Chaffee official blurts out resignation at meeting, may reconsider

CHAFFEE, Mo. — Eric Hicks said stress is the reason he blurted out a resignation at Chaffee's special city council meeting Thursday night.

Hicks, the city's director of public works since 2000, said "more than one person" told him the city council would likely fire him in response to a homeowner's complaint about a drainage ditch he'd dug.

The board spent most of the meeting discussing such issues as time clocks and job descriptions.

As Mayor Loretta Mohorc announced the meeting was adjourned, Hicks rose to speak. But the meeting was over, she and several council members said. Hicks continued to speak, saying he was giving two weeks' notice. He stormed out of the room, followed by several of the 24 people present.

Hicks said later he's in the middle of a 10-day medical leave for stress.

His sister, Loretta Below, said her brother spoke in the heat of the moment and that she planned to ask him to reconsider.

"The general public is going to have to make up my mind for me. If I get a show of support, I will probably keep this job," Hicks said in a phone interview an hour after the meeting. "As I stand here this moment, I'm still a little mad."

Hicks said Councilman Jack Nordin — the man who urged Hicks to accept the city job eight years ago — now wants him out. The two men said Thursday they'd been friends for years but had a falling out four years ago. This year, Hicks' wife competed with Nordin for the Ward 4 council seat. Eric Hicks said Nordin has been trying to get him fired ever since their fight.

Nordin said that "is definitely not true."

"We just need to get some control," he said, referring to city workers. "You don't have to be like a little baby, if you don't get everything you want, and grab your toys and go home."

Mohorc said Hicks is a hard worker and a good person.

During the meeting, Councilman Ron Moyer asked that specific job descriptions be added to the city's personnel policy book and suggested making all employees except police officers use a form to report daily tasks and expenses.

When resident Mark Bowen asked if that was an effort to micromanage city workers, city attorney David Summers advised board members not to answer the question.

Mohorc assigned council members to committees to review job descriptions and report back at the Aug. 18 meeting. Councilman Tom Cunningham said it's a project that "should have been done years ago."

The city council agreed to drop its pursuit of taking possession of a property for back taxes, to add a time clock to track workers' time and to ask the animal control officer to attend a meeting at which his pay will be reviewed. The board also approved using notes from nurse practitioners for the city's sick leave policy.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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Highlights from Chaffee City Council's special meeting, 8/7/08

NOTE: The video contains strong language that may be offensive.

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