Thirty Months Without a Permanent City Administrator...
Three years of turnover, interim leadership and unanswered questions at Macon City Hall ...
Since City Administrator Avis Marshall left in October 2023, Macon has gone roughly 30 months without a permanent City Administrator, with only one brief exception. The approximately five-month tenure of Scott Meszaros. For a city of approximately 5,000 people, that is a substantial amount of time without the professional administrator responsible for managing & oversight of the day-to-day operation of city government.
The story begins with the October 10, 2023, City Council meeting, when Mayor Tony Petre announced that Marshall's final day as City Administrator would be October 15. According to the council minutes, Petre thanked Marshall for her service and said she was leaving for another job.
Macon then moved into interim management.
Steve Norwood was introduced as Interim City Administrator in November 2023 and remained identified in that capacity into January 2024 while the city began searching for a permanent replacement.
By March 2024, the search had become serious enough that Mayor Petre told the council that "Baker Tilly" had been hired to assist with the recruitment. The city advertised the position with a salary range of $90,000 to $130,000. But the search continued. Months passed while city government operated through existing employees, department heads, elected officials and interim administrative arrangements.
Eventually, Macon hired Scott Meszaros. He began work on March 3, 2025. Approximately five months later, Meszaros was terminated, and the city was once again without a permanent administrator.
Whatever circumstances surrounded that decision, the practical result was the same: the office responsible for providing professional administrative continuity at City Hall was vacant again.
The City Administrator position exists for a reason. The administrator is comparable to a military "Base Commander" in the sense that the position provides a central point of professional management and coordination for municipal government. The administrator helps coordinate departments, oversee employees, assist with budgets and financial administration, administer grants, prepare reports and carry out the policies established by elected officials.
The position is intended to provide continuity between elections, councils and political administrations. In practical terms, the City Administrator is tasked with keeping the machinery of city government moving.
Responsibilities of the City Administrator does not stop because the position is vacant.
During this same period, Macon has been confronting some of the most consequential issues ever facing the city. It has aging water and wastewater infrastructure and has been examining an infrastructure financing proposal that could approach $80 million. The decisions surrounding that project will affect utility rates, municipal finances and taxpayers for decades.
At the same time, City Hall continues dealing with economic development, code enforcement, personnel matters, ordinances, public records, grants, budgets and the countless daily responsibilities involved in operating a municipality.
Major projects require institutional knowledge. They require continuity. And they require someone with clearly defined authority who understands what has already been done, what remains to be done and who is responsible for making sure it happens.
There is also a political history that provides important context.
Macon's difficulties involving the relationship between elected officials and professional administration did not begin with the current vacancy. In 2022, Scott Bigham was elected mayor of Macon. Bigham's tenure as mayor was brief, and he eventually resigned, leaving behind a resignation letter that was sharply critical of the operation of city government and the relationship between the administrator, council and mayor.
That history does not establish a connection to the current situation. But it does provide context for an important question about how Macon's system of municipal administration functions.
A city administrator operates in a delicate space. The mayor and council are elected to establish policy. The administrator and city employees are responsible for carrying that policy into the day-to-day operation of government. For that system to work, there must be a clear understanding of authority, responsibility and communication between the mayor, council, administrator and employees.
When that position changes repeatedly, or remains vacant for extended periods, institutional knowledge can disappear. Long-term projects can lose continuity. Administrative decisions can become harder for the public to follow or may not be reported to the public in a timely fashion.
Who has been performing the duties of the City Administrator for the 30 months which Macon has not employed a full time City Administrator?
Who possessed administrative authority during each period? Who was responsible for supervising city operations? Who was making administrative decisions? What authority did the interim administrators have? What were the terms of their appointments? Why is the search for a permanent administrator not been successful ?
The most pertinent question that needs to be answered immediately is:
"Who has been performing the duties that would normally be responsibilities of the City Administrator since the April 2026 election?"
The answer to this question will tell us who is responsible for reviewing & approving all of the documents, contracts, engineering plans, DNR studies, taxes, financing, construction and everything else that is included in the $80 million bond issue that has been accepted by city council to be included on Novembers ballot? The citizens of Macon deserve to have every facet of this immense project reviewed and approved by a QUALIFIED City Administrator. A random city employee checking boxes is not acceptable to expect the citizens of Macon to embrace such a huge expenditure.
The citizens of Macon deserve answers.
Regards Maconites !
R. Dominique- Editor
