GUYTON —  The City of Guyton filled its administrative leadership void with a proven, known commodity.

During a Dec. 17 special called meeting, the council approved the hiring of Laurel Street Consulting’s Brett Bennett, who began a stint as interim city manager Thursday morning. The move was necessitated by the resignation of Daniel Hofman, whose final day on the job was Friday.

A committee that included two current council members (Michael Johnson, Joseph Lee) and two incoming council members (Mayor-elect Russell Deen and Hursula Pelote) met with Bennett, Springfield’s city manager for 12 years, ahead of time to establish the guidelines of his job. He has a 90-day contract.

“During that three months, (Bennett) will manage the day-to-day operations of the city and find us a permanent city manager and city clerk,” Mayor Jeff Lariscy said. “I know he and Mr. Hofman were already talking about a city clerk because we posted that opening a while back and they were going to look at the applicants and start taking recommendations.” 

The City of Guyton is also without a city clerk as Alison Bruton, who served aown stint as interim city manager, resigned from that post in late November.

Lariscy said he, Hoffman, Bruton and others will work with Bennett to ensure a smooth transition.

 “I’m hopeful that things will get better for the city and the relationship between members of the council and so forth,” Lariscy said.