By John Dobberstein, Editor
An interim city manager has been hired to begin managing the city of Coweta’s day-to-day business after Roger Kolman’s resignation in September.
The Coweta City Council voted last Friday to hire Lisa Taylor to replace Kolman, who submitted his resignation on Sept. 11. Tuesday was Taylor’s first day on the job in Coweta.
The Coweta City Council recently voted to award Kolman severance pay and other benefits in the wake of his resignation, although details haven’t been revealed to the public.
According to a story in the Pawhuska Journal-Capital, Kolman has been hired by the city of Pawhuska for $60 an hour to act as a city management consultant. The newspaper said Kolman had been interviewed for the city manager job there, after Interim City Manager Laura Teague quit last April.
Taylor finds herself in some familiar circumstances taking over the reins for a departed city manager. In August 2022, the city manager in Durant was fired by the City Council and Taylor was appointed interim manager after the assistant city manager was not willing to take the job. The interim tag for Taylor was dropped a couple of months later.
But last June, Taylor herself was terminated by the City Council after a two-hour closed-door meeting. Taylor had worked for the city of Durant for 3 years before becoming city manager, starting as economic development director and executive director of the Durant Industrial Authority in February 2020.
Much like Durant, Coweta has gone through its share of city managers in recent years. Taylor says she’s looking forward to tackling the challenges.
Ensuring ‘greater transparency’
“It is my expectation that the City of Coweta function in the most transparent way possible. In fact, I will be implementing a few steps in the near future which will ensure greater transparency for our citizens,” Taylor told the Sentinel.
Before working in Durant, Taylor worked as economic development director for University of Arkansas Cossatot community in DeQueen; as a program officer for the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, and as a community grant coordinator for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Despite Taylor’s time serving Durant, the Durant City Council voted 3-2 last May to conduct an investigation “into the conduct of the City Manager and investigation of the municipal affairs related to the office of the City Manager,” referring to Taylor.
Taylor told the Sherman, Texas-based news station KXII at the time she had no idea what the investigation was about and insisted she had done nothing wrong. But Taylor did believe she knew what may have been the cause.
“This particular item was put on the agenda because a council member wanted to have information about an employee disciplinary action from the personnel file. And as I stated, that in my opinion, is not ethical,” Taylor told the news station.
KTEN, also in Sherman, eventually reported that no investigation of Taylor and her office took place, and that Taylor was let go during a council meeting on June 14 after a mutual agreement between herself and the council.
‘Fresh leadership’
This was confirmed in a joint statement released by Taylor and newly elected Durant Mayor Martin Tucker. When Taylor and the city parted ways, Tucker claimed that during his campaign, “I heard from the public that the city needed some directional change and one of the first steps in that process is fresh leadership.
“While there was some robust discussion and understandable disagreement over the action taken tonight,” Tucker wrote. “I know that all five councilmembers want the best for the City of Durant and I am confident we can join together in the selection of the next City Manager and a unified path forward for the City.”
Taylor said in the joint statement that she was proud of her tenure. “I recognize the authority of the Council to select a City Manager that best meets their vision for the City and I wish my successor nothing but the best,” Taylor wrote.
Taylor’s position in Durant still hasn’t been filled on a permanent basis.
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