Garland board hires new town clerk

GARLAND — The town Board of Commissioners approved the hiring of a new town clerk Thursday night in the wake of the resignations of both the previous clerk and deputy.

During the board’s regular work session, held the third Thursday of each month, members voted immediately to go into a closed door session to discuss personnel.

During that time, two people were interviewed for both the deputy town clerk and town clerk positions. Once the meeting was brought out of closed session, 45 minutes later, the board voted to hire Megan Daughtrey to be the new town clerk, pending a background investigation and drug test.

Mayor Austin Brown said Daughtrey accepted the position of town clerk around 8:30 p.m. Thursday night. He said she will begin her new job on Aug. 2.

The previous town clerk, Shauna’ Harper, had given the board her resignation at the beginning of the week. In an email, Harper stated that she had left the position due to a “toxic work environment.” The email also stated that the previous deputy town clerk, Ramona Arias, resigned for the same reason.

The board previously voted 3-2 to give Harper a raise to $50,000 a year. Commissioner Jo Strickland, who voted against the raise, at the time noted that Harper did not have the education or the correct training to back the raise. At that meeting, Harper fought back against those comments, saying “she didn’t have anyone to train her” and that she “trained herself for the position.”

Little was said about the resignations at the board meeting.

“We thank her for her services and wish her well,” Mayor Brown noted.

He did not comment on Harper’s statement about the toxic work environment.

The board also voted on a deputy town clerk during the meeting, but she declined the position.

The next Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled for Aug. 6.