MINERSVILLE - Borough Manager Joseph K. Bass resigned from his position effective July 15, according to borough officials.
Borough council President Helen Droskinis confirmed Thursday that Bass resigned and said that although she doesn't know why, she believes it is due to personal reasons.
Droskinis also said council must wait until its next regular meeting, Aug. 13, to advertise for a new borough manager.
"We're a small borough and we'll work through this until we get a new borough manager," she said.
Police Chief Michael Combs said Wednesday that Bass submitted his resignation July 15. Combs said Bass resigned on his own terms and there were no problems.
The borough provided two telephone numbers to contact Bass, of Mount Carmel. One was disconnected and he did not return calls made to the other number.
Bass was hired Jan. 11, 2011, as the borough's infrastructure manager and was put in charge of the sewer, the streets and the municipality's office staff. A grant writer, he also assisted the water department in acquiring funding.
Bass held other borough positions previous to his employment in Minersville. In 1980, he was elected as a Mount Carmel Borough councilman and became head of the council's finance committee and "served there for a year, 11 months and 16 days, until Dec. 16, 1981," he said in a previous story. Bass was the borough manager in Mount Carmel for 28 years before being fired Oct. 28, 2009.
Mount Carmel Borough pays Bass $1,213.65 monthly for pension benefits, which is only 59.5 percent of what he would have been paid had he been allowed to retire after another seven years. Pension benefits in the borough are reduced by 6 percent for every year between the employee's end of service and his original projected retirement date.
On Oct. 28, 2009, the Mount Carmel council fired Bass and borough Treasurer Marian Muldowney in a surprise unanimous vote following a three-hour executive session, according to The News-Item.
After being fired, Bass said he job hunted for 13 months before Minersville borough council hired him. He replaced James Cleary, who resigned May 11, 2010, from the position of infrastructure manager he had held since January 2009.
In May 2011, the Minersville Borough cCuncil approved an ordinance creating the office of borough manager, a title change for Bass.
At that time, Bass said that the reason the position was created was that it would be recognized by state code since that the position of infrastructure manager is a position in the community and the borough association does not recognize it as a manager's position.
In May, Mount Carmel requested that Mount Carmel Borough Police Chief Todd Owens launch a criminal investigation into the operations of the Lower Anthracite Transportation System, specifically the operations and management of the former subcontractor King Coal Tours and owner Robert Else III, former transit coordinator Gerald Matzura and Bass, the former transit manager.
(News-Item staffer Justin Strawser contributed to this story.)