After more than 22 years of employment with the City of Indianola, Interim City Clerk Charlotte Kilgore is calling it quits.
At the onset of Monday’s Board of Aldermen meeting, Mayor Steve Rosenthal announced that she has submitted her resignation. Before extolling on the virtues and dedication of Kilgore, Rosenthal acknowledged, “I was saddened last week to accept the resignation of our city clerk.”
In his expressions regarding her faithfulness, he recounted two notable instances when she showed proof of her loyalty. Once, after suffering a fall that required surgery, she showed up for duty the next day to make sure payroll checks would be available to the employees before going in for the required medical procedure.
The other was when she showed up for work after just having cataract surgery. “She’s worked many a weekend, many long hours and we appreciate all the services that she’s rendered to the city of Indianola,” Rosenthal said.
He had asked the city lawmakers to appoint Kilgore as the city’s clerk at the May 14 meeting but they opted to advertise the position instead.
This currently leaves Indianola with no city clerk or payroll clerk.
When asked how this would impact the city, at least in the short term, Rosenthal responded, “Up the proverbial creek without a paddle. I guess I can get the aldermen to choose which part of the job they are willing to try.”
According to Rosenthal, Kilgore was doing 90 percent of payroll/human resources and 75 percent of the city clerk position at 40 percent of what the two jobs would have paid.
He said that he has recommended Kilgore for the position on three separate occasions and that Kilgore finally remarked, “that is enough.”
When asked what she plans to do next, Kilgore would only say, “I’m gonna retire.”
Her effective resignation date is June 22, however Rosenthal said he is trying to get her to stay until July 1.
Kilgore was managing several roles at city hall, one of which was payroll clerk. At Monday night’s meeting, the aldermen voted unanimously to contract with Bridgers and Goodman, PLLC to perform payroll and payables duties at a cost of $125 per hour with a $5,000 per month cap, until a replacement can be found.
Rosenthal asserted, “Currently Mrs. Kilgore will be here till (June 22). After that point we’ll need somebody who can process payroll and payables, print the docket, print the checks, post the payments and issue payroll.”
He said the city has been advertising the position locally and statewide, but has not gotten any qualified applicants for city clerk’s position, but may possibly have viable candidates for the payroll and human resources spot.
This is the second potential big hit for the city in the past few weeks in terms of personnel. Police Chief Edrick Hall has been selected to fill the position of assistant chief in Columbus, though Hall has not officially submitted a letter of resignation and could still opt to stay in Indianola.
