Leesville mayor: Firing prompted by errors
Published 7:45 am Wednesday, October 15, 2014
LEESVILLE — Mayor Rick Allen said Tuesday that the firing of Courtney Christian from her post as city administrator was prompted by a series of errors, including her failure to ensure the city’s master bank account was reconciled for more than a year and her being too lenient with the public works department.
“It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, both personally and in business,” Allen said.
Christian’s father is a pastor at First United Pentecostal Church of Leesville, where Allen has worshipped for more than a decade. He said he will no longer attend services there.
Christian was fired Monday by a unanimous City Council vote, as required by the city charter. She was replaced by Delain Prewitt, who served in the post under two previous administrations. Prewitt will serve for 90 days until the position is permanently filled.
Allen said the city’s master bank account had not been balanced since August 2013, prompting him to call for an independent audit of the city’s finances. Allen said city workers knew the account was not balanced for some time but that he wasn’t told of it until three weeks ago.
Allen said he asked Christian to rein in the public works department, which has been allowed to set its own schedule for more than two years.
Christian said she disagreed with Allen’s approach to managing the department. She said her style was more akin to the public sector and Allen’s was more appropriate for the private sector.
“It’s like putting a square peg in a round hole,” she said.
Christian said both the finance director and the accounting manager resigned from their positions, leaving her unaware of the state of the master account until auditors informed her on Aug. 5.
Christian said the main problem she had in her role was the lack of communication with Allen.
She said he asked for her resignation on Oct. 1 but had no conversation with her beyond that until she saw Monday’s agenda, which listed a resolution for her termination.
She said it was then that she had her attorney contact the city requesting a letter of recommendation, a nondisparagement-agreement and severance pay in return for her resignation, but Allen refused.
“I did not see it coming,” she said. “I was never told my job performance was subpar.”
She said she does not have any litigation pending against the city at this time.