A License To Steal
Or engage in other unlawful conduct, gross negligence of duties or willful malfeasance, according to the sweet-deal contract inked for Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones.
Under the terms of that so-called employment agreement, if Jones were fired, even with cause, before December 31, 2011, he would be “treated as if he had completed 20 years of service with Mecklenburg County so that he would be entitled to receive health insurance coverage on the same basis as other employees hired before July 1, 2010 who retired with 20 years of service with Mecklenburg County, and the County will continue payment for health insurance benefits for Employee’s spouse until she becomes Medicare eligible without regard to his retirement or termination.”
Jones’ employment history with Mecklenburg County dates to 1991 when he came aboard as an assistant county manager; he was named manager in 2000. Completion of 2011 would mark the magic 20-year employee baseline for Jones.
Under the terms of the contract, Jones theoretically could be fired for perpetrating a massive embezzlement scheme, or even sexually assaulting a county employee, and still be entitled to receive his 20-year employee health insurance benefit beanies, along with those due to his wife, courtesy of taxpayers.
Is it any wonder, then, that Jones had little reservation or concern about releasing protected employee information of former sheriff and current commissioners vice chairman, Jim Pendergraph, part and parcel of the swirl surrounding the settlement Jones approved for former Area Mental Health Director Grayce Crockett.
The county manager is apparently bulletproof when it comes to any disciplinary measures for ineptitude and malfeasance, at least through December of this year, as it relates to Jones holding fast to lucrative health insurance benefits doled out under his employment contract. A nice deal, all round, if you can get it.
The 20-year employee provision, even if Jones were fired with cause, was apparently added to the contract when commissioners approved it last July, on the heels of several high profile blunders on the part of Jones and with Democrat commissioners heading into a contentious election cycle hoping to keep their majority control of the board.
How the provision slipped by without a major uproar from the county board, particularly its Republican minority, is baffling. But it explains much of the fallout we’ve witnessed from the Crockett debacle and the reluctance by commissioners to mete out any serious disciplinary action, up to and including firing the county manager.
Under Jones’ contract, he is entitled to receive six months worth of salary from the date of employment termination, if he is fired without cause. The county would not be on the hook for the salary payment if Jones were fired for cause.
The county board last summer approved a change in Jones’ pay plan, eliminating the manager’s eligibility for a performance bonus of up to 30 percent of his base pay (Jones most recently received a $38,000 bonus in 2009 amidst widespread county layoffs and program cutbacks).
Instead of a bonus, Jones’ annual base pay – which stands at $242,500, up from the previous year’s $215,655 – could change each year based on the “prevailing market rate” for his position. Jones’ total compensation for the current year rolls in at about $283,000, including payments for expense allowances and deferred compensation for retirement.
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