As it's dealing with the loss a senior planner, the city absorbed another hit last week as Walt Aikman announced he could no longer work with city leaders because he doesn't respect them.

During Thursday's Auburn City Council meeting, Aikman said he would not continue his work with Grow Auburn's Trees, a program he started in 2002.

His wife, Cynthia Aikman, resigned her post as planning economic development program manager in September rather than accept a change in duties that would remove her economic development responsibilities. City manager Mark Palesh made his decision without discussing it during open council meetings.

Walt Aikman said Palesh, Mayor Tim Lattimore and Councilor Matt Smith acted in an underhanded manner discussing the change behind closed doors. Both councilors David Dempsey and Thomas McNabb said they didn't know anything about the move to change Cynthia Aikman's job until she gave her two-week notice.

Walt Aikman can't work with the men who had such a negative impact on his family, he said.

The volunteer forester hopes to again work with the city under new leadership, he added.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.