John Scruton has resigned as city manager of Rochester and will be replaced on an interim basis by former city manager Bob Steele. Scruton’s abrupt resignation came at the request of seven city councilors.

A Rochester native, Scruton adopted his position in 2006 following previous stints as town manager of Farmington, Goffstown and Plaistow. His resignation became official after seven of the city’s 13 councilors voted to accept it during a non-public session of a Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 4.

Minutes of the meeting show the council was sharply divided on the issue of Scruton’s resignation. Mayor T.J. Jean and six other councilors wanted Scruton to resign and had discussed his resignation prior to the meeting. They had also reached out to Steele, who indicated he would be interested in taking the interim job.

But several other councilors, including Elaine Lauterborn and former mayor John Larochelle, complained that they had been left out of all previous discussions on the matter. They also argued the vote should take place in public sessions and questioned whether the process of meeting privately outside of Council meetings constituted a violation of Right to Know laws.

Some councilors defended Scruton, with Larochelle calling him one of the best managers in the country. He warned that paying out Scruton’s contract and hiring a new city manager would be expensive.

The only specific reason cited for requesting Scruton’s resignation was that he had failed to conduct personnel evaluations of department heads. Jean said he and the six other councilors who supported the idea wanted Scruton to resign so “the Council could go in a new direction,” according to the minutes.

Voting in favor of Scruton’s resignation were Jean, Deputy Mayor Raymond Varney Jr., and councilors David Walker, Brian LaBranche, Geoffrey Hamann, Ralph Torr, and Sandra Keans. Voting against his resignation were councilors Lauterborn, Larochelle, Chuck Grassie, Stephen Hervey, Alan Reed-Erickson, and Peter Lachapelle.

Steele served as city manager for several years before announcing his retirement in the fall of 2005.

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