BECKLEY, W. Va. -The City of Beckley is now without a city manager, but its mayor is promising that he and council members are ready to hit the ground running to find a replacement. The now-former city manager, Michael Resare, had only been working in that position for around two months, having started in December of last year.
Now, Mayor Ryan Neal, who also first took office last year, says this is undeniably a “setback,” with the city waiting for months to fill the city manager position before Resare was hired. Mayor Neal describes the situation as “cutting ties,” but although the City may have lost its first city manager, he says they aren’t planning to abandon the position, and hope to fill the role again, no matter how long it takes.
“Talking with city council last night, we’re not just going to sit around and wait for a city manager… We may have a new city manager in two weeks; it may be three months; it may be four months, but we all agreed last night we’re going to be more proactive. We know what needs done; we know what needs addressed in the city, so we’re just going to take charge and just plow ahead and start getting things done,” says Mayor Neal.
Mayor Neal says, per the “mutual agreement” made Monday evening, neither Resare nor the City are allowed to comment on the reasons for the resignation.
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