After city admin resigns, Rockville reinstates 2 officials on paid leave

Becca Most, St. Cloud Times
·2 min read

ROCKVILLE ― At the Rockville City Council meeting Wednesday night, the council announced it had reinstated Administrative Assistant Debbie VanHeel and Finance Clerk Judy Neu, who were both put on paid administrative leave Friday.

The council negotiated and accepted terms of City Administrator Martin Bode's resignation and will discuss next steps for the interim administrator position in the future. Bode was city administrator for about six and a half years.

VanHeel was at Wednesday's meeting and had two days of paid leave and Neu is expected to return to work Monday.

Rockville mayor Duane Willenbring said he could not discuss details about why Bode resigned or why VanHeel and Neu were put on paid leave, but said there was no corruption. He said there was some banter among staff that elevated into something that caused a potentially "hostile environment" and out of "extraordinary concern" for VanHeel and Neu, they were put on paid leave.

The Rockville City Hall is pictured Tuesday, March 5.
The Rockville City Hall is pictured Tuesday, March 5.

"I think because of this delicate situation, we need to cautiously move forward," Willenbring said. "It's going to take a little bit of time. So public: bear with us."

At the meeting the council discussed offering the interim city administrator position to Neu, but said she has previously talked about not wanting the position. They will discuss this topic further when Neu returns Monday. If Neu declines the offer, the city will consult with the League of Minnesota Cities "who are aware of our situation" to find someone else, Willenbring said.

"There are an enormous amount of people that have gone through six and a half years of ― I'm going to use the word, a bit of a nightmare. And so we the council have worked on your behalf unbelievably this last month," Willenbring said. "Staff have gone through challenging times, the public has. Let this be the start of the dawn of a new era of peace and harmony in the city of Rockville."

Becca Most is a cities reporter with the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-241-8213 or bmost@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter at @becca_most. 

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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: After city admin resigns, Rockville reinstates 2 officials on paid leave