subdivision are already platted and ready to go.
The town's wastewater plant has been in full health department compliance for several months and the state water withdrawal permits are complete.
"We have been in the growth business here," he said. "It's a challenging place. A lot is going on and more is going to happen and I have enjoyed every minute of being here."
Gilsdorf's advice for the next town manager?
"Disconnect the fax."
