With city manager’s pending departure, what comes next?

The City Council’s decision to part ways with City Manager Mary M. Corriveau comes at a time when Watertown has just started preparing a budget and is restructuring the Parks and Recreation Department.

Council members voted 3-2 Tuesday night to inform Mrs. Corriveau that they will not renew her contract, which expires April 30.

They have acknowledged they have not discussed how they plan to search for a new city manager.

So what happens next?

With so much on the city’s plate, it was an easy decision for Councilwoman Teresa R. Macaluso to vote against the resolution. Ms. Macaluso said she was relying on the city manager to work on the budget, put together a new management team for the Parks Department and get other work done on several issues.

“Why do you think I voted no?” Ms. Macaluso said Wednesday. “She’s at the center of it all. To me, this is not a great time to do this when we have all these issues.”

Declining to comment on the action the council took, Mrs. Corriveau would not discuss her plans. The subject — as well as other issues that came up at Tuesday’s council meeting — was discussed with her staff as a part of the meeting she routinely has with it following any council meeting.

Council members Joseph M. Butler Jr., Jeffrey M. Smith and Roxanne M. Burns voted to sever ties in April with Mrs. Corriveau.

While there were rumblings for months, Mr. Butler said Wednesday it was just last week that he decided it was time to go in a different direction and not renew Mrs. Corriveau’s contract.

He would not discuss his reasons for not retaining the city manager.

“I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty details,” he said. “It’s a personnel matter. I respect Mrs. Corriveau. I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty. I’m just not going to do that.”

It was determined last week that there were enough votes to pass the resolution, Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham said Wednesday. That’s when Mrs. Corriveau was told her contract might not be renewed.

Mr. Butler and Ms. Macaluso met with her on two occasions last week to discuss her future with the city. Saying she was “in the other camp,” Ms. Macaluso said Wednesday she attended the meetings because she opposed getting rid of the city manager.

On Wednesday, Mr. Smith said he made up his mind a couple of months ago after determining that things were not going to change under Mrs. Corriveau’s direction. Mr. Smith, who ran for mayor last fall, also denied that he had made up his mind before Election Day or that he was interested in the job.

As he did Tuesday night, he continued to say it was strictly a personnel matter and would not elaborate on his decision, saying it was “not personality matters” or politically motivated.

“It’s time to professionally and respectfully move on,” he said.

But Mr. Graham said Wednesday that Mr. Smith and Ms. Burns had voiced concerns in the past about communication issues and other longtime issues they had with the city manager.

In the past several months, they criticized Mrs. Corriveau for her handling of the Parks and Recreation Department. Some of that criticism came when she had to reopen a job search to hire a new management team for the department after council members discovered last spring that major bookkeeping and accounting problems had gone on for years.

But Ms. Macaluso said Mrs. Corriveau was always there to answer questions and was helpful in letting her know about city business. She also did not blame her for the Parks Department woes.

“In my relationship with her, she has always been great,” she said.

Council members said they had to act before Feb. 1 to avoid the city’s having to pay Mrs. Corriveau $51,000 in severance pay over six months. The city also would be forced to pay her health benefits for that length of time and, should she decide to relocate, pay any difference between the amount she sells her house for and its fair market value, according to the agreement.

Mr. Graham said it was the language in her contract that forced the three council members take Tuesday night’s actions.

Before finding a new city manager, council members said they might consider hiring an interim city manager. Ms. Macaluso said she hoped to persuade Mrs. Corriveau to stay on for several months to get the city through the budget process and such crucial matters as finding a new management team for the Parks Department.

In her agreement, Mrs. Corriveau may give the council members 30 days’ notice if she decides to leave before her contract expires. She also has 10½ vacation days and 180 sick days coming to her, so she could leave well before the 90 days’ notice the council gave her.

If that happens, Mr. Butler said, he already has come up with “a Plan B” to fill the gap until a new manager is on board, but he declined to divulge that plan.

While she would not talk about whether she plans to leave before April 30, Mrs. Corriveau said she will abide by the 30 days’ notice that’s in her contract.

Mrs. Corriveau joined the city government in 1985, was named assistant to the city manager in 1993 and became city manager in 2003.