The Board of Durham County Commissioners named Deputy County Manager Wendell Davis the interim county manager in a special meeting Wednesday afternoon.
The Board of Durham County Commissioners named Deputy County Manager Wendell Davis the interim county manager in a special meeting Wednesday afternoon. The meeting came two days after commissioners, in a surprise move, voted 3-2 to remove County Manager Mike Ruffin from office.
Wednesday’s two-hour meeting was open to the public when it began, and more than 200 people attended. Twenty people, mainly Ruffin supporters, spoke on the floor for three minutes each.
The board then moved into a closed session to lay out the terms of Davis’ contract. He will be paid a pro-rated salary of $140,000, and when a permanent county manager is appointed, Davis is guaranteed his old position as deputy county manager. After hammering out the conditions of Davis’ position, the commissioners unanimously appointed Davis the interim county manager.
Davis is one of two deputy county managers who were considered for the job. Commissioners picked Davis after Carolyn Titus, the senior deputy county manager, declined the offer, Board Chair Ellen Reckhow said.
Commissioners Joe Bowser, Philip Cousin, Jr. and Mary Jacobs had voted to fire Ruffin at a closed-door session late Monday. At the regular session’s start, Bowser, vice chair, had added a closed session item at the bottom of the agenda to discuss a “personnel matter.” No official reasons were given for Ruffin’s dismissal, but the commissioners are permitted by law to fire the county manager without explicit cause.
“They had no reason to fire me other than it being their will,” Ruffin said. “They have every right to make that decision, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the fair thing to do.”
Ruffin’s ouster followed months of tension between the county manager and Bowser. Bowser said Ruffin’s “failure to act upon” allegations of favoritism in a May audit conducted by then-internal auditor Charlie Hobgood was a motivation for Ruffin’s dismissal. The audit alleged 11 instances of favoritism in granting raises and poor record-keeping under Durham County Human Resources Director Jackye Knight.
Ruffin relieved Hobgood of his auditing duties and transferred him to the county’s finance department following the audit’s release. Ruffin claimed that 10 of the Hobgood’s 11 findings could not be sustained and supported a finding that some employees’ performance appraisals had not been signed.
“It’s one thing to say something about somebody,” Ruffin said. “But it’s another thing to prove it. [Hobgood] has to prove the charges of favoritism with verifiable records that substantiate the conclusions. He did not do that.”
Hobgood could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Bowser argued that Ruffin’s dismissal of the findings and dismissal of the auditor were unacceptable and were major reasons for his urging to fire Ruffin. “[Ruffin] used his power of office to discredit the findings that were made,” Bowser said.
Ruffin also charged that Bowser put pressure on him to fire Knight and that he was fired because he refused.
“I’d been repeatedly told that this would all go away if I’d just fire Jackye Knight,” Ruffin said. “But she did nothing that deserved a dismissal action. That is the issue, no matter what... Mr. Bowser was able to get two votes to make [my] firing happen and that’s exactly what he did.”
Reckhow and Commissioner Becky Heron, however, disagreed with Bowser, Jacobs and Cousin and objected to Ruffin’s dismissal.
“We had an excellent county manager, and he was fired without cause,” said Reckhow, who is chair of the board of commissioners. “The issues raised [were] about his personnel concerns and some other relatively minor issues.... All the charges of favoritism were answered and there’s no evidence of favoritism related to raises.”
Battles between commissioners and county managers have haunted Durham County government for years. Commissioners hired Ruffin in November of 2000 after former County Manger David Thompson resigned in the wake of disagreements with commissioners. County manager George Williams was fired by the commissioners in 1995 “for no reason,” Bowser said.
Bowser also pointed to the racial issues in both the Williams and Ruffin dismissals. Each county commissioner who supported Ruffin’s ouster is black, and Ruffin and his two supporters are white.
“George Williams was black, and the commissioners were white,” Bowser said. “In 1995 they walked in and fired his butt for no reason. And this community did not say one word about it. This time around, the county manager is white, and the commissioners are black, and the white community is in an uproar about it.”
It is unclear how long Davis will serve as interim county manager. Ruffin could yet be reappointed to the post in early December, when Bowser’s and Jacobs’ terms end. Bowser lost the July democratic primary election, and Jacobs decided not to run for reelection.
Lewis Cheek, a former Durham City Council member running for the Board of County Commissioners, is leading in the polls, and has said he would consider reappointing Ruffin to the post of county manager.
With Reckhow and Heron expected to win reelection, Cheek would be the deciding third vote for Ruffin.
Ruffin’s contract states that he receive his $142,500 salary for another year and that the county provide him free health care benefits for the rest of his life since he was fired without official cause. But Ruffin, 51, said regardless of the possibility of returning to the commission, he has to deal with being unemployed.
“I certainly would characterize myself as a victim.... I’m out of a job,” Ruffin said. “But since I’ve got a contract that gives me an income for year, I have some time to assess what I need to do.”
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