The town of Hope has a new town leader, and he is immediately facing calls to investigate actions of a town employee.

The Town Council voted this week for Ed Johnson, a Democrat, to take over leadership of the council next year.

Several residents spoke up at this week’s council meeting urging an investigation into wrongdoing at a community organization, by an employee of the town. Outoing president Clyde Compton said the alleged incident was outside of town government’s purview and they were just allegations.

Town Attorney Cindy Boll urged the council to hold a closed executive session to discuss any personnel matters. At Tuesday night’s meeting, the last of the year, audience members asked Compton if he would schedule such an executive session and he said he would pass the decision on to his successor, Johnson, to handle next year.

Neither the name of the employee nor the alleged wrongdoing were specified at the public meeting.