Benton Harbor City Commissioners have accepted the resignation of Finance Director James Williams, but not without some discussion. Williams was just hired in June and started in August after the city spent years without an in-house finance director. He submitted his resignation Friday. At a Monday meeting, Commissioner Duane Seats balked at accepting the resignation, saying the commission should study the succession plan.
“We [should] make sure every wrong is right adn every obligation is taken care of before we accept anything,” Seats said.
Commissioner Mary Alice Adams said the commission needs to look into why Williams resigned, suggesting he had not had cooperation in doing his job, like other finance directors have said.
“We’ve all heard from all three of them that have left in times past that the problem is down in the office, it’s not those that we hire,” Adams said. “So, something else needs to give.”
The city attorney advised commissioners they had to accept the resignation because finance director, like all city positions, is at-will. The motion to accept was approved with Commissioners Adams, Ethel Clerk Griffin, and Duane Seats voting no. The commission then left the hiring of a new finance director to a committee.
