Weaverville – Weaverville Town Council emails keep revealing what’s going on inside the council. A May 31 resignation letter did not indicate why Weaverville Town Attorney Jennifer Jackson resigned. Yet a later email did. On June 6, Jackson wrote this email to the town council without copying Weaverville Town Manager Selena Coffey in on it:
“As part of a transition plan, specific thought should be given to how the updating of the town manager’s employment agreement is to be handled going forward. This updating of Coffey’s agreement seemed to have been initiated by Town Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons and then-Vice Mayor Catherine Cordell (see last week’s issue).
“The primary reason for my resignation is directly related to my involvement with the town manager, so I can no longer remain objective with regard to her employment with the town or her contract. This means that, ethically, I can no longer represent town council in the negotiation of her contract,” Jackson goes on to state. “One option that you may wish to consider is continuing her current contract (at whatever salary level approved by town council) until such time as a new town attorney is on board to pick this backup. Another option is to contract with an employment law attorney to work on this specific matter.”
Vice Mayor John Chase responded to Jackson’s email a few hours later, saying, “Thanks for the candid email. I understand Woodfin has outside independent counsel for both the town and land planning. I believe this could be good for Weaverville given the growth pressures we are experiencing and suggest we send out RFPs (requests for proposals) as soon as we can so town council can review, discuss, and get an attorney retained…”
Other emails showed the process was moving forward on Coffey’s contract. In a May 17 email from Councilwoman Michele Wood to Jackson, Wood said, “I’ve read through this Town Manager job description from Ms. Rockoff (Coffey’s attorney} several times. It is quite specific and thorough and outlines job expectations quite clearly…I suggest we adopt this document from Selena’s attorney and do away with the expectations document that is causing us all so much time and unrest. We need to resolve this and move on to more important town issues.”
Chase agreed in a May 19 email to Wood, stating, “I also agree that the job description is thorough and acceptable.”
In another email from Rockoff she stated that Coffey was asking for $147,000 in annual salary, less than that of the Black Mountain town manager ($161,331), but more than that of Woodfin’s ($144,447) and Biltmore Forest’s ($140,000).
In a June 7 email to the council, Cordell asked, “Is this Day One of the complete breakdown of all trust and respect within the work environment or did it happen weeks before? Please kindly read again with open eyes. Who, What, Where, When. How we move forward is still completely up to All of us.”
In a June 14 email, Cordell denies trying to remove Coffey, “One other point I would like to make to Councilman Dee Lawrence, your statement that I read in the paper because you did not respect me enough to copy there appears to be a concerted effort to remove the current town manager was absolutely wrong and off base. I have never suggested this and I have not been present if anyone else did. I suggested for our current town manager to have office hours that we as council members or the public could count on. I suggested that our current town manager visit our largest tax-paying business. I suggested for our current town manager to plan for the future and hire a planner who can be forward thinking and help develop long-term views.”
On advice from her medical doctor, Coffey is currently on leave from what she describes as “a hostile work environment.”
A June 19 email from Weaverville Fire Chief Scottie Harris offered a word of encouragement to Coffey, saying: “I just wanted to take a moment to say Thank you for all the Blood, sweat, and tears you pour into making not only me a better department head but helping and encouraging all our staff. I know there are a ton of sacrifices that go on behind the scenes that some of us can’t even imagine the hours that go into what it takes. I, for one, am grateful for your leadership and enjoy getting to be part of your leadership team.”