At it again: Dumfries starts search for new town manager

DUMFRIES — Newly minted Dumfries Mayor Derrick Wood is adding another title to his name — Interim Town Manager.

We’re learning today that former Town Manager Robbert Ritter cleaned out his desk after an emergency meeting of the Dumfries Town Council on Wednesday night.

“We decided we needed someone who is proactive, and someone who will work with the council,” said Wood.

Ritter was a year-and-a-half into his two-year contract with the town. The town council agreed to pay him an additional $22,316 for the final two months of his contract as severance pay.

The council this year increased the town manager’s annual salary by $3,900 annually.

Dumfries leaders and residents have been down this road before following the resignation of former Town Manager Dan Taber in 2016. Then-Mayor Jerry Foreman served a dual role as both mayor and manager.

In the meantime, the town contracted with private firm Springstead to find and hire a new town manager. That process led to Ritter’s hiring.

The town is once again knocking on Springstead’s door, asking it to conduct a new search for a new town manager.

“We wrote it into the previous contract that we won’t have to pay them extra in the event we needed to replace [Ritter],” said Wood.

Under Ritter, the town purchased the building at 17755 Main Street next to its current town hall. The town’s police department is already inside the building, and the town’s public works staff is in the process of relocating the rest of the municipal offices into he building.

There are a handful of existing business inside 17755 Main Street. The town government will become the landlord to those tenants.