THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9408250558
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Three Dare County Water Department employees who are disputing their Aug. 13 discharge will enter the second stage of the appeal process in closed hearings set for Monday.
Billing Clerk Mincie Coder and field supervisors Roy Ambrose Jr. and Willie McMurran were terminated for undisclosed reasons, and have appealed.
A review of Dare County billing records revealed the three employees had delinquent water bills until shortly before their dismissal.
Dare County Personnel Director Shawn Murphy said the three will be interviewed by another Dare County department head Monday morning, beginning at 9 a.m.
``The notices haven't been sent out yet, but the hearings are scheduled for Monday,'' said Murphy.
Under the county personnel process, the department head will hear testimony from the employees and their immediate supervisor, and will then issue a ruling.
If the employees are dissatisfied with the outcome of the hearing, a three-member board appointed by the personnel director will hear arguments for both sides.
Records show that from July of 1992, when water department bills were put on computers, nothing was paid on the bills for a home on Moore Shore Road in Kill Devil Hills until Aug. 12, when the bill for $692, plus $4.96 in penalties, was paid in full. The address of the home was the same as that of Coder, the daughter of Dare County Commissioner Samuel O. Smith and his wife, Jacqueline.
Ambrose, married to another daughter of the Smiths, owed a delinquent bill of $230 for another Moore Shore Road residence. Records show Jacqueline Smith paid both delinquent bills, as well as a $350 delinquent account with a billing address the same as the Smiths.
McMurran, records show, paid a bill of $867.29 on Aug. 15 for a Manteo residence, two days after his termination.
After possible remedies are exhausted at the county level, the employees will have the option of civil litigation. The three have refused comment on the matter. by CNB