Eastern Carolina Council Executive Director David Bone presents a proposal to the Mount Olive Town Board to hire the organization to prepare, advertise and help with the town manager search during the board’s Monday night session. The meeting was recessed until 5 p.m. Thursday at the town hall courtroom, 114 E. James St. It took two votes, but Mayor Jerome Newton persuaded the board to table the issue until then. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Mount Olive town commissioners Monday night kicked a decision on how to proceed in the search for a new town manager down the road for a few days.
The town has been without a full-time town manager since Jan. 13, when the board voted 3-2 to fire then-manager Jammie Royall, who had served in that role since 2020.
Commissioners Barbara Kornegay, Tommy Brown and Danny Keel voted to fire Royall. Commissioners Vicky Darden and Delreese Simmons voted against the firing.
The dismissal followed a closed-door session to discuss the competence, performance and/or fitness of an employee.
Long-time town employee Glenn Holland, superintendent of utilities, has been named interim manager.
Consideration of approval of a town manager search consulting contract with the Eastern Carolina Council was on the board’s Monday night agenda, but was tabled until 5 p.m. Thursday in the town hall courtroom, 114 E. James St.
Rather than adjourning the meeting and then having to call a special session for Thursday, Town Attorney Carroll Turner suggested the board recess Monday’s session until then.
The public can attend the reconvened session.
Mayor Jerome Newton, who pushed for the vote on the manager searchto be tabled, recessed the meeting instead of calling for adjournment following the more-than-two-hour board meeting.
Other town business
Also at the meeting was a presentation by Eastern Carolina Council Executive Director David Bone on a proposal to hire the organization to prepare, advertise and help with the town manager search.
Following about 20 minutes of discussion before an at-times unruly audience — that at times touched on allegations of a list of possible names being shared among some board members — Newton pushed for a vote to table the issue.
The discussion and vote were marked by comments and rumblings from the audience.
Newton said he asked for the tabling because of concerns by board members who might need to review the issue before voting.
“My thinking is that as bad as we need a town manager, I want to make sure the entire board is on board,” he explained. “I think the board needs to come together and discuss this together as a whole before we make that decision.”
Newton asked board members for their thoughts.
Commissioner Delreese Simmons, who broached the issue of a list not shared among all board members, said there are five board members and that he wanted all of them included.
“And there is a list,” he added. “But every side of town should be included.”
Simmons said he received a copy of the list “of people they wanted” from an unnamed citizen, and that he didn’t know who prepared the list.
He did say who “they” were.
Simmons added that he, Darden and Newton did not receive a copy and that he should not have had to get the list from a citizen.
Brown asked to speak, but Newton told him to wait.
Newton went on to say the job should be posted to allow anyone who is qualified to submit an application.
“Are you saying they have to submit it through you (Bone),” he said.
The proposal is based on that it is beneficial to streamline the process, or at least it has been in the past, Bone said.
If the town has an HR manager or prefers the applications go to the town clerk — that is the board’s prerogative, he added.
“We would just need to coordinate that,” Bone said. “In the other projects that I have handled for other communities, they (applications) have come through me.
“This is a confidential personnel matter, but I would share all applications with the town board. It speeds up the process.”
Brown was finally able to speak.
“Let me assure everybody there has been no (manager) search by anybody on this board for an intermin town manager nor a full-time town manager,” Brown said. “That is what this gentleman (Bone) is here for. This in an outside organization that can help us as board members find a good fit, a good, qualified, trained person for this job, period.”
An audience member called out that the town needed an internal human resources manager to do that.
Newton then suggested tabling the decision until the board could come together.
“But again, I need to get that from the board,” he said. “I want to make sure we are of one accord in this because I think there are enough challenges.”
He asked for a motion to table the issue.
Simmons made the motion to table. It was seconded by Darden.
Newton called for the vote but it was difficult to hear a response. That started more mumbling from the audience.
Newton then asked for a show of hands. Simmons and Darden raised their hands as the audience continued to mumble.
He tried again.
“If you are in favor of tabling it, let me see a show of hands,” he said.
Again, Darden and Simmons raised their hands as the audience continued its rumblings.
Newton did not ask for a show of hands for no votes to the motion.
“Mayor, my purpose for not wanting to table it is because we need to go ahead and get this moving and hire a full-time, trained, experience town manager,” Brown said.
Newton told Brown he understood what he was saying, but that he still believed it needed to be tabled to allow more discussion.
“Because right now, we have division,” he added. “If we can do this meeting quickly this week, we can move on in the next couple of days because it is very important that we get a town manager. We need this (sewer) moratorium lifted without a doubt.”
He added that the town board has got to come together, to compromise, because at present it is always going to be three to two — an apparent reference to voting along racial lines.
“Always, always,” some audience members said.
“I guess I will try once again, and if that not be the case, we will move forward,” Newton said. “All of those in favor of tabling until later this week — show of hands.”
Simmons and Darden raised their hands as did Brown.
The vote was greeted by applause and shouts of thank you from the audience.
Brown tried to add a stipulation to his vote, but Newton refused to allow him to speak and audience members shouted him down as well.
However, Brown later said he was agreeing to the motion provided it be discussed again this week.
As in the first vote, Newton did not ask for a show of hands for no votes.
It was at that point that Turner suggested the recess.
Prior to the votes, Keel, who represents the town on the Eastern Carolina Council, said he had sort of taken the lead in asking Bone to make a proposal to help in the search for a full-time town manager.
Bone is well experienced and schooled in helping finding town managers, Keel explained.
“They have been successful in helping several towns in eastern North Carolina find qualified and experienced town managers,” he added.
Bone told the board that the Eastern Carolina Council supports nine counties and 62 municipalities within its jurisdiction.
He said the Council provides a number of services including administration services such as manager searches, planning and technical assistance and is the home for the area services on aging that provides funding and oversight of aging services in the nine-county region.
The Council provides some economic development support, too, he added.
Bone said that he has 19 years of experience as a city and county manager.
“What you have before you is proposal to help the town in its manager search,” he said. “It would be a turnkey proposal.”
It would include handling development of a timeline, helping with the applications, helping review the applications, development of suitable questions, advertising in different areas including in state and out of state, he said.
“During the interviews I would be here to help guide and be a resource,” Bone added. “Certainly I would provide some suggestions and recommendations, if that it what you choose.”
The final decision would be made by the town board.
The cost would be up to $5,000 and up to $1,000 for regional travel and reimbursements, he said.
Anything additional would be pre-approved with the town, Bone added.
Bone said he would ask that the board name a one-person point of contact for him to work with.
Keel noted that the sewer moratorium is one of the town’s top priorities and that when the job description is developed the town would like to pursue someone who has some experience or expertise with moratoriums.
Kornegay asked if there was any place where the public could be involved.
“We can design whatever process you want,” Bone responded. “What I have given you is based on a more streamlined approach. So, if the town board wants to involve the public on the front end, I would need to change the schedule and give you a different proposal.”
Typically, the public is not involved in the review of applications, at least in North Carolina, he added.
Public input, if desired, is normally on the front end about desired traits and criteria — what people would like to see in a town manager, Bone said.
