Parks Manager questions staff departures, town council borrows from water/sewer fund to buy chief $80k truck

Video of Meeting

Meeting Agenda

AUGUST 19, 2026, STEVENSVILLE — The Town Council approved a fiscal year 2026-27 budget Aug. 19 without responding to a parks manager’s questions about the departure of four of the town’s five public works employees, including the Public Works Director who resigned the day before citing a hostile work environment and pay inequity.

Where did all the Public Works staff go and why?

Parks Manager, Gerald Gaylor, opened the meeting with three questions. Public works staffing and the director’s resignation. He asked whether an internal investigation is planned into comments Mayor Crews made publicly before the election about getting rid of public works employees — noting that four of the five public works employees on staff when the Mayor took office are gone eight months into the term. He said the public works director, Stephen Lassiter, had resigned the day before, citing a hostile work environment and pay inequities, and that the mayor and town council expected him to train and supervise a new hire earning more than he did.

The live-wire incident. He asked whether OSHA and the town’s insurance carrier are aware that two public works employees were directed to remove trees from live wires in violation of safety standards. The employees refused. He asked what training or policy has been put in place to prevent such an order from being given again.

Pay equity. He asked why the town offers higher salaries to attract new public works employees while doing nothing to retain existing staff through equitable pay.

Neither the investigation nor the safety question was addressed at any point. During the vehicle debate, the mayor was arguing that the town needs daily vehicle inspections with sign-in and sign-out, and acknowledged this has never been in place. He then connected that to the evening’s opening comment: he had sent emails about the condition of the vehicles, cleaning them and leaving them ready for the next user, and the condition of some workspaces — and those emails, he said, are what surfaced that night as the hostile work environment allegation. His framing was that the complaint arose from him raising maintenance standards. He volunteered this himself; no council member asked.

Rumor has it, there are a number of lawsuits against the town due to these employment disputes.

A new truck for the Chief

The budget authorizes borrowing $80,000 from the sewer asset fund at 4 percent interest to buy a new vehicle for the police chief, pending an auditor sign-off on the loan, finance staff expects to clear. It also funds four public works trucks at roughly $40,000 each with plows and salt spreaders, a $12,000 dump trailer and a $1,500 utility trailer. Only the dump trailer had a funding source stated on the record, split evenly across three town funds; no financing mechanism was named for the four trucks or the utility trailer.

The loan from the sewer fund drew the sharpest disagreement. A council member said three constituents had argued the town cannot legally borrow from the fund, believing it a trust account. The finance officer said he is confident it is permissible: the account is an asset fund rather than a trust, interfund borrowing is legal and was used for a roughly $79,000 airport loan around 2016, and the 4 percent rate matches the money’s bank earnings, leaving the fund whole.

That did not settle it. A motion to adopt the budget died for lack of a second, as did a motion to table until Sept. 7. The town clerk warned delay carried its own cost: because the budget had materially changed, tabling would require two more newspaper publications, pushing approval about six days past the Sept. 1 deadline. It passed 3-0 with the auditor condition attached.

Repayment would run about five years, funded primarily by the chief’s annual chili cook-off, which raised roughly $20,000 last year. Resident Linda Powell asked what happens if it does not produce for three years. Staff said a capital improvement account — raised from $20,000 to $40,000 with unexpected tax revenue — would cover about two years, with the general fund absorbing the rest. Which begs the question, why finance the purchase at all? Why not buy the truck outright?

The four public works trucks

Cost: approximately $40,000 each discounted for buying four at once. Each comes with a plow and a salt spreader.

Funding source: The meeting transcript never states where the money for the four trucks comes from. The trucks were presented as part of the budget’s added expenses and approved as such, but no fund, loan, or financing mechanism was named for them. The chair’s motion restatement referred to “loans” plural, which suggests additional interfund borrowing may be contemplated — but that is inference, not something stated.

Council Member Smith argued the deal is good enough that if the town doesn’t need all four, it could resell two and potentially profit. (What?!) The objecting council member called five vehicles plus two trailers too aggressive for one fiscal year and proposed staggering the purchases so the fleet doesn’t age out all at once — a position that lost, though the member remained against the four trucks even while voting for the budget.

The two trailers

Dump trailer — approximately $12,000. This one does have a stated funding split: $4,000 from the general fund, $4,000 from sewer, and $4,000 from a third fund. The rationale: the town’s large dump truck requires a CDL and the trailer does not. It’s also used seasonally for sanding.

Utility trailer — approximately $1,500. No funding source specified; presumably general fund. It would haul mowers to the parks and cemetery instead of driving them there.

Mayor Crews defended the fleet spending, describing one truck in the shop, one dead in the field, one with a failing flywheel and one dependable vehicle heading into plowing season. Staff said patrol-vehicle seating requirements drive the $80,000 price. What wasn't mentioned is the method of funding the purchase of 4 additional trucks for $40,000 each. Also, given that the Public Works Department is currently unstaffed, who will be driving these vehicles? Lastly, per the agenda for the next meeting, Mayor Crews has already lined up a replacement Director of Public Works. Isn't that interesting?