Benson's town manager resigned, and another key official announced her two-week notice as the town works through a financial crisis.
According to Benson Mayor Max Raynor, Town Manager Dane Rideout has resigned from his position. Raynor read Rideout's resignation letter during Thursday's meeting with the council.
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"Despite significant effort, I am unable to overcome institutional resistance to make difficult but necessary changes required to address long-standing financial and management challenges," Rideout's letter read in part.
The town council accepted the resignation during a closed session of their meeting on Thursday.
WRAL News reached out to Rideout for comment on his resignation, but has not heard back.
During the meeting, assistant town manager Calla Godwin also handed in her two-week notice.
Town officials released a statment on Thursday following both resignations.
"On May 21st, 2026 the Town of Benson accepted the resignations of town manager Dane Rideout and assistant town manager Calla Godwin. We are working to immediately find someone to step into the role of interim town manager. Assistant town manager Calla Godwin has agreed to temporarily assume the duties of town manager in the time she has left, which is about 2 weeks. Obviously this is a trying time for our town but we will work through this."Town of Benson officials
Rideout had been in the spotlight in recent weeks after a video began circulating online involving an outburst during a staff meeting. Rideout confirmed to WRAL Investigates that he got heated during a department meeting where town officials discussed the budget.
"I am not trying to be dramatic, it's not personal. I hope I have gotten it through the commissioners’ head, we're f****** broke and we've got to do lion s***. And we finally did it. I about lost my s*** last week when it was a 4-2 vote, when we sat in here in this room and all the commissioners around there, I said 'Everyone good?' and we looked around and all fricking seven of 'em said, 'We're good,' and then two of them decided to fricking kowtow to their population, and 'oh, by the way, we talked about this that only two of those little sons of b******.”
Rideout told WRAL Investigates on Wednesday that his remarks at the end of the video were spliced and taken out of context.
Previously, Rideout stated at a Board of Commissioners meeting that the town had a $2.75 million deficit.
At Thursday's meeting, an independent auditor said its recent report found the town had an over expenditure of the budget for several years straight and an improper USDA reserve fund.
The town is considering cuts to services and staffing to make up the money, all part of its budget process.
WRAL News asked how the town could continue the process without a town manager. Raynor said he was unsure, but said the council would work to come up with a solution.
“It worries me to death, because I don't know, we're going to do, we're going to fix it somehow,” Raynor said, adding that the problems are a combination of overspending and an underperforming electric fund.
Those things, he says, are now mostly under control.
“We were actually going to come out in the plus this year,” he added.
Now, the biggest battle is finding someone to fill the town's two top spots.
The board of commissioners went into closed session at the end of Thursday’s public meeting.
The mayor said they are discussing who to appoint as an interim while they search for a permanent town manager.