The Sisters city manager resigned Monday and will receive more than $80,000 as part of a severance package.

Eileen Stein served as city manager of the 2,000-population community for 11 years.

According to the separation agreement, Stein’s resignation is effective immediately. She received 11 months of severance on Monday, totaling more than $75,500, according to the agreement.

She also received more than $5,000 in accrued vacation pay and will continue to receive health insurance for 11 months.

In addition, the separation agreement includes a provision that prevents Stein and city staff and councilors from disparaging one another or making any statements that could “reasonably be expected to damage the professional or business reputation of the other party.”

The agreement further requires the city to provide Stein with a letter of reference.

The letter includes nine points that highlight her accomplishments during her time as city manager, including her role in creating a downtown urban renewal district, the modernization and expansion of city facilities and creating master plans for various issues within the city. The letter states the City Council highly recommends Stein for new employment, “without reservation.”

After a five-minute executive session at 7 a.m. Monday, the Sisters City Council met in open session. Councilor McKibbon Womack moved to accept Stein’s resignation, and the motion passed, 3-2, with Womack, Mayor Brad Boyd and Councilor Wendy Holzman voting in support of the resignation and Councilors Catherine Childress and David Asson voting against it.

Boyd declined to say what had precipitated Stein’s resignation. He instead issued a news release highlighting Stein’s work for the city over the past 11 years.

“Under Eileen’s leadership, the city has transitioned to a more professional organization, facilities have been upgraded and the city has maintained its financial stability,” the news release states.

After the short meeting, Childress asked Boyd about the process for finding a replacement, and whether all five city councilors would be included in that process. Boyd said the five councilors would vote on the replacement, and said the council would discuss the issue at its Thursday meeting.

“Is this something where someone has been selected and we don’t know about it?” Childress asked Boyd after the meeting.

Boyd said no one had yet been selected, and said he expected to use a member of staff as an interim city manager for about two weeks before bringing someone from the outside in to serve as Sisters’ interim city manager.

Childress and Asson expressed their concerns about Stein’s resignation in an open letter over the weekend, alleging they’d been kept out of the discussion about Stein’s employment.

On Monday, Childress said Stein would be missed.

“I hope we can find someone who is very competent who can fill this gap,” she said. “We need someone who has the experience, knowledge, who understands codes and laws … who is satisfactory to all of the council and is a good administrator.”

Asson called Stein invaluable to the community, and said staff morale was deteriorating with her departure. He said he worried that without Stein helping coordinate with Oregon Department of Transportation the changes to Cascade Avenue scheduled to begin in spring 2014, the project may affect the town’s businesses.

And Asson said he believed the process by which Stein’s resignation was garnered was a likely violation of public meetings law.

“Throughout the entire process, Catherine (Childress) and I have not been invited to participate or consulted or whatever,” he said.