City Council declined Friday afternoon in an emergency session to dismiss its city manager.
City Councilman Danny Wyatt offered a resolution to suspend David Rutherford.
“I’ve lost a lot of confidence in Mr. Rutherford," Wyatt said. "All good things have to come to an end, and if the council doesn’t support me on this, I’ll do my best.”
Harris seconded Wyatt's motion for discussion. She criticized Rutherford's city budget projections, among other behaviors.
McMinnville,” Harris said. “He has worked to promote his personal agenda over that of the majority of the council.”
Wyatt, however, was the only councilman ultimately to support the measure during Friday afternoon's vote.
That vote came after the more than 100 community members in attendance rallied behind the city manager to keep him in office.
"This was just an uncalled for meeting and just out of the blue," Rolf Weeks said. “When we hired in Mr. Rutherford, we did the best job we could by bringing in somebody from the outside.”
Cumberland County Mayor Kenneth Carey countered that the Cumberland Plateau city has seen more business prospects than in recent years, a mark of progress. Audience members responded with applause.
“We’re getting site visits from industrial prospects that we weren’t 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago,” Mayor Carey said. “This is a team effort and a community effort, and I urge all of us to work together to keep this team together.”
Crossville City Mayor James Mayberry said there haven't been issues with Rutherford in the past.
"Every one of the council members when he was evaluated earlier in the year was above average," Mayor Mayberry said.
He said personality conflicts were the main issues between the city manager and some of the council members.
When asked if personality is enough cause to call for an official's dismissal from office, he replied, "Small town politics."
Many community members also mentioned the progress both the city and county has made in bettering conditions for students and promoting drug prevention.
"David came in as an outsider to see what the need was," Sheri Nichols said. "Now an insider and one of us, he is part of the reason why we have unity here because he gathered together our city mayor, the city council and everybody now is working for the greater good."
That unity is what both the community and city leaders are striving for as they move forward.
"It's the positive direction that the city's going in," Mayberry said. "It's overwhelming actually, and it's a good start. We've just got to keep going."
10News reached out to City Manager David Rutherford for comment, as he was not at the meeting, but never received a response.