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Minutes reveal illegal closed-session talks
By Lynn Hotaling
County elected officials acted illegally a year ago, according to a ruling handed down this week in Superior Court.
Judge Zoro Guice listed among “Conclusions of Law” in his Feb. 14 order “The (Jackson County) Board of Commissioners violated G.S. 143-318.1 (a)(3) by considering in closed session the qualifications, competence, performance, fitness and/or removal of (Tom) McClure as a member of another public body.
That ruling came in the case Jackson County Airport Authority Chairman Tom McClure and fellow Authority members Jim Rowell and Eldridge Painter brought against county commissioners to seek McClure’s reinstatement.
Questions have persisted regarding the legality of commissioners’ Jan. 11 and 12, 2005, closed sessions that preceded McClure’s unexpected removal from all appointed county posts. That action came as part of a complex, five-part motion made by then-Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan that was seconded and voted on with no discussion among the commissioners. Officials said the two closed sessions were for discussion of personnel matters, an exemption allowed under the state’s Open Meetings Law.
However, because McClure is an appointed official and not a county employee, the personnel exception to the law does not apply to any discussion of him, said Amanda Martin, legal counsel for the N.C. Press Association.
Martin’s opinion was confirmed by Judge Guice on Tuesday.
Minutes from the two sessions include much mention of McClure’s name and his role as chairman of the Economic Development Commission of Jackson County. Another name mentioned frequently is that of Tamera Crisp, who at the time was a county employee, though as economic development coordinator, she worked for the EDC. That arrangement was documented through a March 2003 memorandum of understanding between the county and the EDC.
When questions were raised as to the legality of those particular closed sessions, Buchanan said several weeks later that it was impossible to separate the discussion of McClure from dialogue about Crisp, who was a county employee.
After reviewing the minutes in question, Martin said it appears that the discussions of Crisp and McClure could have been handled separately.
In addition, both sets of closed-session minutes include a lot of background material such as a history of Jackson Development Corp., the property-owning offshoot of the EDC, as well as a summary by county Manager Ken Westmoreland of the makeup of the EDC board and how many appointees each entity has.
“I see no reason that information should be discussed in closed session,” Martin said.
According to Martin, public agencies have an obligation to limit closed-session discussion to those things state statutes provide for.
“If the discussion strays, someone should stop the discussion,” Martin said. “Everyone who is participating has an obligation to limit discussion strictly to those exceptions allowed by the law.”
The elements of Buchanan’s complex motion are stated twice in the closed-session minutes, which indicate that commissioners initially thought they could remove McClure from the EDC due to concerns they had that a foreclosure was imminent on the former Tuckaseigee Mills property now occupied by QC Apparel.
Westmoreland reminded the board that McClure was a Western Carolina University appointee, according to the minutes.
Of concern to the commissioners during the closed session was the status of the EDC books. The minutes reflect that Westmoreland said he thought the books should be kept by Crisp, a county employee. The minutes state “The EDC was organized by the county, and it has the right to review the books, but would need to send a deputy to McClure’s office to get them,” though that statement is not attributed to a specific individual.
Deputies were dispatched to McClure’s office on Jan. 12 to get the minutes. Court documents indicate that Capt. Steve Lillard and Deputy Clyde Rice of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office picked up the records and that McClure voluntarily surrendered them after being given a letter signed by Buchanan.
Commissioners discussed an audit of the EDC books during the closed session.
“The audit will turn up a bad management letter such as how a loan was made on such a bad business plan, how could one get a line of credit to pay salaries. It will question the people who made the decisions and approved the loans,” the minutes say, though again without specific attribution.
Officials decided during the closed session to place Crisp on administrative leave pending the outcome of the audit. (The Open Meetings law does allow decisions concerning placing employees on administrative leave to be made during closed session.)
“Mr. (Paul) Holt (county attorney) suggested that the county proceed with requesting an audit and when the public learns that Tamera (Crisp) and McClure are on leave, they will put two and two together,” the minutes state.
A non-attributed statement indicates plans to terminate Crisp’s employment, regardless of the audit’s outcome.
“After the investigation is over and with Tamera’s prior knowledge of all that has taken place and having withheld this information for such a long period of time, she should be fired,” the minutes state, again without attribution.
No evidence of wrongdoing on the part of either McClure or Crisp was found during the subsequent EDC audit.
According to the minutes, Holt recommended that all the items enumerated by Buchanan during the closed session (placing Crisp on leave; removing McClure; requesting an EDC audit; foreclosing on QC Apparel’s revolving loan; returning economic development activities to the county; and dissolving the county’s revolving loan committee), with the exception of placing Crisp on leave, should be made in the form of a motion in open session.
“When the open session is called back to order, (commissioners should) state that all matters taken in closed session related to personnel,” the minutes read, again without specific attribution, though the implication is that the statement came from Holt.
When contacted Tuesday, Crisp, who no longer works for the county (though she was not fired), said that after reading the minutes she didn’t have a statement but she did have a question.
“If county elected officials and their manager wanted the facts, why didn’t they have a meeting with me and a meeting with Tom (McClure) and a meeting with the EDC and Jackson Development board and revolving loan committee?”
Crisp said that when she was placed on leave, she asked for a meeting with the commissioners, but her request was denied.
EDC board members also asked on several occasions after the county seized its records to meet with county commissioners, but their requests were not granted.
Crisp takes exception to statements’ made in the minutes that indicate she “withheld” information, saying she tried on at least four occasions to discuss her job description and economic development with the county manager, but that her requests were denied.
She also disagrees with Westmoreland’s account (as reported in the closed-session minutes) of a meeting between her and the manager on Jan. 11.
“Mr. Westmoreland stated that Tamera Crisp came to his office today and was literally frightened,” the minutes say. “She told him that Jackson Development Corp. and the EDC are in serious financial trouble.”
When asked if Westmoreland’s account was accurate, Crisp said “no,” adding that the meeting was for another purpose. While she was talking to Westmoreland, he asked her if she knew that the QC building was facing foreclosure.
According to Crisp, that was the first time she heard that foreclosure proceedings had been started.
“Of course I was concerned,” she said. “I was not aware of that information until Mr. Westmoreland presented it to me.”
Commissioners continued to worry about a possible foreclosure for several months, though McClure and fellow EDC board member Jay Coward said on several occasions that additional financing had already been arranged.
County Manager Westmoreland was contacted for comment but had not returned The Herald’s call by press time.
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