Rick Allen, John Day’s interim city manager, has handed in his resignation notice, saying he can’t do the job properly as a part-time contractor.

Meanwhile, the city has opened an investigation into complaints by several city office workers about Allen’s management style.

Allen was announced as the interim city manager during the Feb. 28 session of the John Day City Council and was on a six-month contract. Now, three months after taking the job, Allen will be moving on after submitting his 30-day notice to the city at the end of May.

Allen’s final day as the contracted interim city manager of John Day will be June 27.

Allen explained his reasons for leaving the position during a special session of the John Day City Council on Wednesday, June 7. The interim city manager said the city’s needs and the amount of time he can devote to addressing those needs didn’t line up.

According to Allen, the city needs a full-time city manager who can be at city hall on a regular basis and give their full attention to addressing the city’s needs. Due to other business obligations, Allen said, he can not be that person.

There was no mention either at the meeting or in Allen’s resignation letter of any issues with city employees. However, his resignation came immediately following a three-day protest walkout by City Hall office staff that started on Wednesday, May 24, and continued until Friday, May 26.

One of the employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Blue Mountain Eagle that she and her fellow office workers planned to file a formal complaint about Allen with the city council.

John Day Mayor Heather Rookstool acknowledged that a complaint had been filed and said the city has brought in an outside firm to look into the matter, but she gave no details about the nature of the investigation.

“An investigation is underway, but I have no comment about individual allegations that are being investigated,” she said.

The council discussed the path forward following Allen’s 30-day notice, with Councilors Sherrie Rininger and Ron Phillips expressing a desire to try and retain Allen’s services and council President Dave Holland saying he didn’t think the city was getting its money’s worth from its $10,000-a-month contract with Allen.

Allen’s departure marks the third time John Day’s top management position has been vacated in the past year. Former City Manager Nick Green resigned on June 30, 2022, and former interim City Manager Corum Ketchum submitted his resignation on Dec. 14.

The city has hired recruiting firm CMP Consultants to assist in the search for a permanent city manager for John Day, a search that will have an even greater sense of urgency now that Allen is vacating the interim position. There were five applicants as of June 7.

The council discussed the recruiting process and ultimately decided by consensus to review candidate applications in the search for a permanent city manager.