GATEWAY director resigns; board asks her to stay
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on April 30, 2014 1:46 PM
mcaulder@newsargus.com
The GATEWAY Transit director's resignation is on hold at the request of the GATEWAY Board while discussions continue about keeping her in the job.
At a meeting April 17 Lynn Lamberth said she planned to resign her post to spend more time with her family but the board did not accept her resignation and asked her to stay on, Goldsboro City Councilman Gene Aycock said.
Mrs. Lamberth left on vacation and came back for the GATEWAY meeting Tuesday.
The board met in closed session to discuss personnel issues relating to Ms. Lamberth, Aycock said.
"Lynn quit and then came back, or more or less we wouldn't accept her resignation," Aycock said. "She had concerns about two to three areas within the GATEWAY operations she'd like to see change. We had her take some time off. I think she felt overworked and under appreciated. She has been under a lot of stress."
Aycock said that while the job has seen many directors in the past few years, only Ms. Lamberth has tried to improve the system.
"Before her we had a lot of people who would get into the job and stay for six months and not try to fix it," Aycock said. "She is the only one that made things better in GATEWAY."
Ms. Lamberth said that her resignation is on hold following the board asking her to stay on and her reasons for planning to tender her resignation were personal in nature.
Ms. Lamberth moved into the job 10 months ago to get the struggling system back on its feet, GATEWAY Board Chairman Bruce Gates said.
"First, the boards are very ecstatic with how Lynn has done in the job," Gates said. "We have had several directors turn over in about a two-year period. We didn't have a good feel they knew how to get us back on track like Lynn does."
Gates said Ms. Lamberth saved the system $20,000 a month in operating costs by strategically replacing older vehicles to reduce maintenance costs.
"I don't think she realized how hard it would be," Gates said. "She was thinking about stepping down, but now she knows we fully support her and want her to remain in the position."
Gates said the board will likely give her the review, and probable raise, that she was told would be done after her sixth month with GATEWAY.
Mrs. Lamberth currently makes $65,340.38 a year.
"I certainly feel she deserves a raise, but the board needs to look at that and make a decision," Gates said.
Gates said that now that GATEWAY is back on track, he believes Mrs. Lamberth will have more time to spend with her family.
"We hope and feel that we're past the biggest hurdle," Gates said. "The work she has done the past 10 months helped reduce the maintenance costs and I think she has done all the heavy lifting now."
Gates said it was a tough 10 months for Mrs. Lamberth to get to this point and he thinks now is when she will see the benefits of her work.