By a narrow margin of 60 votes, Tyrone residents decided Tuesday to retain the current mayor-council form of government.

When the final votes were tallied Tuesday night, 565 voters, or 53 percent, voted for the current government, while 505, or 47 percent, wanted a council-manager form of government.

According to town manager Barry Amos, the referendum would have provided a detailed description of his duties and also cleaned up the town's charter. But Amos said the rejection of the referendum does not negatively impact him in any way.

"Under either system of government, I still have to do what the mayor and council tell me to do," he said.

The referendum was the result of a battle between the mayor and the council during the last year to change the charter to provide a job description for the town manager and allow the mayor-pro-tem to vote when the mayor is not present. The charter currently maintains that any action by the council requires three votes. Currently, if the mayor is not present, the mayor pro-tem can only vote if there is a tie. The tift wound up in the hands of Rep. Lynne Westmoreland, who brokered a deal that put the charter changes and the form of government on the ballot.