Out of someone else's frying pan and into our fire.
For new Warren City Manager Nancy Freenock, that seems to be apropos.
Here's what we know for sure at Clarion Borough Council's meeting on January 3, members voted not to renew Freenock's contract.
What followed that decision was the resignation of Mayor Andrea Estadt along with council members Jason Noto and Brenda Deed. All three would rescind their resignations at a special meeting four days later without providing reasons for the reversals.
At that meeting, council and community members exchanged at length their thoughts on the motives behind the non-renewal and some members praised the job Freenock had done over the past six years. There was a heated debate on the treatment of Freenock and whether she resigned or was terminated.
Newly appointed Borough Solicitor John Marshall, who was not at the January 3 meeting but watched it after-the-fact on YouTube, advised the board that, in his opinion, by leaving the meeting Freenock resigned.
We trust that the search committee made up of Warren City Councilmen John Lewis, Dr. Howard Ferguson and Maury Cashman along with Acting City Manager Mary Ann Nau and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Policy Specialist Michael Foreman vetted Freenock properly and are comfortable with what happened in Clarion Borough.
So, let us welcome her to the City of Warren.
We have a little matter of a fiscal monitoring review that is causing us discomfort.
DCED wants to know what happened to a $500,000 anchor building grant.
We can speak for the citizens of Warren when we say we too would love to know what happened to $500,000 of taxpayer money.
If that wasn't enough, Freenock's new bosses have decided to sue a non-existent, non-profit group of which our mayor, Mark Phillips, was president until sometime in 2011 when he resigned.
We find it very encouraging to see the support Freenock received from three members of Clarion Borough Council.
Our hope is that she gains the trust of Warren's council and, through thick and thin, moves the city in a positive and healthy direction.