(Chatham) — The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the sudden resignation of County Administrator Stuart Turille.
Supervisors spent two hours in a closed session Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Administrator’s “Conduct Annual Performance Review” according to the Work Session agenda.
Turille was hired in March of 2023 to replace David Smitherman who was fired by Supervisors in January, 2022. The County spent 14 months without a full-time Administrator. Clarence Monday and County Attorney Vaden Hunt served as Interim Administrator during that period.
The County has released no public statement about Turille’s resignation. Supervisors added the work session item to the agenda of their business meeting Thursday night under “County Administrator Performance Review.” Board Chairman Darrel Dalton made the motion to accept the resignation.
“The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors makes a motion to accept the resignation of Stuart J. Turille Jr., County Administrator, effective immediately, with a waiver of the thirty-day resignation notice period. Mr. Turille has full service of six months severance plus benefits as detailed in his March 21, 2023 employment agreement,” Dalton read. “This Board thanks Mr. Turille for his work and dedication to this county.”
The vote was taken just before the segment of the meeting where each Supervisor is given the floor. Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Ken Bowman thanked Turille for his year of service. “Thank you for helping out the staff and providing them leadership. I appreciate everything you’ve done,” Bowman said. “Good luck to you, Godspeed to you, and if I can do anything for you let me know.”
Turille made no public statement about his sudden resignation. When he had the floor at the end of the meeting, he mentioned a couple of event reminders and nothing else.
Turille is a Lynchburg native. In addition to municipal governments, he’s also worked for The World Bank and Norrell Financial.
It was two years ago when Turille resigned as Petersburg City Manager after he was placed on administrative leave just eight months into his tenure. Petersburg residents complained they were never given a reason for the removal. Their Mayor called it a “personnel issue.”
Earlier in the day, Turille made a lengthy presentation to Supervisors during a work session where he outlined “Five Areas of Strategic Needs.”