By Kevin Hogencamp
Albany City Manager Alfred Lott moved his resignation up today from July 31 to March 2.
Lott, who was forced by the City Commission to find another job, did not say in his latest resignation letter whether he has landed a new assignment.
As late as last week, Lott was one of two finalists for the Savannah city manager post, but Mayor Otis Johnson said Friday that Lott no longer is considered a viable candidate for the post. Lott had extensive opposition among Savannah City Council members and citizens amid revelations not only of his track record in Albany, but that he hid it from his would-be bosses and their executive headhunter.
Lott’s tenure in Albany has been plagued with mishaps since he left his Takoma Park, Md., public work director’s post in September 2005 to become Albany’s city manager. When the City Commission met with Lott last summer to force his resignation, Mayor Willie Adams convinced a majority of the commissioners to allow Lott to remain on the job for nearly 13 months — until July 2011 – to give him to find another job. The commission then used taxpayer funds to pay for Lott’s trip to a conference in California, where Lott told a Savannah reporter that he met with a headhunter who steered him toward the Savannah job.
In his first resignation letter, Lott said he would seek new employment in the Northeast so that he could be close to his family. But he told a Savannah reporter recently that Savannah was a more attractive draw for him than Albany because his wife could not find employment in Albany.
Click on this image to read Lott’s latest resignation letter:
