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GRANITE SHOALS (KXAN) — Granite Shoals Mayor Kiel Arnone and City Councilmember Kevin Flack resigned from their positions during Tuesday night’s council meeting.
During his resignation speech, Arnone said “our current city council has spent more time tearing good people down than leading.”
His resignation comes one week after a special meeting resulted in City Manager Peggy Smith being placed on a performance plan.
Smith has been under scrutiny after local leaders discovered discrepancies in her proposed budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Arnone had hoped to terminate the city manager’s contract and hire an interim.
“I do not want to be associated with a city council that believes the financial mismanagement of a city is acceptable,” he told KXAN.
Instead, city council voted 5-1 on October 3rd to keep Smith on board with a personal improvement plan that included frequent performance evaluations.
Arnone was the sole opposing vote while council member Flack abstained.
Immediately following the vote, both Arnone and Flack announced their resignations.
“I felt that I needed to resign because I didn’t want my name associated with continuing the status quo,” Flack said.
After Arnone’s exit Tuesday night, Mayor pro tem Ron Dumas was sworn in as Mayor.
Granite Shoals City Council must now appoint his replacement along with Councilmember Flack’s replacement.
City council member Steve Hougen told KXAN that the city manager had been trying to prepare a budget without the help of a finance director.
In Early September, city council hired an outside finance consultant to solve the ongoing issues,
Once the budget confusion was corrected, Hougen said it became clear that the city shouldn’t operate without a finance director.
“Like a quarterback who needs a great offensive line to excel, a city manager needs a finance director to keep the budget accurate throughout the fiscal year,” he concluded.
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