Marthasville’s city government is embroiled in drama after a week of staffing shake-ups.Public Works Director Brad Landwehr was informed Monday, May 15, that his position had been eliminated, leaving him out of a job. A day later, City Clerk Lisa Irwin resigned.Marthasville Police Chief Eugene Jenkins also was fired after his shift Sunday.The board of aldermen voted to eliminate the city’s police department, effective Friday, May 19. (See related story.)Landwehr joined the city in late 2015 and was named the full-time public works director in January 2016, serving the city of a little over 1,100 people.Marthasville did not previously have a full-time public works director. Landwehr was the highest paid city employee with an annual salary of $40,000.Mayor David Lange said the city’s board of aldermen decided to eliminate the full-time public works position in large part to save money. He said the city would still have a part-time employee, and would return to contracting for larger projects and management of the city’s water and wastewater systems.During a board of aldermen meeting Thursday night, Landwehr accused Lange and several aldermen of eliminating him in retaliation for criticism of how the city handled a water line extension project at Two Street.“In the past six months, a water line project has cost the city $118,000 for about 1,600 to 1,700 feet of water pipe,” Landwehr told The Record. “This line should only cost a maximum of about $80,000, $50 per foot on the high side, but it cost about $75 per foot.”Lamke Trenching and Excavating was hired to install the water line. The crew included Alderman Dan Grafrath, who is a Lamke employee.Landwehr criticized the quality and efficiency of Grafrath’s work on the project, which began in November and finished in February.Landwehr also alleged that the pipe was not properly sterilized and was potentially contaminated. He said multiple water sample safety tests have failed, and that Lange and Grafrath have blamed him for incorrectly collecting the samples.Lange said Landwehr’s $118,000 estimate for the cost of the water line project probably is a little low, but that the city had still saved money by providing its own equipment. He said part of the cost also went to installing a 10-inch pipe instead of an 8-inch pipe, to accommodate future growth.The mayor confirmed that the project was delayed because of failed water sample tests, and indicated the samples might have failed because they were incorrectly handled. Lamke took independent samples that passed safety tests, he said.“When samples fail, DNR (the Missouri Department of Natural Resources) makes you retake samples and retake samples until the samples are good,” after fixing the issue,” Lange noted.The mayor declined to respond to Landwehr’s assertion that he had been eliminated in retaliation for criticism, and said the decision had been made with a 4-0 vote from the board of aldermen.City clerk resignsA day after Landwehr was informed that his position had been eliminated, City Clerk Lisa Irwin presented her letter of immediate resignation.In it, she stated “I have truly enjoyed my position with the city until recent accusations and unprofessional emails directed toward myself and other city employees have created a stressful working environment that I no longer wish to be a part of.”Irwin declined to comment further about her resignation.The mayor said Irwin had been caught in an uncomfortable position. He speculated that she was upset after getting a number of email requests from aldermen asking about the origin of various Sunshine Law requests for city documents.“I think she was doing an excellent job,” Lange said. “Most of the Sunshine Law requests were coming from her husband. She was getting pulled in both directions.”The absence of the clerk had an immediate impact on city business.Marthasville’s city hall was closed for several days.The board of aldermen’s regular meeting had to be rescheduled twice to 9 p.m. May 18, because it normally is the clerk’s job to post a legally mandated notice of the meeting 24 hours ahead of time.Irwin is the second clerk to leave the city in as many years, after Carla Heggemann was forced out in May 2016. Heggemann is currently suing the city for wrongful termination.Irwin has been replaced on an interim basis by Bonnie Nordwald, who served as city clerk in New Florence for 10 years and then assistant city clerk in Wentzville for eight years. Prior to that, she worked for the Warren County Circuit Court Clerk’s office.Nordwald will serve as interim clerk until the city finds a permanent replacement.“She’s very experienced, very knowledgeable. She’s going to help us train a new applicant for full-time city clerk,” Lange said.The board of aldermen voted unanimously on May 18 to hire Nordwald at $16 per hour, retroactive to May 17, when the board’s regular meeting had been scheduled.The Marthasville Board of Aldermen meets the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at Marthasville City Hall. The next regularly scheduled meeting is June 21.Record reporter Joe Barker contributed to this report.City of Marthasville