{"id":117695,"date":"2026-02-19T03:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T03:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117695\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T03:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T03:21:12","slug":"town-of-erie-fires-town-manager-malcolm-fleming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117695\/","title":{"rendered":"Town of Erie Fires Town Manager Malcolm Fleming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning of the Mayor\u2019s intentions to fire<\/a> Town Manager, Malcolm Fleming, citizens of the City of Erie rallied together, sending their district representatives\u2019 emails and offering public comment. It is clear that Mayor Moore\u2019s intention of doing this quietly, and in secret, would not materialize.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

However \u2013 despite the resistance from community and council members alike \u2013 in a four to three majority, the council voted to terminate Malcolm Fleming at the end of the evening.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The council session began with presentations on public art projects and a proposal to increase the town\u2019s airport fees. For hours, careful consideration and thoughtful questions were circulated between town leaders on an issue of obvious importance to locals. As many had come to discuss this issue during public comment as did the town manager.\n<\/p>\n

As the aeronautic talk concluded, Mayor Moore introduced the motion to bring the body to executive session, Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Bell reading the agenda item to be discussed: personnel.\n<\/p>\n

Councilman Dan Hoback called a point of order, \u201cthis executive session matter was started in public session, I believe it should continue in public session.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mayor Moore listens to public comment while the Town of Erie Council discusses his future with the city. The body would vote 4-3 at the end of the meeting on February 17, 2026, to terminate their contract with Mr. Fleming. (Photo by Vince Chandler \/ Yellow Scene Magazine)<\/p>\n

The mayor curved toward Mayor Pro Tem Bell, and urged they take the vote, and if there were not enough votes, they would proceed in public session. Though the majority votes were for executive session \u2013 four to three \u2013 Mayor Moore needed five. This meeting would remain open to the public.\n<\/p>\n

Council members Baer, Hoback, and Pesamarelli all asserted their case that Malcolm not lose his position.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Council member Baer endeavoring to persuade her colleagues, affirmed, \u201c[The mayor] did not have consensus or a majority, originally, to bring this forward, and I\u2019m very hopeful to my fellow council members that that remains the case; that you hold your ground, that you\u2019re brave right now, and not strong armed to do the mayor\u2019s bidding.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Council member Pesamarelli appeared to resign himself to the fact that he would not be able to change the council\u2019s mind; their decision was stated to be already made. From the three council members who fought in Malcolm\u2019s corner, attention shifted to the four who didn\u2019t.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Malcolm Fleming listens while the Town of Erie Council discusses his future with the city. The body would vote 4-3 at the end of the meeting on February 17, 2026, to terminate their contract with Mr. Fleming. \u201cI wish everyone well and encourage them to honor the pledge enshrined in the Erie Town Charter to, \u201cuphold the principles of democracy, equity, and justice, and to foster a community that is inclusive, diverse, and welcoming to all,\u201d he told Yellow Scene Magazine. (Photo by Vince Chandler \/ Yellow Scene Magazine)<\/p>\n

Council member Mortellaro was quiet, but Council member O\u2019Connor and Mayor Pro Tem Bell scolded Pesamarelli, Baer, and Hoback for wanting this conversation privy to the public.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Councilman O\u2019Connor called it \u201cinappropriate\u201d to have this discussion in the open.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish we could have had that discussion in exec, because what I wanted to see was that we could have a mutual agreement to part ways\u2026\u00a0 I think Malcolm wanted to have that conversation. I sincerely regret that we can\u2019t have that conversation right now, because I feel that would have been better,\u201d Councilman Bell said, addressing his colleagues,\u201cAnd that\u2019s due to three people up here wanting to make this a public show.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Mayor Moore set the vote in motion by expressing, \u201c[Malcolm] told me, \u2018If there\u2019s four votes, then I would rather just be able to negotiate the separation agreement.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I don\u2019t know if I have the four votes, but I do know I want to find out if I have the four votes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Yellow Scene received this statement from Mr. Fleming the following day:\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cErie has a fantastic team, including great Town staff throughout the organization. I loved working with them, as well as with current and past members of the Town Council and advisory boards and Planning Commission. I will miss them all and I am proud of the long list of accomplishments we achieved together.\n<\/p>\n

Erie is a great place. Our teamwork over the past 7 years made it even better and positioned the Town to prosper in the future. I wish everyone well and encourage them to honor the pledge enshrined in the Erie Town Charter to, \u201cuphold the principles of democracy, equity, and justice, and to foster a community that is inclusive, diverse, and welcoming to all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Learning of the Mayor\u2019s intentions to fire Town Manager, Malcolm Fleming, citizens of the City of Erie rallied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4877,33806,6836,6837,1676,10494,5660,6833,6838,1681,136,138,137,4688,55095,1677,55097,13546,55096,5715,84,4012,27784,6820,6835,55885,5858,976,55099,55886,7608,6904],"class_list":{"0":"post-117695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-bell","10":"tag-boulder","11":"tag-business-directory","12":"tag-colorado","13":"tag-council","14":"tag-councilmember","15":"tag-denver","16":"tag-east-county","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-erie","19":"tag-erie-headlines","20":"tag-erie-news","21":"tag-executive","22":"tag-fleming","23":"tag-front-range","24":"tag-hoback","25":"tag-majority","26":"tag-malcolm","27":"tag-manager","28":"tag-mayor","29":"tag-members","30":"tag-moore","31":"tag-nbsp","32":"tag-north-metro","33":"tag-pro","34":"tag-public","35":"tag-restaurant","36":"tag-session","37":"tag-tem","38":"tag-town","39":"tag-votes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}