.jpg)
NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera King. Cutline: The New Smyrna Beach City Commission voted "no confidence" in City Manager John Hagood in September, but stopped short of terminating him or asking him to resign.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Perhaps the only thing that saved New Smyrna Beach City Manager John Hagood's job when the City Commission voted a "no confidence" in his performance Sept. 23, was the fact he would have received a $300,000 severance.
The so-called "no confidence" vote was 3-2 with Mayor Sally Mackay leading the way with support from Commissioners Lynne Plaskett and Randy Richenberg. Commissioners Jack Grasty and Jim Hathaway voted against it.
Hagood came prepared for the expected vote with a resignation letter in hand, outlining what the city would have had to pay him to fulfill its contractual agreements for the 27-year employee, but otherwise stayed out of the fray.
The commission's vote stopped short of termination or accepting resignation, standing pat with the 3-2 vote to support "no confidence in the city manager as it stands" after a less than stellar evaluation of his work.
"We are not getting the management we need," Mackay said, adding she wanted Hagood to consider hiring an assistant to deal with more than a hundred ongoing city projects. Hathaway countered the majority view was overlooking the cost factors involved in hiring additional personnel when the city was forced to cut more than $1 million from its 2008-'09 municipal budget.