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City Of Linton Looking To Replace Utilities Manager

Last updated on Friday, June 15, 2012

(LINTON) - Linton City Utilities Manager Shawn Clifford has resigned.

Mark Stalcup of the Greene County Daily World reports that the search is under way for his replacement, with a replacement hire hoped for immediately.

"I've talked to a couple of people," said Linton Mayor John Wilkes, adding he intends to hire a new manager "as soon as we find the right person."

No reason was given for Clifford's resignation, effective Monday.

It was accepted unanimously by the Linton City Council during its regular council session.

No word was available on where Clifford, who could not be reached for comment, will be headed.

The utilities manager had been employed by the city in that position since 2010.

As manager of Linton Municipal Utilities, Clifford oversaw six utilities: Electricity, natural gas, water, wastewater, garbage collection, and wireless broadband.

Linton Utilities additionally employs three department superintendents and 39 union employees, the record shows.

Clifford's resignation comes as Wilkes is transitioning the city utilities back to greater local control of billing. While prior administrations contracted to have bills prepared and sent, Wilkes returned oversight of those measures to the city.

That, the mayor said in January, allows cost reductions for the city. It was also intended to eliminate errors, making overbilling easier to correct.

In recent years, the city had seen isolated incidents where utility customers had experienced inexplicable jumps in their utility costs, rates which were corrected once brought to the city's attention.

By keeping the measures in house, Wilkes suggested the city would be positioned better to correct those errors before the bills are distributed.

When Clifford took the job in 2010, the 1999 Linton-Stockton graduate said he looked forward to a long run as Linton's utility manager.

He replaced Brent Slover, who resigned in November 2009 to take work in Hoosier Energy's Bloomington office.

Clifford is a 2004 Purdue University graduate with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Prior to his work with Linton, Clifford was employed as a project manager for the city of Terre Haute's engineering department, the record shows.

Previously, he'd been an employee of Beam, Longest and Neff, an Indianapolis engineering and consulting firm. There, he designed water and sewer lines as well as treatment plants. He also gained experience working with gas and electric utilities.

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