&dquo;Jack had a pretty big position in Tennessee,&dquo; Durham said, referring to Miller&squo;s job in Crossville, Tenn., where for eight years he managed a staff of 160. &dquo;Coming to a small town was just not comfortable for him.&dquo;

Mayor Peoples agreed. &dquo;His strength was with a much larger organization,&dquo; Peoples said. &dquo;He gracefully stepped aside to allow us to fill the job with someone more suited to Tryon.&dquo;

Miller will receive two months severance pay.

Durham and councilman Austin Chapman will handle day-to-day management duties with the town staff until an interim manager can be hired.

Former interim manager Bob Shepherd, who covered the gap between Fatland and Miller, is &dquo;interested&dquo; in the job again, but could not start until January, Peoples and Durham said.

Peoples said advertisements for a new manager will be run from now through the end of February, and council hopes to hire a new manager for Tryon by June, 2009 to have him in office and ready to go by next July.

&dquo;It is always a failure on everyone&squo;s part, on council&squo;s part, when something like this happens,&dquo; Durham said. &dquo;The employees and the citizens feel the effects and need leadership in place. We just have to move forward. I hope we can find the right person.&dquo;

&dquo;We thought we had the right person (in Miller),&dquo; Peoples lamented, &dquo;and it wasn&squo;t.&dquo;