Elkton remains in limbo a week after town manager firing

ELKTON, Va. (WHSV) - The Elkton Area Community Center reopened on Monday a week after the firing of the Elkton town manager. Last Monday the Town Council voted 4-2 to fire Town Manager Greg Lunsford which led to the temporary closing of the town hall and community center.

In the aftermath of the firing, Council Member Heidi Zander resigned from her seat, leaving two key vacancies for the town to fill in the near future. There is no set date to fill either position after a special called council meeting was canceled on Friday after the mayor learned a quorum would not be present.

“So far all of the town services have still been available since the town manager’s firing but it may cause some interruptions as we’re on the search to fill that role,” said Elkton Mayor Josh Gooden.

The Elkton Town Council hopes to hire an interim town manager to fill Lunsford’s former position as soon as possible. Lunsford was fired in part because of a controversy surrounding the movement of pool tables at the community center.

Last week councilman Rick Workman told WHSV that Lunsford and the community center’s director moved the tables after eight various harassment complaints were filed against the pool players who regularly visited the center.

Some residents who spoke to WHSV on Monday were upset with how the moving of the tables was handled.

“I’ve been exercising here for 15 years, it worked perfectly. The guys shot pool and I loved it I always talked to them when I came in. All of a sudden over the weekend the pool tables were moved back to my Pilates classroom that we used for all those years. We had mirrors on the wall and did our exercising back there,” said Joyce Morris, an Elkton resident.

Councilman Troy Eppard was one of the four members who voted in favor of firing Lunsford. He said the moving of the tables was not the only reason for the decision.

“The issue with the pool tables and how they were addressed led to the discovery of far deeper reaching and very concerning issues that we as a council had to take action and had to address,” said Eppard.

Eppard said he couldn’t go into details on the issues because they concern town employee personnel matters but said they have had a negative impact on the town.

“I will suffice that to say that we have lost a significant number of very near and dear employees that were highly valued, some long-tenured and those losses continued even until today,” he said.

Eppard added that the council will work to make the community center more welcoming and hopes to have an interim town manager hired soon. The council also has to appoint a town resident to fill Heidi Zander’s seat in an interim capacity within 45 days.

“We’ve had our advertisement posted for the vacancy already and the deadline for residents that wish to apply is July 15 after that date council will review all of the names that have been submitted and make a selection,” said Mayor Gooden.

The seat vacated by Zander is up for election in November so the interim would only serve for the remainder of the year.

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