The Times-Tribune - Throop manager returns after resigning

Remember yesterday, when he quit?

09/21/2005 - Throop manager returns after resigning - BY MATTHEW CHARLES KEMENY staff writer

THROOP — After submitting his resignation letter on Friday, borough manager Robert Hegedus is already back to work for the borough, saying that he quit out of frustration and calling the whole situation a “misunderstanding.”

Mr. Hegedus withdrew his letter and officially punched the clock at the Borough Building about 10 a.m. on Monday.

The 40-year-old Throop native sent Borough Council a resignation letter on Friday, a week after he was hired as borough manager.

“It was a moment of panic and misunderstanding on my part,” he said about the letter.

Mr. Hegedus said originally that he resigned amid speculation that he was “being an infidel” for speaking with council’s three-member minority voting bloc.

“As borough manager I felt trust is paramount in reuniting this community (and) then progress would ultimately prevail,” he wrote in his resignation letter. “That trust was violated when certain employees and members of council accused me of ‘wrong-doings’ based on the people I conversed with.”

Although he declined to identify the employees or council members that were referenced in the letter, he said it did not include Councilman George Marushock or Councilwoman Susan Shortz. Council President Daryl Menichetti and Councilwoman Cindy Johnson are the other members of the minority voting bloc.

Neither could be reached Tuesday for comment.

Mr. Hegedus — whose annual salary is $37,500 — replaced former manager Ken Novak, who resigned to take the borough manager’s job in Dickson City.

Mr. Hegedus also lost in a bid for a Throop Borough Council seat in May’s Democratic primary.

He said Tuesday that he was thrilled to be back.

“I don’t think (my resignation) was in the best interest of the borough,” he said. “There was no one there to do their payroll, no one to do their checks. That’s why I stepped up for the job.”

Councilman James Barnick, who sits on the minority voting bloc, said the majority voting bloc needed Mr. Hegedus to return.

“He’s the only one that could have signed their checks,” he said.

“They wouldn’t be able to pay nothing.”

Efforts to reach all four majority council members were unsuccessful Tuesday.

tags: regional