By Emily Weaver
Daily Record of Dunn
ANGIER – The Angier Board of Commissioners returned from a closed session without the town’s leader during a special called meeting Tuesday, Jan. 21.
“We don’t have any more business to conduct, but it is my duty to announce that our Town Manager Elizabeth Krige has resigned,” Angier Mayor Bob Jusnes announced at the end of the meeting. “The board has accepted her resignation. Police Chief Lee Thompson will step in only as immediate interim town manager to keep things going. The board is arranging interviews for an interim town manager and also or ultimately, rather, to find a new permanent town manager.”
Board members gave no reason for her sudden departure at the meeting.
“I’m sorry that it had come to this,” Jusnes said. “I appreciate the work that Elizabeth had done. We got a lot done this year — a whole lot. And so she’s not here, but if she watches this I thank you for your dedication to helping us do that.”
Commissioner Jim Kazakavage thanked Krige and wished her “the best of luck.”
“Thank you for all that you’ve done for this town. I wish you well,” added Commissioner Loru Boyer Hawley.
Commissioner Sheveil Harmon declined to speak.
Krige’s immediate resignation came just two weeks after the board accepted the resignation of fellow Ward 2 Commissioner Ashley Strickland.
In a letter to the town, Strickland said that her reason for leaving was “ongoing internal conflicts” that made it difficult for her to fulfill her duties effectively. In a letter to the board, she referenced “adult bullying” and said Town Manager Elizabeth Krige “publicly humiliates board members both in open session and on social media,” and that the mayor “has lost the trust of his colleagues.”
Jusnes told The Record, earlier this month, that Strickland may have been referring to a negative social media post made by Krige after a recent commissioner’s meeting. He said the post was a meme and although it did not specifically name anyone he could tell it was directed at the commissioners. The post has since been deleted.
Krige’s sudden resignation also comes days after the Angier Museum received a letter citing a complaint from an Angier resident that sparked a North Carolina Department of Justice inquiry.
The letter referenced The Daily Record’s reporting and claimed the museum president, a former town commissioner, gave the museum’s recent renovation project to the mayor’s construction company without following the rules of a grant that required bids on any work. The letter also asserts that it wasn’t until after the work was completed that the town agreed to a memorandum of understanding on the project and that even if the town manager approved the work ahead of time, she didn’t have the authority to make that decision without the commissioners weighing in.
The office of State Attorney General Jeff Jackson is requiring “a written response to the complaint, along with copies of any supporting documentation, within 15 days” to “assess the merits of the complaint.”
The board was set to consider a revised policy regarding maintenance to town-owned facilities at Tuesday’s special called meeting. The policy reads, in part: “The Board of Commissioners shall have the authority to review plans and specifications for renovation (to town-owned facilities) and will approve or deny these plans and specifications at a Board Meeting. In the case of an emergency or significant damage to facilities, the Town Manager shall have the authority to secure the facility until the next Board meeting.”
Krige started her job as Angier town manager on July 5, 2023.
