By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LOVELAND - Service Director Joe Geers has resigned, saying the last three years have been "the worst" in his three decades as a public servant.

While Geers said he wasn't looking for a new job when Norwood officials asked him to take over as safety service director, his resignation letter suggests that he was fed up after 16 years in Loveland.

"The last three years have been the worst of my 30-year career when it comes to professionalism, experience, leadership, support, meetings and a big-city bureaucracy, just to name a few areas," Geers wrote in the Jan. 2 letter to City Manager Fred Enderle.

Geers, 53, wouldn't elaborate when reached at his office on Wednesday. He took a $9,000 pay cut to take the Norwood job that also requires him to resign his council seat there. His resignation from the $70,000 job in Loveland is effective Friday.

Enderle, who was hired three years ago, also refused to go into detail, saying he considered it a "personnel matter."

"We have had ongoing discussions since I've arrived here. There are certain expectations that any manager brings to an organization, and those expectations are placed upon the manager as a result of expectations in City Council," Enderle said.

"I can't help how Joe feels about things. I do my job, and I do it in a professional matter, and he has a right to his own opinion."

Enderle said he had no performance issues with Geers, who supervised about a dozen employees. He was hired in Loveland in 1988 after working 14 years in Norwood's public works department.

Geers formally accepted the Norwood job this week and will start there Tuesday, said Tom Williams, who was sworn in as Norwood mayor this month and immediately began replacing key city positions. Geers, who won a second two-year term on Norwood council in November, will resign from that seat on Monday.

Williams said he was not concerned that Geers lacked experience in public safety issues, noting that he wouldn't be involved in the daily operations of the police and fire departments.

As for Geers' parting shot at Loveland, Williams said: "I learned a long time ago, if you've got somebody that knows what they are doing, you give them the support and let them do their damn job. Nobody needs to be micromanaged."

Loveland officials have appointed Larry Moreland, Geers' assistant, as a temporary replacement.

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com