Lincoln councilors appointed Wade Shaefer as interim town manager Monday, a week after firing the previous town manager.
Shaefer, the owner of Phoenix Tae Kwon Do Academy in Lincoln and a pastor at Swan’s Island Church of God, started the position Tuesday morning.
During Monday’s Town Council meeting, Councilor David Ireland made the motion for Shaefer to be hired and start Tuesday after Lincoln Police Chief Lee Miller said a background check could take longer than the two weeks the council thought it would. A background check on Shaefer will still be conducted but not finished until weeks into his tenure.
Miller was initially slated to be the acting town manager while a background check on Shaefer was being conducted.
Councilors Ireland, Lee Rand, Sheldon Hannington and Eric Rojo voted to hire Shaefer. Councilors Gordon Street and Stephen Clay, who is the chairperson, voted against.
Shaefer will be Lincoln’s third town manager this year. The Town Council initially hired a candidate that later declined the position, then hired Dennis Bullen, who was fired less than two months after he started because of disagreements between him and the council about the town’s budget.
Shaefer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Street was the most vocal against Shaefer being hired and starting immediately, saying that he had not had much time to talk with him and the town hadn’t done a full search for Bullen’s replacement.
“We’ve only had one candidate to look at,” Street said.
It’s unclear how Shaefer became a candidate or how the council searched for a candidate in the week since Bullen was fired. Ireland did not respond to a request for comment about why he motioned Shaefer to be hired.
Street also pushed back against Shaefer going directly into the position without a background check. Other councilors either didn’t comment or said that Shaefer would have the position contingent on nothing coming up on his background check.
Shaefer could be fired or replaced during his probationary period, which lasts two months, if something on his background check would warrant it, Ireland said. If something does come up from the check and the council has to fire Shaefer, it would be another mistake the council has made, Street said.
“It wouldn’t be the first mistake the Town Council has made,” Ireland said.
