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Briggs Transport owner Boom Briggs gets set to haul away ground tree limbs, stumps and brush filling his truck at the City of Erie compost area in Erie, Pa., on Sept. 22, 2026. The cleanup follows a severe wind storm on Sept. 2, leaving fallen trees across large parts of the city. (GREG WOHLFORD/ERIE TIMES-NEWS)
This week brought personnel changes at Erie City Hall, where Mayor Daria Devlin continues to wrestle with a looming $12 million deficit for 2027.
Devlin told the Erie Times-News she has eliminated the position of director of human resources, held by Theresa Croll, 51, effective immediately, and will eliminate the position of city finance director Lisa Gomersall, 65, following her planned retirement in early 2027.
The duties of those two positions won’t disappear.
For now, Devlin said the city has contracted with an HR consultant to advise the mayor’s chief of staff, Lori Radder Spicer, for the next couple of weeks. The mayor said Spicer will then take over those duties until a permanent change is made next year.
Following Gomersall’s retirement on an unspecified date, Devlin said she plans to create a new position of director of finance and administration.
“We are going to get back in line and have a director of finance and administration that oversees human resources, finance, payroll and purchasing,” she said.
Devlin said the two positions are not being eliminated because of job performance, but as part of an effort to address the city’s financial situation.
Daria Devlin speaks after being sworn-in as new Erie mayor inside Erie City Hall in Erie on Jan. 5, 2026.
At a time when tax increases are under consideration, “I have to do my due diligence and find every efficiency and every savings that we can,” she said.
Croll, who is working to complete her MBA, said she had been aware of the plan for a combined position and had made her interest known to the mayor.
Croll, who had worked previously as chief human resources officer at PennWest University, joined the Devlin administration in January of 2026.
Gomersall, the city’s finance director, is a holdover from the administration of two-term Mayor Joe Schember. She had been with the city since June of 2012.
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In a social media post, Croll addressed her dismissal, writing: “Today, I was informed that the City is restructuring and eliminating the HR Director position altogether. There were no goodbyes or transitional pivots—just a sudden close to a critical chapter.”
Croll said in her post that she has poured her energy into building strategic workflows and identifying efficiencies.
“Yet true organizational change requires deep alignment,” she wrote. “Despite presenting thorough roadmaps and strategic plans, the appetite to fully execute lasting structural change was met with shifting goalposts and repeated realignments.”
Croll confirmed that online post in a conversation with the Erie Times-News.
“It wasn’t a great day,” she said. “It was not expected. All of this talk of growth and change and whatever and you get thrown out with the bathwater.”
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Devlin stressed that neither cut was related to job performance and that the finance director had always planned to retire in 2027.
“All of these cuts have been painful,” Devlin said. “We did some in the spring and there might be another one or two coming. Every single one is painful. These are human beings and we don’t look past that. These are simply things that have to be done for the sake of the city.”
Contact Jim Martin at jmartin3@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Eyeing $12 million deficit, city of Erie cuts 2 key job positions