Council member Hemstead moves to fire town manager Nicole Washington; council records 4-3 tally after heated meeting

Council member Hemstead moved during a town council meeting that the council "fire Nicole Washington with cause immediately for her appointment as town manager," and the motion drew immediate objections about procedure and demands for evidence before any action, according to the meeting transcript.

The motion, introduced verbally by Council member Hemstead, was seconded and put on the floor amid repeated interruptions and calls for a roll-call vote. "I make motion that we fire Nicole Washington with cause immediately for her appointment as town manager," Hemstead said when introducing the measure.

Opponents said the item was not on the published agenda and that the council should not proceed without documentation. "It should have been on the agenda," Council member Cubing said, arguing the council had not approved placing the dismissal before members and that no justification had been submitted to support firing the town manager.

Several participants defended Nicole Washington in the meeting. One resident said Washington "has done a great job getting this town back together" and urged the council not to act on what the speaker characterized as personal motives. When allegations were raised that Washington had improperly signed building permits tied to her husband, attendees demanded proof. "Prove it," one speaker told the council after the accusation was made.

A staff member described a separate series of incidents in which a man showed up at the staff member's home after weekend communications and said police were contacted and an investigation was under way. "This man showed up... I did call the police," the speaker said, asking the record to reflect safety concerns and the personal impact of the dispute.

The transcript contains multiple points-of-order and procedural interruptions as members debated who had the floor and whether the council could proceed with the dismissal without prior personnel review. At one point the presiding voice stated it would call a roll call and proceed to a vote.

After the exchanges, the meeting record shows a reported tally of "So that's 4 3." One member voiced "I vote yes" while the chair reported the count; the transcript does not provide a full roll-call listing of how each named council member voted. The meeting then recessed amid discussion of scheduling a follow-up date.

Council members agreed to recess the meeting and revisit business on a later date; the transcript records proposals to recess until the 19th and later the 20th and includes a direction that no checks be issued until an attorney is consulted. The record shows members planning to bring documentation to a future meeting for further review.

Next steps listed in the meeting record include bringing contracts and documentary evidence to a subsequent meeting and consulting legal counsel before taking additional administrative or financial action. The transcript does not show a published personnel report, formal written charges in the public record during this session, or a completed, attributable roll-call vote breakdown for the dismissal beyond the 4-3 tally reported in the session.