Ada —
A Thursday evening meeting ostensibly slated to terminate or suspend longtime Ada City Manager David Hathcoat generated more questions than answers after Hathcoat resigned.
The city manager did not appear with city council members during the meeting.
Council met approximately one hour in executive session facing an agenda calling for Hathcoat’s firing or suspension. The agenda also contained an item for naming an interim city manager.
Evidently, the likelihood Hathcoat would resign was not considered by agenda-writers for Thursday’s meeting. Since accepting Hathcoat’s resignation was not on the agenda, it would have been unlawful for the council to have acted on it.
However, Hathcoat’s resignation probably was known hours before the termination meeting started.
At 3:47 p.m. Thursday, The Ada News was emailed a brief special meeting agenda of the city council. It merely states the panel will meet at 5 p.m. Monday at Ada City Hall. The agenda was signed by Mayor Dick Scalf and authorized by Ada City Clerk Sally Pool at 3:28 p.m.
It is unknown when the resignation was tendered or when it kicks in.
Mayor Scalf would not release the contents of the letter to news media following the meeting.
However, Mayor Scalf said he expected Hathcoat will attend the Monday meeting to formally resign.
Hathcoat has been dodging bullets concerning his job for two years.
He was confronted by television news reporters while gambling at an tribal casino in 2010. It was not that the 15-year public official was at a casino — it was when he was there.
It was revealed Hathcoat gambled during what was termed “regular city working hours.”
However, Hathcoat successfully argued he essentially was on the job 365 days a year, 24 hours per day. As the city’s chief executive, he argued he worked weekends, holidays and during non-office hours. The council accepted the argument but set forth a series of meetings in which Hathcoat was called upon to explain progress on items he was working on or was heavily involved in. Those meetings have been going on monthly for more than a year.
About 40 residents attended the meeting. Many voiced support for Hathcoat’s efforts to upgrade streets and sewers in the community and lauded his efforts to move the city forward.
Hathcoat is 58. His annual salary with the city is just under $110,000 per year. It is unknown if Hathcoat could retire and begin collecting benefits from his years of service with the city.
Calls to Hathcoat for comment were not answered.
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