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Harold Boldt Is Resigning as Texarkana City Manager

3 min read

Texarkana City Manager Harold Boldt on Wednesday announced he was resigning from his post effective June 30.

Texarkana Mayor Ruth Penney Bell said in an interview with Arkansas Business that Boldt’s announcement came immediately after the city board’s approval of a $220,000 settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former city clerk Patti Grey during a meeting Wednesday morning.

Bell said that she felt like the settlement and Boldt’s resignation were in the best interests of the city. She said she felt like a jury would have been “sympathetic” to Grey’s case, which would have cost the city more money.

“I think this will signal that new beginning that the citizens have prayed for for a while,” Bell said.

Boldt cited his ailing health in his resignation letter (PDF) released by the city clerk’s office.

“While stress is and has been a factor in the life of most City Managers across this country, I am at a point in my life where my health has become increasingly at risk, and dialysis will be required in my near future,” Boldt wrote. “Without question, my wife Alexandra has sacrificed many years because of my strong desire to pursue public service. I owe it to her to serve out the remaining years of our lives together.”

Boldt also thanked former Mayor Horace Shipp in the letter, stating that his “political leadership was critical in the Crossroads Development.”

In her complaint, which was filed in April, Grey claimed that Boldt “began the process of terminating” her soon after he was rehired by the city in 2013. He had agreed to resign earlier that year in exchange for a $162,000 severance payment.

Grey also claimed that Boldt accused her of telling city directors that he had stolen a stamp that included her signature and Boldt’s. She said she was asked about checks “where her stamp was used without her knowledge” during a review by the Division of Legislative Audit, but that she had only provided the list of checks.

The legislative audit report, which was released in February 2014, revealed several cases where there was inadequate documentation for expenses, among other violations, and “several other unusual transactions authorized by the City Manager.”

Boldt has been under scrutiny from private citizens and at least two prosecutors’ offices as a result of several land deals he coordinated between the city and a Texarkana doctor. No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the land deals.

A review of the records by Arkansas Business in February showed the doctor, Hiren Patel of Texarkana, Texas, invested a total of about $148,500 in the Crossroads Business Park and owns more than 11 acres of the project. But the city spent $1.92 million and came away with less than six acres of land to add to what it already owned in the area.

The contrast between what the city paid for land and what Patel paid was clear in the first transactions for the project in November 2009. The city purchased 4.189 acres of land for nearly $1.4 million for a new convention center and hotel, while Patel planned to purchase 4.5 acres from the same seller for $100,000.

A copy of Boldt’s resignation letter was not immediately available.

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