No explanations almost a month after official was suspended

The Watertown City Council took the unusual step last month of calling an emergency meeting to place its longtime city administrator, David Mandt, on a paid administrative leave. But city officials never revealed why.

After almost a month of waiting and three closed council sessions to discuss the issue, Mandt's fate remains uncertain, and his lawyer says Mandt still doesn't know what to make of the suspension from his $85,000-a-year job.

"We still don't know why he was placed on a leave," said Michael Puklich, who worries that the abrupt manner in which the leave was handled has cast his client in a bad light. "They were real vague."

Puklich said all he's be told is that council members have concerns about Mandt's "management style."

"This is an investigation that should have been handled differently," Puklich said.

The lack of details has fueled speculation around town that council members were retaliating in some way against Mandt, who has served as Watertown's administrator since 1997. "That is what we believe," said Puklich.

The next closed-door meeting between Mandt and the council is set for Monday. Watertown Mayor K.J. McDonald, who voted along with the rest of the unanimous council to suspend Mandt, hopes the matter will reach a conclusion then, but he is not predicting the outcome.

Both McDonald and Puklich said they wanted to make it clear that Mandt is not being accused of anything criminal. Nor is he being accused of being insubordinate, negligent, incompetent or derelict in his duties as administrator.

Puklich said the "administrative personnel" issues he's heard about include some staffers saying Mandt's "body language" sometimes puts them off or that some days he is "inaccessible."

But Puklich said that's not sufficient reason for holding an emergency meeting and placing Mandt on leave in such an abrupt fashion, which has left the impression something nefarious could be going on.

"There's this cloud following Mr. Mandt," Puklich said. "The implication is that he did something wrong."

McDonald said the council decided to place Mandt on leave and launch an immediate investigation in hopes of staunching rumors that might circulate around the small town if an investigation were handled less formally.

Among the theories floated around town is that Mandt's desire to have the city and the Watertown-Mayer School District work more closely on such things as snow plowing and landscaping on district properties had rubbed some on the council the wrong way. Apparently, some council members are opposed to the idea and took issue with Mandt for pursuing it.

McDonald acknowledged that this issue has been a source of "controversy" among Mandt and some of the council members. He refused to elaborate.

"He didn't do anything," Puklich said, noting that the only action Mandt took was to enter into preliminary discussions with the school district about providing services.

"I think the issue was that they [the council members] wanted to be more involved early in the process," Puklich said. "But that is nothing that would rise to the level of placing him on leave."

McDonald acknowledged that there have been no formal complaints or disciplinary actions against Mandt during his tenure. In fact, he described Mandt as a good and popular city administrator.