By John Anderson 11/11/2021
Dean Arnold’s resignation as town highway superintendent Wednesday night for the Town of Wellsville does not mean he won’t be serving Wellsville residents.
On Monday night after an executive session, the Wellsville Sun learned the Village of Wellsville appointed Arnold as Director of Public Works starting Nov. 22, 2021. He will replace William “Bill” Whitfield, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
Wellsville Mayor Randy Shayler said the village is “exceptionally pleased” to hire Arnold, and in Arnold’s resignation letter, he was exceptionally pleased to leave the town and working for Wellsville Town Supervisor Shad Alsworth.
In his resignation letter, Arnold to Wellsville Town Clerk Danielle Osgood, Arnold said, ” Due to recent events and the Town Supervisor’s constant harassment, routine failure to
communicate with myself and his disregard for long-established procedure and ongoing efforts to make my job difficult and discredit my character have made continuing in my position untenable. It is my opinion that this type of “leadership” is corrosive and leads down a path that I do not want to follow or be a part of.”
Arnold said in his letter he was resigning with deep regret, but he said he went over this with his family and legal counsel.
He said he has enjoyed serving the town residents for 13 years and added, “I wish you all, including Supervisor Alsworth, good health, prosperity and safety.”
Alsworth said today he did not know the village had hired Arnold. When asked about Arnold’s resignation letter, Alsworth said, “I need to gather some more information and contemplate my response to Mr. Arnold’s resignation.”
Arnold will work with Whitfield until the end of December, Shayler said.
“We are exceptionally pleased to get someone like Dean Arnold with this background and his dedication to the village and town of Wellsville,” Shayler told the Wellsville Sun today. “Effectively, what we are doing is replacing someone who has a very large number of years and reputation and experience in Bill Whitfield with someone who has equal experience and the same level of attention to the village. We are looking for this to be an outstanding move on our part, we could not be happier.
“He’s very active in the Lions Club, the Little League, the trout derby … people know him and his reputation has been exceptional everywhere he has been, he’s a real asset,” Shayler added.
