TIVERTON — Tiverton Town Administrator W. Glenn Steckman announced at Monday's Town Council meeting that he will step down from his position effective Feb. 22.

"I am making this announcement almost two years to the day that my contract was approved by the previous Town Council," he said.

In his letter of resignation, Mr. Steckman, 51, said he made the decision not to seek renewal of his contract in late April. He notified the Town Council of his intent to seek other municipal employment opportunities at the end of September.

Through this fall, town council agendas repeatedly listed closed sessions to discuss the town administrator's job performance. Sources said that relations between the administrator and some others in town government as well as on the town council had become strained over the past year.

Last year, the administrator made headlines when he attempted to fire Police Chief Thomas Blakey. That led to a series of hearings after which the Town Council voted not to support the administrator's recommendation. Mr. Steckman made no reference to that episode playing a part in his opting to leave.

"By publicly announcing my decision at this time, it will allow the current Town Council to proceed to fill my position without leaving a long-term vacancy in the position," Mr. Steckman said.

During Monday's meeting, Mr. Steckman thanked his wife for putting up with the demands of the job, which include three to four night meetings per week and weekends devoted to paperwork, over the course of two years as town administrator.

The Town Council approved Mr. Steckman's resignation 6-1, with vice president Donald Bollin opposed. Town Council President Louise Durfee thanked Mr. Steckman for his service to the town, and the council went ahead with the vote with no further discussion from any members of the council.

Mr. Steckman's decision not to seek renewal of his contract back in April provided him the opportunity to search for jobs right along.

"On the positive side, I enjoy what I do. There's never a dull day," he said. "There are a lot of opportunities out there. When I made the decision not to renew my contract, I started exploring other opportunities."

Mr. Steckman moved from Ocean City, Md., to Tiverton in Jan. 2006. Before that, he worked in Laurel, Md. and was born and raised in Baltimore.

While he would not comment on where is looking to settle, he said he is in the process of sending out resumes to several municipalities around the area.

"I'm looking for a town my wife and I can settle into that has the desire to see great things happen and has a professional atmosphere," he said. "Tiverton has had a lot of great opportunities, but it just doesn't have the financial capabilities of making things happen."

He said the town needs to do considerable work including improvements to its worn out infrastructure but the town is limited by a lack of funds to get these things done and by soaring property taxes. "The debt keeps getting bigger and bigger and there's no end in sight," he said. "These are tough times and things are going to get a lot worse."

The town administrator's notice of resignation was not on Monday night's agenda, but he made the announcement at the end of the night, during the Town Administrator Announcements, Comments and Questions portion of the meeting, just after briefing the council on his plan to overhaul the town's web site by January.

"I don't want anyone to think I'm a lame-duck administrator," Mr. Steckman said. "To department heads, there will be no letup. There are projects that need to be done."

Frequent turnover and vacancies have marked the Tiverton town administrator post since its establishment. The council has not yet announced a process for replacing this latest departure. Also not discussed publicly so far is what sort of severance package, if any, has been arranged.

By Kim Centazzo

kcentazzo@eastbaynewspapers.com