The measure requires the Moore County Board of Commissioners to approve actions by a 4-1 majority until the board is reorganized Dec. 2.
However, one of the “apples” apparently is not a contract for County Manager W. David McNeill Jr., who said he does not want a contract and hinted that he may resign.
North Carolina officials, meanwhile, are keeping tight lips about the newly enacted legislation affecting the Board of Commissioners
Morgan, a Republican, said Wednesday that the reaction of some commissioners and by The Pilot reconfirms his belief that he did the right thing to introduce the bill.
“There’s been more and more reaction [to the bill],” Morgan told The Pilot, “Some of it was fabricated, some of it isn’t. I feel strengthened in my position that I placed my trust in Michael. If Michael Holden tells me he has some concerns, that’s enough for me.”
Asked about those concerns, Morgan mentioned contract extensions and extraterritorial jurisdiction issues as well as passage of an additional sales tax. He said there has been talk that the lame-duck board might offer a contract extension to the county manager.
Holden, former board chairman, has made it clear that McNeill has lost favor with him in the past 18 months.
McNeill said Wednesday that he does not have a contract with the county and does not want one. The county manager said that he has not had a contract in all of the 16 years he has served in Moore County.
He also said that there was no contract during his tenure in Transylvania County, where he served before he came to Moore County.
“I don’t have a contract, and I don’t want an employment agreement.” He said. “I never thought I’d need one. I thought that if the time came that the board was not supportive, I’d do something else. That time may be near.”
McNeill said that county and city managers usually have what is known as an employment agreement, rather than a contract, with the local government that hires them. However, the manager is usually hired to serve at the pleasure of the governing body, and that has been his philosophy throughout his management career.
When he went to work in county government in 1978, McNeill said, most managers were not given contracts or employment agreements. But this practice has picked up in recent years, he said.
His first job was that of planner in Edgecombe County. He later became assistant to the county manager there, then in 1983 accepted the manager’s position in Transylvania County.
In Moore County, he makes an annual salary of $108,000.
McNeill said a commissioner did mention the possibility of a contract at one time, but “I told him no.”
Morgan rushed through the local bill last week, at the request of Moore County Commissioners Holden and Colin McKenzie. The bill stipulates that, until the new Board of Commissioners is seated Dec. 2, no action shall be taken by the board except by at least a 4-1 vote.
Morgan has said he introduced the bill to prevent “shenanigans” by the lame-duck board, and especially to prevent the imposition of a new tax. But Republican political opponents of Morgan, and supporters of outgoing Board of Commissioners Chairman Paul Helms, feel the new law is an effort to tie their hands until the new commissioners, dominated by supporters of Holden and McKenzie, come on board.
‘Number of Concerns’
Helms wrested the chairmanship of the board away from Holden in an election of commissioners last December. But he lost in this year’s Republican primary to Virginia Saunders, a former county commissioner whose public statements have indicated that she sides with Holden and McKenzie on most issues. Victory on the primary was tantamount to election, since no Democratic candidates have filed for commissioner.
Holden said Thursday that he and McKenzie did have a number of concerns that the board might approve contracts and ordinances as last-minute actions before Dec. 2, when Saunders will be sworn in to succeed Helms. Holden, who was re-elected, and Commissioner David Cummings, who had no primary opposition, will also be sworn in Dec. 2. All three are Republicans and have no Democratic opposition in the Nov. 5 general election.
‘We Don’t Get Involved’
Several officials in the N.C. attorney general’s office in Raleigh refused comment on the bill, saying they are prevented by law from expressing opinions on laws.
Oddly, officials with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners in Raleigh also refused comment, although the law specifically targets the Board of Commissioners in Moore County. Todd McGee, the public information officer with the association, said he had no comment “at this time,” adding, “We don’t ordinarily get involved in local bills.”
But Joseph Farrell, with the North Carolina Institute of Government in Chapel Hill, did express an opinion on the law. “It’s perfectly constitutional,” said Farrell, an expert on county boards of commissioners. “On the other hand, rescinding it would be perfectly constitutional also.”
Rescinding the act would take a new bill, Farrell said.
“The new bill could be introduced in either the House or the Senate,” he said. “But it’d have to get through the House.” By implication, Farrell meant that the bill must survive Morgan’s opposition in the House.
The local bill carried the House and Senate overwhelmingly, with most legislators voting for it evidently because it was a local bill and because Morgan assured them that it was not controversial.
State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird of Orange County, who represents Moore County in the state Senate along with state Sen. Howard Lee of Orange County, has said that she and Lee voted for the bill because they thought it was noncontroversial. She is investigating ways to have the new law rescinded.
“The rules that each house introduces at the beginning of each short session,” Farrell said, “typically provide that a local bill must be accompanied by a statement from the senator or representative introducing the bill that it’s not controversial.”
Farrell said he had not seen this year’s rules. But the chief House clerk told The Pilot that such a rule is in place this year.
‘Fear of a Contract’
Holden said he and McKenzie are concerned about several issues.
“There was a fear of a contract, or that the board would make things happen [before Dec. 2]. But that was just a fear,” Holden said.
Holden said his major fear arose from the extraterritorial jurisdiction issue. The board voted 3-2 at a September meeting to approve a request from the town of Southern Pines for extending its zoning jurisdiction. He said a review of the minutes of board actions earlier this year reveals that the county had not fulfilled the promises made when Southern Pines first presented its request several months ago. Those promises included calling a public hearing to allow residents of the proposed ETJ an opportunity to be heard.
“Why did they reverse themselves? They didn’t explain their reasons,” Holden said.
Holden and McKenzie opposed the request from Southern Pines, which was approved by Helms, Cummings and Robert Ewing.
“I think we ought to do everything we can to protect those people,” Holden said. “We’re just trying to make sure the people of Moore County are protected.”
Holden said it is “a conservative bill that calls for a greater majority” to pass measures before the commissioners.
“I think they ought to tell folks what they’re doing,” Holden said of the three commissioners who voted in favor of the Southern Pines zoning extension.
‘No Room to Talk’
He also took exception to comments made by Commissioner Ewing in a letter to the editor of The Pilot, in which he referred to “strong-arm tactics” at described the passage of the bill as “underhanded.”
“He has no room to talk,” Holden said.
Holden said his principal concern lies with a potential threat to the East Moore Water District and the possibility that Southern Pines could extend water lines into the district boundaries, making it difficult for residents to join the county water system.
“They’re subject to a tax if the district doesn’t pan out,” Holden said. “There’s a lien against their property to pay for that water system. Why are we endangering the East Moore Water District?”
Both Holden and McKenzie have voiced concern that residents of the Southern Pines ETJ can vote in county elections but, because they do not live within the Southern Pines town limits, do not have a vote in town elections. Prior to extension of the Southern Pines jurisdiction, those residents were subject to the county’s zoning ordinance.
Helms has told The Pilot that the East Moore district is not endangered and that the issue has already been discussed by town and county officials, including him. Helms, who goes off the board in December, says town and county representatives are expected to meet and work out a practical solution to their water district lines.
One other request to extend an extraterritorial joning jurisdiction has been made to the county commissioners. However, the town of Carthage request has been withdrawn from the commissioners’ agenda.
Morgan introduced HB 1619 last week after consulting with Holden and McKenzie. It was approved 100-11 in the House, and the vote was unanimous in the Senate.
