Most often, when managers accept a management position, we enter with the sole intention of staying in that position long term and sincerely believe it’s going to work out and that the fit will be mutually beneficial—for ourselves and the community.

Sometimes, however, reality interferes with the intentions, our jobs become jeopardized, and we realize the initial expectations couldn’t be further from the truth. Then we ponder why we saw no previous warning signs, and how the idea to leave can come out of nowhere.

I have personally seen colleagues affected by change, either as a result of a local election that alters the composition of the governing body, a personality conflict, or worse yet, a power struggle over who has what authority in the organization and over whom.

I was not immune to this power struggle either. Regardless of the level of background and research one does for any given coveted management spot, a manager is often unable to determine if there is something he or she should be aware of, especially when situations can be hidden quite well and only manifest themselves under certain circumstances.

This often leaves a person in a precarious position of determining “when to say when” and ending employment. Further compounding this decision is Tenant 4 of the ICMA Code of Ethics that not only encourages a minimum length of service, but regulates it.

Trying to Find Middle Ground

Early in my career, I accepted a management position in a small community with some 1,800 residents, which also serves as the county seat. Initially, all was wonderful, and I was viewed as a great fit for the community, businesses, and staff.

This turned out to be short lived. Through the first budget process, it was discovered that the government organization had been living well above its means, had no fund balance, and hadn’t adjusted accordingly. As such, I made a recommendation relative to cutting police services due to the budgetary constraints.

The recommendation was not made on a whim but based on the fact that a full-time police department and a sheriff’s department are located within the community’s corporate limits and a mile from each other.

Due to a low crime rate and the sheriff’s department being so close, it made sense to reduce the department to part time and stop the 68 percent expenditure of the general fund. Not all employees and elected officials agreed with this plan, however, and my upsetting the apple cart created an opportunity for a mutiny of sorts to ensue. Nothing I said or did from that point forward, according to the dissenters, was in the best interest of the community, and the attacks started heavy and hard.

Meeting agendas that I prepared for the elected officials were changed, and elected officials began to direct staff members’ workloads. I felt ineffective and undermined. My pleas to the remaining elected officials often were ignored so as not to upset the balance any more than it already was. A mutiny was in full force.

I knew something had to change, and that I would probably be the one making the change.

Moving Forward

This situation went on for almost 18 months before I departed. I continued holding on in the hope that things would change and that the officials who seemed positive about my leadership would “see the light.” This wasn’t the case, and I realized it was causing a great divide in the community; so much so that at council meetings there was my side of the room and their side, clearly delineated and obvious to all.

The situation also caused councilmembers to become divided, and a lack of cohesiveness was evident at meetings. Considerable fighting among councilmembers occurred, and simple issues became an opportunity to loudly share personal preferences.

Seeing this continue to escalate and also seeing residents in the audience starting to participate in this showdown week after week is what finally made me decide I had no choice but to tender my resignation. As I saw this continue to play out, I knew that regardless of anything else, my overall ethical obligation and responsibility was not to harm the organization, community, and its businesses.

This was an extremely bitter pill to swallow. In reality, what really happened was nothing more than a simple power struggle between me, a staff member, and two members of the council; however, in the end I knew and still know that in order for the organization to move in a forward direction, I had no choice but to resign to allow organizational healing to begin.

I learned as a young manager that the difficult decision a manager has to make in circumstances like the one described here affects more than just herself or himself—it affects an entire community. I will remember it always.