Carson City manager opts to stick around

Carson City Manager Linda Ritter withdrew her application for the same position in Lyon County.

"I'm staying," she said Thursday. "I have a lot of work to do and look forward to doing it."

Steve Englert, head of human resources for Lyon County, confirmed that Ritter asked to rescind her application.

Ritter applied for the county manager job in Lyon less than two weeks ago, after Mayor Marv Teixeira asked for her resignation.

The two offered different reasons for the falling out. In a letter Ritter wrote to Teixeira on July 10, she states the mayor was angry over her reassignment of his wife, Liz Teixeira, who was the city's community relations officer.

Mayor Teixeira denies that was the reason, however.

"I felt that she could no longer be effective," Teixeira said.

He said there were "a number of issues" about her performance that bothered him, but he wouldn't provide details.

Liz Teixeira's reassignment called for her to spend 24 hours out of her 40-hour work week in Human Resources promoting an employee health program. She resigned from her job two weeks ago.

The expanded internal auditor position, originally proposed by Sue Johnson, the city's finance director, is to be funded by using money saved by the city manager's department that had been used to pay Liz Teixeira.

During the supervisors meeting last week, he expressed concern about making the internal auditor a full-time position and was the only member to vote against it.

The auditor will help the city find ways to cut back on expenses so the budget can come in balanced, said Johnson and Ritter.

Ritter was subsequently told by supervisors she could stay on. She received positive job reviews the four years she's been in the position. Her contract expires in April 2009.

She served as Elko city manager and assistant county manager for Elko County before coming to Carson City.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.