West York searches for new borough manager

• “With a major heavy heart and sadness today, I make the motion that we accept Linda Diaz’s, borough manager, resignation as of July 19,” council member Brian Wilson said.
• Mayor Shawn Mauck said the borough shouldn't repeat the same pattern and exhaust someone else.

West York Borough Council members are looking for a clutch manager.

With a 6-to-1 vote on July 16, the council approved outgoing manager Linda Diaz’s resignation.

Diaz was hired in February 2017.

She is leaving at a time when the borough’s finances are being scrutinized by council members and the state Auditor General’s Office, which announced recently that it’s auditing the borough’s use of Liquid Fuels Funds between 2016 and early 2018.

More:Auditor general to probe West York's Liquid Fuels Fund

More:West York audits show borough in disarray; council members seek forensic probe

Diaz did not say why she was resigning at the council’s second regular July meeting.

“With a major heavy heart and sadness today, I make the motion that we accept Linda Diaz’s ... resignation as of July 19,” Councilman Brian Wilson said.

Following the vote — council member Richie Stahle voted no — Wilson made a motion to use the borough solicitor to vet and interview interested candidates.

“We can’t have politics play into this,” he said. “We need a borough manager who is going to be strong, not only for the employees but also for the residents.”

Wilson said employees shouldn’t be micromanaged, adding the best way to approach local government is to stay “out of the business, allow the business to come to us.”

“We vote yes or no,” he said.

Council members Alan Vandersloot and Mary Wagner voted no.

They said the borough manager reports to the council and that he or she should be selected and hired by them.

“It’s our job,” Vandersloot said. “They report to us. They don’t report to anyone else. It’s our job to interview those candidates. … We are all going to succeed as a council, or we’re going to fail.”

He emphasized that he thought the council “failed.”

“We should not have a resignation at this time,” Vandersloot said.

Mayor Shawn Mauck said he agreed with Wilson’s motion. The borough shouldn't repeat the same pattern and exhaust someone else, he said.

It should hire “someone with the adequate background and ability to understand accounting and auditing,” he explained.

“The state is very good at creating a lot of unfunded work that we have to comply with,” Mauck said. “When you don’t have someone with that experience, you fall behind. We need to find someone who understands what the standard is. This borough is very complicated.”