CITY OF BUCHANAN OFFICIALS SUSPEND CITY MANAGER

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BUCHANAN – News this week that Buchanan City Manager Ben Eldridge has been suspended with pay from his duties have people with more questions than answers.
The only official statement on the matter came on behalf of Buchanan Mayor Sean Denison from City Clerk Kalla Langston. “The issues concerning the city manager are confidential in nature and we will be updating all of you at the appropriate time after proper procedures have taken place,” the statement read.
Eldridge has been the city manager for Buchanan since late June. He was chosen manager in May after City Commissioners interviewed him and two other finalists. The city manager post had been vacant since commissioners parted ways with Heather Grace in mid-February. She had been hired in August, 2020.
Eldridge, 51, lives in Goshen and had been employed by the town of Millersburg as the superintendent. He and his wife, Michelle, have two grown children. Before coming to Buchanan, he was a professional water and wastewater operator with over 20 years of experience in local government management and operations and community development.
During his interview, Eldridge called his three greatest traits as his honesty, his responsibility and being a visionary. He said he will have an open door for staff, commissioners and citizens and will keep commissioners up to date with what’s going on.
He said his goals for his first year were to balance the budget which now has a deficit, meeting the benchmarks set by the city commission and having a good working relationship with staff and with local businesses. Some action was taken this fall to balance the budget with the indefinite postponement of the city’s Thrill on the Hill event.
City resident Carla Johnson is among those asking questions. She said she’s concerned about who’s running the city when the city manager is believed to be on indefinite paid leave.
“This strikes me as dangerous because Buchanan has a city manager-controlled government, and with the position filled with someone disabled from action, I believe it leaves the majority of three on the city commission to do whatever they want regarding employees and budget, including the city manager position,” she said.
She noted that commissioners fired Grace in February for reasons to which the citizens were not privy, had an interim city manager until early summer, and have already suspended the new city manager. She pointed out that the city paid Grace a generous severance package for Heather and now is paying a full salary for someone on paid leave.
“The new city manager seemed focused on cutting spending, canceling Thrill on the Hill and delaying purchase of $25,000 in picnic tables for a city with a population and revenue decline, about 2000 taxpaying homeowners paying the taxes, water and sewer for an estimated 4200 to 4400 residents,” she said.
“Speaking for the people, we need communication and explanation from our elected city commissioners,” she added. “With continued historic inflation, we are all struggling to pay our bills and paying a severance package and now suspension pay for two city managers in one year.”