PORTERDALE, Ga. – City manager of Porterdale Frank Etheridge has announced his resignation, effective Wednesday, Feb. 28.

The city of Porterdale released a statement on their official Facebook page on Jan. 10. According to the statement, Etheridge submitted his resignation at the first city council meeting of the year on Jan. 8. 

Etheridge confirmed his resignation to The Covington News Thursday afternoon.

When asked the reasoning behind his resignation, Etheridge stated it was a “two-fold answer.”

The first being that he has accepted a job as the assistant city manager in Lula, a town with a population under 3,000 in the Hall and Banks county areas.

Etheridge elaborated on the second fold reason. 

“With the new council and their goals, I wasn’t sure of their support,” Etheridge said. “Which after the fact seems to be fairly solid, but at the time I was trying to make a decision. Basically I was trying to make sure I was one, employed, and two, have support.

“With the regime change and new council members I just wasn’t sure the direction they were trying to head in.”

Etheridge said that he will continue work and complete the open projects that he has been actively working on – including the upcoming budget.

“We’re working on finalizing the budget – I’m behind on that,” Etheridge said. “We’re working to get a meeting with the GDOT [Georgia Department of Transportation] to discuss the bridge replacement project, and I will say thirdly on that list that make sure the newly elected officials have their training requirements set and that we’re ready for a retreat in April.”

Additionally, future projects such as re-establishing the historic preservation commission and the planning commission as well as helping create the city’s master plan are among the projects that Etheridge hopes to still take part in as he prepares his exit.

Etheridge first took on the role as interim city manager of Porterdale back in August 2020. Since then, he has held the role of city manager and has led the city throughout a number of projects – most notably helping the city get out of financial trouble. 

“I started in August of 2020 as an interim, back then the city had a lot of financial issues… and we’ve cleaned up a lot of those,” Etheridge said. “We did a financial software update, I think we’re finally completing. [Now] we’re trying to finish two audits at the same time, which are the 2022 and the 2023 audits.”

Among some of the other projects that Etheridge was proud to be a part of, being able to adjust pay rates for city employees and the continuing progress on the Cedar Shoals project were two in particular that stuck out to him.

Newly elected mayor Michael Patterson provided a statement to The News, thanking Etheridge for his time in office.

“I would like to thank Mr. Etheridge for his service to our community,” Patterson said in an emailed statement. “We wish him well in his transition & appreciate his assistance as we begin the search for a new City Manager.”

There is currently no word on what the city’s plans are in hiring a new city manager. 

Etheridge stated that he is currently giving the mayor and council guidance on how to move forward, but that talks are still preliminary.

While Etheridge will be seeking a new venture elsewhere, he thanked Porterdale for the three-plus years that he served in office, stating that the city had “grown on” him.

“Porterdale has grown on me, it's in my heart and I offered to the council if they ever need help or want any help, support [or] backup – I’m more than willing to come back and do that with them,” Etheridge said. “For the citizens – you know we all have our differences – but I’ve enjoyed our citizens and our residents and I look forward to them to continue moving forward and becoming a better community.” 

Managing editor Phillip B. Hubbard contributed to this report.