David Treanor, a Hennessey town employee for 10 years, was hired as acting town administrator by the Hennessey Board of Trustees.

That decision came during a special meeting Thursday night at Town Hall.

Treanor is currently the parks and cemetery superintendent, pool and splash pad operator and building inspector.

He told the Times & Free Press he started out working in the street department, worked at the dump for about a year, then moved to the water and sewer departments for four years until he got his current assignments.

Treanor, 63, grew up in Iowa and he and his wife, Tammy (Marney), have lived in the Hennessey area for about 40 years.

Mrs. Treanor is a 1977 HHS graduate.

They have a son, Kirsten, and a daughter, Kristi; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren “with another on the way,” Treanor said.

Before he started working for the town 10 years ago Treanor worked at Sherwin-Williams in Enid for 12 years; four years at Long’s John Deere, and four years at Ford New Holland, both as parts managers.

Tillman Resignation Accepted

Before a packed crowd of town employees and other well-wishers for Tiffany Tillman, the board accepted her resignation with her last day as Friday, Feb. 24.

Later in the meeting trustee Harold Shaw told her “I know we haven’t always agreed” then stood and asked others to join him in applause, and they did.

Other trustees at the meeting were Mayor Bert Gritz, Vice Mayor Clif Vogt and David Jones. Absent was Trustee Richard Simunek.

Full-time Replacement Later After the resignation was accepted, trustees spent about 30 minutes discussing how they might start the search for an interim replacement, or a full-time replacement.

Shaw said he’d called the Oklahoma Municipal League and was told there are some retired managers who might be interested in the job.

“This job is equivalent to that of a school superintendent and I think we need to take the time to get the right person,” Gritz said.

He said he’d talked with the Oklahoma Municipal Management Services director who suggested they take time to hire the right person.

“It’s better to have a vacancy than a bad hire,” Gritz quoted OMMS Director Steve Whitlock.

Jones said trustees need to change items in the job description for the administrator before they hire someone new.

Others agreed they don’t need to start off allowing someone to be able to spend $5,000 without board approval the way they have with Tillman.

If this hiring scenario sounds familiar, it’s because Kingfisher City Manager Dave Slezickey also recently resigned. City Clerk Brittney Hladik was named acting manager and the city commissioners hired OMMS to aid in the search for a city manager.

The Kingfisher cost is $12,000 for services, plus expenses not to exceed $2,000.

Tillman Recommended Treanor Town Attorney John Wynne said Tillman could have named a replacement and said someone in the offi ce familiar with the work could be appointed.

Tillman said if it had to be someone in the office then that would be a conflict for Shelley Burch, who has the knowledge and is also the town treasurer, but her husband is a reserve police officer and a public works employee.

She said the only other office employee is Denise Meloy, and she has only worked there about two months.

After naming off other positions that wouldn’t work because of limited experience, or need for them to stay in a certain department, then Tillman suggested Treanor.

She told trustees he’s familiar with the workings of many departments and trustees hired him in a 4-0 vote as interim town administrator at $4,800 a month, Gritz said Tillman had agreed to help out for a few months and said the board would need to decide at another meeting how much she will be paid.

At The Meeting

In addition to trustees, other elected officials at the meeting were Town Treasurer Shelley Burch and Town Clerk Kati Walters.

Guests signing in were Tyson Copeland, Bryan Burch, Jack Quirk, Randy Bohnstedt, Ruby Rodriquez, Alyssa Rodriquez, Tim Riddle, James Matousek, Denise Meloy, Georgia Tillman, Matthew Tillman, Logan Tillman, Meagan Tillman, Abby Steward, Jamie Keel and John Wynne.