It was another tense meeting Wednesday evening in Buchanan as suspended city manager Ben Eldridge announced his intention to resign.
Eldridge said he was no longer willing to work in a “toxic environment” that emerged after 42 employees filed complaints against him. The complaints came to light when city commissioner Daniel Vigansky told Eldridge about them which led to Mayor Sean Denison suspending Eldridge to remove him from the situation.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Eldridge spoke for almost an hour going through the various complaints against him and laying out his side of the issues. Overall, Eldridge said the complaints stem from him trying to fix the city’s financial issues by cutting back on overtime and looking at other efficiency measures. He painted the atmosphere among city hall workers as “the wild west” and said he attempted to put some rules in place.
“I’m standing here because I trusted the staff that worked for the city. And talk about mistrust, I put my trust in the wrong people because I’m here fighting for my job, and they say they can’t trust me,” Eldridge said.
The continued dysfunction means Buchanan will now have to hire its fifth city manager since 2020 and potentially faces a state takeover if it can’t balance its budget.
"What I feel is the mentality of the staff here in Buchanan, a lot of the staff — if you don't like something, you retaliate and get rid of it," Eldridge said in the meeting. "And I believe that's evident by the number of turnover you've had here in city hall in recent years. ... Maybe it's not the fault of the people you're hiring. Maybe it's the staff who have been here for years."
The dysfunction continues with members of the public moving forward with a recall effort against Denison because he suspended Eldridge. A hearing regarding that measure is happening next week. Denison and other city commissioners have also moved to censure Vigansky for him telling Eldridge of the complaints before city lawyers were able to investigate.
Vigansky has been strongly vocally opposed to Denison and his actions and his gotten into multiple arguments with Denison and other commissioners during recent public meetings.
"We didn't hang the mutineers, we hung the captain," Vigansky said at Wednesday's meeting.
For his part, Denison told members of the public, he was following protocol for handling the complaints against Eldridge and he only suspended the manager when Vigansky notified him of the complaints.
"Everyone's talking about these allegations like [the commissioners] made them. We didn't make the allegations. But we have a responsibility as commissioners and employers, and I do as a mayor, that when I'm contacted by three or four departments in the city, that I have to at least investigate it. I can't just walk away."
