Hurlock – Update on the Mayoral Mess; More on the Way

Last week we reported Kathleen Clough’s expose of Mayor Joyce Spratt’s conduct in office here http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-viewer-writes-hurlock-folks-in.html . After the mayor, who had recruited Ms. Clough with a long term contract to serve as Hurlock’s Clerk/Treasurer, fired her from that post, Ms. Clough sued the mayor and council for wrongful termination. Her suit was dismissed by the circuit court in Cambridge, but that ruling and the case is now pending on appeal in Maryland’s highest court. This from the website of the Court of Appeals:

Kathleen Clough v. Mayor & Council of Hurlock - Case No. 15, September Term, 2015

Issue – Labor & Employment – Does a town charter provision providing that key employees serve at the pleasure of the mayor prohibit the mayor from exercising his or her pleasure by offering a contract of employment to a key employee for a term of years in order to attract a qualified professional to serve in a rural area?