MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The city of Milledgeville could be facing some leadership changes in the near future after longtime city manager Barry Jarrett announced his sudden resignation Tuesday night.
After Tuesday's city council meeting, council members say Jarrett handed them sealed letters with his announcement of resignation on them. It only had two sentences.
"Please accept this as my notice of resignation of my position as the city manager of the city of Milledgeville. My last day will be July 5th, 2019," City councilman Walter Reynolds read to 13WMAZ on Wednesday.
"Mr. Jarrett has never been a man of many words," Reynolds said. "Barry has always been very straight and to the point."
Reynolds said the announcement caught him and other council members completely off guard. He said he thought they'd have more time with Jarrett at the helm of city manager.
"Needless to say, we were all shocked -- this is not something we saw coming this quickly," Reynolds said.
Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan said the announcement caught her off guard as well, but she understands that Jarrett has put in plenty of work for Milledgeville. He's worked as a city employee since 1988 and was the longtime head of water and sewers before becoming city manager in 2010.
The mayor said replacing Jarrett will be tough, but his resignation is not official yet. She said council will treat it as a personnel matter and hold a called meeting for executive session on Saturday morning. She hopes they can keep him on a while longer.
"We can't replace his knowledge. You can't come in and replace somebody with 10 years experience, plus years experience that knows the outs and the ins of the service delivery strategy, where we are with the council internally, where we are with the lawsuits, so it would be paramount for us to keep him on at this particular time in the game," Parham-Copelan said.
Parham-Copelan said the council would have to put an interim city manager in place until they find a more permanent solution. She said that process could take up to six months and making sure they're up to speed could take longer.
"Just getting the interim himself, or she herself, just getting them brought in and then making sure that they're brought up to speed with everything going on. It is a task," she said.