Damascus Clerk Candidate Regrets Leaving Glade Job On Bad Terms

Gayle Karriker’s interview with the Damascus Town Council earlier this month for its clerk vacancy was the “weirdest” of her life – 10 minutes that felt like “sitting in a dumb chair” before the council members, she recalled.

But the job offered health benefits, which Karriker did not have as a part-time clerk for the town of Glade Spring, and a marginally higher hourly wage of $9 an hour. It also was full-time.

When Damascus Mayor Creed Jones called her hours after the Aug. 13 interview to offer her the job, Karriker said she was “surprised and overwhelmed” and accepted on the spot. Only the next day – after news of her acceptance appeared in the Bristol Herald Courier, catching her then-coworkers unaware – did she realize her resignation was disastrously premature.

It remains unclear what transpired between Aug. 13 and Aug. 19 that caused the town council to pivot away from Karriker. On Tuesday night, the council unanimously approved another woman, Tuesday Pope, for the clerk spot. Pope and council members did not return phone calls seeking comment on Wednesday.

Jones’ phone call to Karriker followed a closed council meeting in which members settled on her and a new police chief, former Bristol, Tenn., firefighter Bill Nunley. The council voted to approve Nunley, but waited to formally vote on Karriker until after she had been informed of the offer.

On Aug. 14, Karriker said she received a call from council member Lannis Greene advising her that a vote had yet to be taken and she should not resign from her job.

On Wednesday, she called the council’s actions on Tuesday “kinda dirty,” but said that her only regret is leaving Glade Spring – where she worked for the past two years – on bad terms.

Karriker was apparently the council’s second choice for the clerk job. Pope, a sales manager for Belk, had first refused the job before accepting on Tuesday night. She did not return two messages left on her cell phone Wednesday seeking comment.

Karriker didn’t think she would get an offer after interviewing with council members in the first place. She said the closed-door meeting lasted “no more than 10 minutes,” and no one had questions for her.
But the prospect of health insurance was enough for Karriker, who said she has fibromyalgia, to put aside any misgivings.

Her experience in the past week, however, prompted her to read up on the town’s recent political turmoil, which has included a tense relationship between the police department and the town council. The town has had four police chiefs in four years.

Karriker, who said she has no immediate job plans, also learned that her ex-husband, Chris Shumate, is a town police officer. A dispatcher on Wednesday could not confirm Shumate was still employed by the town.

“I didn’t really keep up with Damascus’ dramas,” she said. “I was focused on Glade Spring. If I had known all the stuff that was going on there, I wouldn’t have even wasted my time.”

| (276) 645-2558