LOCK HAVEN — In a 4-3 vote, Lock Haven City Council finalized the termination of former city manager Gregory Wilson following his suspension on Jan. 19.

The decision comes after Wilson declined a public hearing to discuss the sudden decision made by council over a month ago.

The resolution to solidify the termination was approved with Mayor Joel Long and council members Jeff Brinker, Heather Alexander and Micah Clausen voting in favor and council members Rick Conklin, Barb Masorti and Tami Brannan voting against the decision. The same split between council members took place during the initial decision to suspend and ultimately terminate Wilson in January.

According to the resolution, council and Wilson came to a settlement agreement and he will receive compensation “in the manner and form directed and provided” by the Third Class City Charter Law.

Prior to the vote, Masorti said she hopes council will take this opportunity to create better checks and balances between itself and the next manager.

“I hope we can use this as an opportunity moving forward to, as we seek out a new city manager, set up a system via which the city manager can be evaluated and counseled by council and that there are opportunities for us, as a council, and the city manager to communicate about job performance on an annual basis,” Masorti said.

She said she hopes council can use this as a chance to “improve the position and improve the conditions in which the city manager will be working within the City of Lock Haven.”

Following the vote, council did not discuss its next steps.

During public comment, council heard from former member Ted Forbes regarding the termination. Forbes has previously been an outspoken advocate for council reversing its decision.

At Monday night’s meeting, Forbes told council integrity was key in its decision making moving forward.

“Integrity both personal and professional rests on moral convictions to do what is right and reject what is wrong regardless of the consequences attached to decisions that have been made,” Forbes said. “Integrity drives us to work and then fix, to the best of our abilities, the mistakes we have made. And learn that we all make mistakes.”

Forbes went on to say council fired Wilson “without verifiable sufficient cause.”

“None of the charges were presented with verification or supporting statistics,” he said.

He further questioned why council did allow Wilson the opportunity to instead resign, rather than be terminated, noting this could create issues in future career opportunities for him.

If council were to retain their decision, Forbes questioned if they could have allowed Wilson to remain in the position to train his replacement so the candidate could better understand the many levels of the job.

He also said the suspension and termination of Wilson also compounded problems, in that it put further pressure on its current employees.

“You’ve compounded your mistake by having the city planner, Miss. Abbey Roberts — already swamped in her position and in need of an assistant. In addition, she has to take on the responsibilities of a city manager that she may not be sufficiently prepared for,” he said. “These are very unique and different positions.”

He told council these changes could increase expenses within city government and potentially lead to tax increases in the future.

“I plead with you to fix this. Use your courage and personal and professional integrity and most of all your empathy for and with Mr. Greg Wilson, Miss. Abbey Roberts, the city of Lock Haven to make city governance better for all of us,” he said.