Longtime Milesburg manager, staff quit as new council is sworn in. ‘We’re done with it’

Local government bodies across Centre County are holding reorganization meetings this week, but one on Tuesday ended with the abrupt resignation of the longtime borough manager and a handful of other employees.

After newly elected and reelected Milesburg Borough Council members were sworn in Tuesday evening, Paula Hall, who has been the borough manager for 34 years, turned in her resignation. Nick Witherite, the borough’s lead maintenance employee, and three other employees quit alongside her.

In a letter read by Hall at the end of the meeting and signed by the other employees, she said that accusations and poor treatment on social media led to her decision to step down.

“We are resigning as employees from Milesburg Borough effective immediately, signed by me, Paula Hall — after 34 years, — Nick Witherite, Ed Witherite, Ron Smith and Sally Bartley. It’s sad that it had come to this, but everything that’s put on Facebook and everything said ... we’re done with it,” Hall said. “We’re done with the borough. Now, I want you to understand, that’s the borough. We do work still for the water authority. That’s a separate entity.”

Hall is the manager of the Milesburg Water Authority. The authority’s address is the same building as the borough’s, according to the website, and office hours are by appointment. The two entities share things, like equipment. The authority board has five members, three of which are also council members. The council appoints the water authority members.

While Hall didn’t expand on the accusations against her or who made them, a resident at a November meeting printed out several screenshots of text messages from council member Greg Ritter talking about Hall, and handed them out to everyone at the meeting. The messages included references to Hall not being held accountable and “trying to hide something.”

Ritter on Wednesday told the CDT that the messages were taken out of context and some may have been edited.

After announcing her resignation, Hall told the council that she was unwilling to train her replacement.

“When you find somebody to take over the job ... I’m not training. No, not the way I was treated. After 34 years, I think it’s sad how I was treated and to quit like this.”

The resignation was met with light applause from some of the 15-plus people there. One resident, Joan Young, praised Hall after the meeting and said she’s done an exceptional job.

“I also feel very sad that people nowadays cannot get along, can gossip instead of going to the person, face to face. This is what we older people do. If you have something to say, say it to their face, not something electronically and don’t stab them behind their back. And that happens and we all have done it at one time or another ... but please do this the right way and quit your bickering,” said Young, who served on the council in the ‘90s.

Dieterle said the resignation didn’t come as a surprise.

“Milesburg will be OK,” she said.

Nick Witherite told the Centre Daily Times in a phone interview Tuesday night that he loved his job — which he’s had for more than seven years — but needed to do what was best for his family.

“We are doing what’s best for us and our family, not for everybody else. If there’s rumors that we’re going to get fired, you know, we’re going to do what it takes to keep our jobs. You can’t survive without a job, at least not me,” Witherite said. “I got a wife and a two year old, and ... I’m just not risking it.”

Tuesday’s meeting was a reorganization meeting, which is held every year to swear in new council members, select a council president and vice president, and appoint people to vacant seats on various boards and committees, like the water authority.

New council members Peter DeLosa and Samantha Walker were sworn in (replacing outgoing members George Holt and Chuck Weidow), as well as Ritter and Ethel Kellerman, who were reelected. DeLosa and Sandy Dieterle were named council president and vice president, respectively, and Walker is council pro tem.

DeLosa said he asked Hall to reconsider her decision but that there’s not much more he can do.

“It is what it is. I mean, ... you can’t make people do something that they don’t want to do,” DeLosa said, adding that they’ll start looking for a replacement but wasn’t sure about the procedure.

“I was on the council four years ago but as far as dealing with all this ... I don’t even know how to log into her computer,” DeLosa said. “I think it’s really sad that things were handled the way it was, but I mean, life will go on, we’ll figure it out.”

The borough’s solicitor, Tracey Benson, declined to comment on the situation as he was absent from Tuesday’s meeting and was unsure of what exactly occurred as of Wednesday afternoon.

Since the meeting ended, Walker said they’ve received a lot of support from residents and community organizations, and have been working hard at “recovery, security, and ensuring stability of our town.”