Ashland City Manager Sabrina Cotta will leave her job Oct. 16 after two years in the permanent position.
The City Council approved a separation agreement Tuesday night. The agreement states that Cotta resigned voluntarily for reasons unrelated to the quality of her work. She will receive 12 months of severance pay, about $228,000.
Her departure follows a performance review this summer in which council members praised her strong work ethic and efforts to advance city priorities but criticized her communication and response to community concerns.
“Council continues to see issues that do not need to become controversies do so, in part, because of a lack of strategic communications from the City Manager’s office,” the review said. “And in some cases, an unwillingness to consider changing course when there is a significant, negative response from the community and/or Council to the way in which an objective is being met.”
The review also raised concerns about her relationships with council members. City staff were generally satisfied with her leadership, particularly her efforts to shield them from personal attacks.
Cotta did not respond to requests for comment.
The city appointed Deputy City Manager Jordan Rooklyn as interim city manager and began recruiting a permanent replacement.
Cotta joined the city as deputy city manager in 2022. She began filling the city manager’s role after Joe Lessard resigned in 2023 and became permanent city manager in 2024.
She is the second city manager since voters approved a council-manager form of government in 2020, placing day-to-day operations under the manager’s authority. The council acknowledged in the review that it needs to better understand the city manager’s role.
