New Greencastle borough manager says people are best part of the job

Emilee Little was named Greencastle's borough manager and two other staff members were given new duties at Monday night's council meeting.

The meeting was moved to outside borough hall because the audience of nearly 30 people prevented COVID-19 social distancing in council chambers.

The new borough manager

Little has overseen day-to-day operations since being named assistant borough manager after former Borough Manager Lorraine Hohl resigned in October. Little joined the borough in 2019 as billing and program coordinator, then was placed in charge of human resources and finance later that year.

Her expertise is in finance and she previously worked as an accountant for a foster care agency in Chambersburg. Little holds bachelor's degrees in business and biology from Wilson College. She and her husband, Shane, have two children, Hadley and Lucas.

The people are her favorite thing about working in Greencastle, both the residents, who really care about what is going on, and the staff members, who she said are amazing and like a family across all departments.

In addition to serving as borough manager, Little's post includes the roles of chief administrative officer, zoning officer, treasurer and water authority manager. Her salary is $72,000 a year for three years with a six-month probationary period, Steve Miller, borough council president, explained.

The advertisement for borough manager asked for eight years of municipal experience and Jan Shafer, a Republican candidate for borough council in the May primary election, questioned Little's experience after just six months as assistant borough manager. She asked if any of the other people who applied for the job were qualified.

"In our opinion, no," said Matt Smith, chair of the personnel committee.

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Ten to 12 candidates were interviewed over the last several months, Smith said. Each had a little piece of the qualifications, but lacked others. For example, someone with project management experience did not have experience supervising people, he explained.

Little has been doing a really good job and when she expressed interest in the position it seemed like a good fit, Smith said.

Other Greencastle staff assignments

Other personnel moves approved Monday will contribute to a "robust office operation," Miller said.

"We're restructuring and using the strengths of the people we have to the best of their ability," Little said.

Assigning additional duties to two staff members, creating a part-time receptionist position and not filling the assistant borough manager's post will save more than $40,000 a year, Little said.

Ericka Faight, the police department's administrative secretary, will now also be the code enforcement officer. The police department already handles some code enforcement, including weeds, and this adds property maintenance to the list. She will receive about $5,000 more a year.

Donna Irons-Zimmerman, administrative receptionist, will have the added role of borough secretary.

It's typical to have a secretary to document meetings to allow the borough manager to concentrate on other issues, Miller said.

Irons-Zimmerman's schedule will be flexible so she can remain a part-time employee without benefits. She will receive $1 or $2 more an hour, which will cost the borough $1,300 to $2,600 a year, Little said.

The position of part-time receptionist was approved to help limit Irons-Zimmerman's hours.

In addition, council also approved creating a part-time position as "an extra set of hands" in the public works department.