UPDATE 4/14/2020: Cathy Debold has contacted WLDS News and said that her resignation from the Winchester City Council was not due to her current employment: “My resignation was specifically related to issues with the management of the city and had absolutely nothing to do with my job. The letter of resignation regarding the alderman position specifically addressed these issues and did not mention anything about my current job.”
ORIGINAL: The City of Winchester is looking for a new alderman and a new treasurer. Alderwoman Cathy Debold, Treasuer Amy Brown, and police officer Nathan White all submitted resignations to the city during their first meeting of the month on April 1st.
Debold said that she had taken on more work with her job and needed to devote more time to it. Debold filled out the unexpired term of Alderman Randy Fisher when he moved out of Winchester. She was then elected to the position at the next election. Mayor Rex McIntire says he’s hoping to find a replacement soon: “I’ve talked to several people, but so far I’ve not had any luck. I’m sure I’ll have somebody by the next council. It’s just sometimes takes time to find someone that you would think would be the most suitable for the position.”
McIntire says that Treasurer Amy Brown was in a similar situation: “She works from her home a lot and she’s got a good job. Her job has picked up a bunch of extra contracts. She told me that she’s feeling overwhelmed and she needed to resign from the treasurer position. She hated to do it. I asked her if there was anything that I had done to upset her, but she told me that wasn’t the case. She said that she had been thinking about resigning over the last 2 to 3 months. I don’t blame her. You’ve got to take care of your home and family first.”
Current Alderman Lawrence Coultas is stepping in on an interim basis to help the city keep up with finances. Coultas had served as treasurer to the city about 12 years ago. McIntire says that Officer Nathan White’s resignation came on the heels of White accepting a full time position with the Scott County Sheriff’s Department. White had been working for the county department on a part-time basis. McIntire says the city has been operating at a minimum under the current circumstances. “We’re preparing for the long haul on the coronavirus situation. We’ve cut back personnel. We’ve cut back hours. As far as the police officer position, we’re just going to try and fill it with more part-time help rather than replace him at this time.”
Despite the cutback in city operations, McIntire says that Doyle Plumbing and Heating has begun working on the filter house at the city pool. McIntire says that the pool project’s first phase should be done by June. He says the next phase will begin in the Fall after the pool closes for the season. However, he says that he’s not optimistic the pool will even have a season due to the current social distancing directives and stay at home order, which he thinks may last throughout the summer.