DUNCAN — With no discussion during a special meet Wednesday evening, Duncan Town Manager John Basteen issued a letter of resignation, effective immediately.
The meeting contained two items: discussion and possible action on the continued employment of the town manager and town clerk.
The meeting was called following the town’s annual financial review, where a number of questionable items were highlighted. In a “manager’s report” dated Aug. 18, Basteen offered explanation for 13 of the items in question, such as the issuance of payroll checks with only one signature — town code requires two signatures but the initial checks were in error and a second signatory was unavailable for the reissued checks — and accounts receivables that predate Basteen’s employment.
After the meeting, Basteen told Gila Valley Central why, rather than present his report, he opted to leave the town’s employ.
“I’m just tired,” he said. “It just seems like we’re doing this every two months with this council. They’re just nitpicking and they’re witch-hunting for me. It was decision to quit putting my family through (this) and myself.”
Basteen said he has other job opportunities lined up, thanks to his water operator’s certification.
The Town Council also voted unanimously to terminate Town Clerk Isabel Blancarte effective immediately.
Blancarte was not at the meeting and Mayor Anne Thurman moved to discuss the employee’s future in closed executive session; however, council members Titus Alexander Blake, Deborah Mendelsohn and Jill Warne voted against executive session and discussion was held in open meeting.
Blake said there “is a lack of trust” in the clerk and, because the issues in question are financial in nature, “It usually doesn’t just take one person to get to that point.
“The expert counsel that I received in the past and was given to me within the last two weeks was that anyone that had access to finances while this was going on needs to be removed. Because of the perception of whatever’s going to come out, even if they were clean,” he continued.
Mendelsohn added, “We know we don’t have proof; that’s the whole point. We have evidence.”
Blancarte, who previously served as the town’s billing clerk, was appointed to the position of town clerk at the council’s June 21 meeting, following the resignation of former Town Clerk Cindy Nichols.
Thurman called for another special meeting of the council to be held Friday to address the hiring of an interim town manager.
Both payroll and utility billing are scheduled to take place Thursday. Thurman said payroll should not be impacted, but residents are asked to exhibit patience when it comes to conducting transactions with the town.
“Town Hall is normally closed on Fridays, so tomorrow (Thursday) I believe we’ll probably have to be closed for one or more days. We should have more answers by Friday,” Thurman said.
