Hyde Commissioners Apologize; Re-Hire Stotesberry

Stotesberry had been demoted immediately after the commissioners fired then County Manager Mazie Smith at their Dec. 3 meeting and had named Avery Simmons as clerk to the board.

But at the beginning of the most recent meeting last week, interim county manager Barry Swindell, who is also the commissioner board chairman, publicly apologized to Smith and Stotesberry that he had not known the latter had completed the certification training last fall.

“Lois got certified and is the first one in Hyde County history to do so,” Swindell said. “I apologize to Mazie Smith, Lois and the board and retract statements I’d made to the Beaufort-Hyde News.”  He also noted he should have read his pre-meeting material more thoroughly.

Swindell was referring to a story in a December issue of Beaufort-Hyde News quoting himself saying that Smith had not told the commissioners of Stoteberry’s certification and that they “didn’t have all the information we needed at the time of the decision but do not wish to rescind our appointment of Avery Simmons after the fact either.”

However, the newspaper subsequently found out that Smith in November had indeed sent an email to both  incoming and outgoing commissioners that Stotesberry  was receiving certification.  Smith’s email recommended appointing Stotesberry to the position as clerk to the board at the Dec. 3 meeting where the new commissioners were sworn in, according to information in the Beaufort-Hyde News.

At last week’s meeting, Swindell explained that he, Stotesberry and Simmons had agreed to the change. The commissioners then voted to reappoint Stotesberry as the county clerk and Simmons as the deputy clerk.  Stotesberry was immediately sworn in and began the position. 

During the second public comment period of the meeting, former commissioner Sharon Spencer reiterated that all the commissioners had received the email regarding Stotesberry. Spencer then began to point out the county commissioners’ code of ethics.

But her comments were drowned out when John Fletcher, the Ocracoke commissioner, who attended the meeting on the Ocracoke side in the Ocracoke School, began interrupting, bellowing “I don’t need to listen to this.”

Swindell told Fletcher to let Spencer finish her statement.

Another former commissioner, Ken Collier, proclaimed that he has received no good answers as to why Mazie Smith, a lifelong Hyde County resident, was fired. 

“What bothers me is we had new commissioners coming in (at the Dec. 3 meeting) and she was fired before they even got any information,” Collier said.  He then began reciting sections of the code of ethics.

The commissioners did not comment on either Collier’s or Spencer’s remarks.

In other business, the commissioners noted that a continuing contract for lobbying services by Joe and Henri McClees was approved at the Nov. 19 meeting.  The McClees’s were hired last year by Hyde, Pamlico and Beaufort Counties to fight the ferry tolls.  Hyde had paid $10,000 last year toward the total price.  For 2013, Hyde’s share will be $7,000.

A few Ocracoke residents asked the commissioners for help with the ferry situation at Hatteras. Vince O’Neal asked them to press the ferry division to add more runs to the Swan Quarter ferry. The day after this meeting (Jan. 8), NCDOT Ferry Division announced the addition of two runs—at 7 p.m. from Ocracoke and 10 p.m. from Swan Quarter—until the pipeline dredge clears a path in the ferry channel, which could take several more weeks.

The commissioners also appointed Swindell as the budget officer.

At their Dec. 3 meeting, the commissioners decided to hold only one public meeting a month on the first Monday. The next meeting will be Monday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m. in the county services center in Swan Quarter and simulcast to Ocracoke in the commons room of the Ocracoke School.