UTICA -- Utica City School District Chief Academic Officer Steven Falchi was appointed the new acting superintendent of the district Tuesday following the sudden resignation of Brian Nolan from the position.

At the very beginning of Tuesday's regular board of education meeting, board President Joseph Hobika Jr. passed around a pair of new resolutions. The first was to accept Nolan's resignation, effective immediately.

"The board wishes to express its sincere gratitude to Mr. Nolan for his dedication and commitment to the district, students, staff and community as a whole during his tenure as acting superintendent," Hobika said as he read the resolution.

Board member Donald Dawes asked if Nolan had given a "real, solid reason" why he left, to which Hobika replied "no."

"Brian was hired to be here for about two weeks and he stayed for about seven months, and he chose today to be his last day," Hobika said. "I want to thank him for his efforts and all that he has done for the district during some turbulent times."

The resolution was accepted unanimously.

The second new resolution called for the appointment of Falchi to take over as acting superintendent of the district effective immediately, in addition to his current duties as chief academic officer. The resolution called for Falchi to receive a stipend of $355 a day in addition to his current pay and benefits to compensate him for also serving as acting superintendent.

"We look forward to working with Mr. Falchi as the acting superintendent," Hobika said. "He spent the last seven months working in concert with Mr. Nolan. We are very confident that he will continue the efforts that Mr. Nolan made to maintain a very positive academic atmosphere in the district and will allow us to have stability during this period of time."

Dawes abstained from that vote, but his fellow board members all voted in favor of Falchi's appointment.

Falchi then moved to the head table to sit next to Hobika.

He said the school district only has a short time left in the school year and the district certainly needs stability through that time.

"My primary focus will be on ensuring that stability is here for the rest of the school year," Falchi said. "Mr. Nolan was here for seven months ... he had a leadership style that empowered and supported the teachers and the administrators, and from that, we've had excellent results. I will continue that. That's extremely important to continue the momentum we've seen over the last seven or eight months, and I want to ensure the public, teaching staff, the administrators and the students that that momentum will continue as long as I'm here."

Nolan was appointed acting superintendent last October when Superintendent Bruce Karam was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into complaints made against him.

District resident Braedon Nanna was in the audience at the meeting and said he was "shocked and saddened" by Nolan's resignation and unhappy with Falchi's appointment.

"It's a disgrace and a slap in the face to everyone in the district," Nanna said, explaining that while Falchi worked under Karam's administration, he seemed to be Karam's "enforcer."

"If Mr. Falchi is really serious about continuing the work that Mr. Nolan started, he owes this entire district a huge apology and an explanation about why he did what he did," Nanna continued. "Without that, it will be impossible to move forward."