Former Front Royal Town Manager Steven W. Hicks, who was recently offered a job as town administrator of Louisburg, NC, apparently had the offer rescinded prior to his Nov. 7 start date.
In an about-face, Louisburg’s finance director of 14-plus years, Sean Medlin, was offered the job, which he accepted.
The Louisburg Town Council had apparently been searching for several months for a new manager before narrowing the field to four applicants, according to a source familiar with Louisburg’s search process. Both Hicks and Medlin were among the final four candidates.
Hicks was apparently selected by the Louisburg Town Council during a six-hour executive session on Monday, Oct. 31. When the council returned to an open meeting that evening, Hicks was announced as the new town administrator, though no formal vote was taken.
Because no vote was recorded during the Monday meeting, the council held a Friday, Nov. 4 special afternoon meeting. By the meeting’s end, the panel had moved to withdraw Hicks’ offer and instead extend an offer to Sean Medlin, who has served over 14 years as Louisburg’s finance director.
A source familiar with the events of the special meeting said it began with Mayor Christopher Neal asking the council to honor the consensus he said it had reached at the closed session Monday meeting, noting that all had agreed on the selection of Hicks at the time.
However the Friday roll-call vote shows that only Mayor Neal and Council members Emma Stewart and Bobby Dickerson voted “yes” for Hicks. Council members Tom Clancy, Mark Russell and Silke Stein voted “no,” resulting in a 3-to-3 tie. Council member Betty Wright was absent.
At that point, according to a source who was at the meeting, Mayor Neal acknowledged a Nov. 3 edition of local newspaper, The Franklin Times, which detailed some unflattering information regarding Hicks’ tenure as town manager of Selma, NC and also regarding his time as Front Royal’s administrator.
Mayor Neal said the town had done a “thorough background” search on Hicks and told the panel he believed Hicks was a solid choice who had “excellent qualifications.”
At that point, Councilman Russell pointed out that Hicks had either been fired or asked to leave his last two jobs — and said the council’s second choice “was a proven town employee.” He then made the motion to offer the job to Medlin. Council then voted 4-to-2 to offer the job to Medlin — who quickly accepted when the mayor called him following the meeting.
That Franklin Times’ story cited published reports from news stories in both Selma, and Front Royal, Va. newspapers, as well as interviews, as the source of its information on Hicks.
The newspaper detailed Hicks’ short tenure as Selma, NC’s town manager and his resignation under pressure from several council members. It quoted Selma, N.C. Mayor Byron McCallister’s September, 2020 statement to the press that said, in part, “I began hearing from citizens and town staff (who) were concerned about the performance of our town manager. The truth is that most of the council at that time felt Hicks was not taking Selma in the right direction.”
McAllister said at the time that he and another council member asked Hicks to resign, in part, because “Hicks pushed a budget that shrunk our police department and cut maintenance funds for emergency responders.”
The article relayed that McAllister referred to Hicks a “low profile leader” and said “residents were complaining about not seeing our town manager in town.”
“I visited town hall regularly to find that Mr. Hicks had often not shown up to the office by 10 a.m.,” McAllister said. “I do not believe Hicks was the right fit for Selma.”
On Dec. 7, 2020, Hicks was hired as Front Royal’s town manager, and was lauded by town officials.
The Franklin Times detailed Front Royal’s then Vice Mayor Bill Sealock statement that the council knew about Hicks’ problems in Selma, and felt that Hicks’ departure from the Selma town manager’s position “was a political issue” largely revolving around “personality,” to which the vice mayor added of Hicks potential management style, “He is quite pushy.”
Front Royal’s media release at the time of Hicks’ hire indicated that he had been chosen after a year-long search involving 80 candidates.
Sealock said, “Finding the right candidate took longer than we expected. Council knew what they wanted in a manager and was patient to find the right town manager for our community. I believe our efforts have paid off by having the best candidate possible. I’m excited to see what Steven will bring to our town government, businesses, and community.”
Upon announcing Hick’s appointment, Mayor-elect Chris Holloway stated, “Hicks was selected because of his impressive leadership in operations, bringing business in communities, developing fiscally conservative budgets, managing enterprise departments, and delivering complex infrastructure projects on-time and on-budget.”
However, less than two years into his job, Hicks was terminated in August, 2022, following a 90-minute executive session discussing the performance of both Hicks and Interim Town Attorney James Cornwell Jr. Council, with Mayor Chris Holloway casting the tie-breaking vote, by a 4-3 margin terminated Hicks’ contract. Cornwell’s contract was also terminated.
The Franklin Times reported that Hick’s problems in Front Royal began when Front Royal Town Attorney Douglas Napier conducted an investigation into whether Hicks had expedited a subdivision application by Mayor Christopher Holloway.
The paper cited Napier’s report, “In this case, it is clear from all staff reports that the town manager in effect personally “carried the ball” for Holloway’s application by the town manager himself making sure that the Planning and Public Works Departments and their staffs knew that the town manager was overseeing the subdivision application for Holloway and the town manager wanted this application expedited as quickly as possible.”
The town attorney said that the interim planning director felt there was at least an implicit pressure to sign the (mayor’s) subdivision plat as soon as it was presented to him.
“It was presented to him by his boss, the town manager, in the presence of the mayor, the interim planning director did not feel he had the time, nor did he take the time, to review the town code to be certain the correct town code procedures were being followed,” Napier wrote in his report.
Hicks would have earned a salary of $130,000 per year plus medical, dental, vision, life insurance, a five-percent contribution to a 401(K) supplemental retirement plan and enrollment in the local Government Employees Retirement System. He was also approved for relocation expenses up to $2,500.
Royal Examiner reached out to Louisburg Mayor Christopher Neal regarding the town’s abrupt decision to renege on its job offer to Hicks, but the official did not return our call.
Regarding his selection as Louisburg’s town administrator, Medlin said, “It is an honor to be the next Administrator for the Town of Louisburg. I look forward to working with Mayor, the Town Council, staff, and citizens to accomplish projects as we move the Town of Louisburg forward.”
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