Sunday, February 20, 2011

Mecklenburg County Jones On The Ropes

Expect the bell to ring and the next round to start on Monday with the Mecklenburg County Manger on the ropes and commissioners Pendergraph and James giving "Dirty Harry" a good old fashion beat down.

From the local paper's Sunday edition:

Last week, on the heels of controversy over a post-resignation payout to former mental health director Grayce Crockett, Jones released a statement saying Pendergraph received extra pay beyond what county policy allowed when he retired as sheriff in 2007.

Jones told commissioners the information about Pendergraph's sick and vacation leave payouts had been requested by commissioner George Dunlap, a Democrat, on Thursday, Feb. 10.

But according to a copy of the personnel record that Pendergraph said he obtained from Jones, that record was actually printed from the county computer system on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

Pendergraph and fellow Republican commissioner Bill James said they're troubled by the discrepancy.

"Anyone with half a brain can figure there's something wrong here," Pendergraph said. "Who's requested what - at what time?"

"I'm asking the tough questions of our county manager," Pendergraph said. "And all of a sudden my file is brought into it. That smells like retribution."

Pendergraph says he's also troubled that Jones released his personnel information - and he's considering whether to pursue criminal charges.

More from the local paper is here.

Retribution? You think?

Jones after receiving an e-mail from a resident critical of the alleged DSS misspending, forwarded the note to the man's employer, Bank of America. The bank handles the majority of the county's business and the intent was clear.

In 2010, the Jones fired off an e-mail expressing distrust of library leaders, again he was chastised by Mecklenburg County Commissioners.

Jones didn't make any points last week when he took to youtube with a defiant tone to say was would not step down or retire.


"I have not and will not consider resigning"

Calling out your bosses a couple of days after being told publicly that you screwed up just isn't very bright, which has been Cedar Posts thoughts all along.

But there is no need to fire Jones, rather just remove his authority, appoint an interim manager and assign Jones to answer the phones at CharMeck 311.

As Cedar Posts hears it we are only days away from this going to the mat.

Update Sunday 6 AM: The Local Paper again calls for the Mecklenburg County Board of Potted Plants to dismiss Jones you can read Taylor Batten's editorial here.

Update Monday February 21, 2011: BOCC's Jim Pendergraph is now openly calling for Harry Jones to resign.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would seem the dirty harry is going down. The people have had enough most of us are hard working good people and this pile of crap is not where we want to spend our tax dollars.

Harry don't let the door hit ya in the ass.

ThaQueenCity said...

I hope he does go down and very hard. I also hope Pendergraph follows through with criminal charges.

Talk about double standards, anyone else notice Dunlap and Leake's records were never released? EVEN THOUGH they were requested too?

As I said on the CO they protect their own don't they?

Anonymous said...

Good riddance!

And yes, criminal charges would seem to be the next logical step! He has ruled with impunity for way too long!

And PLEASE let's get someone Qualfied with integrity and honesty and ethics... And do some due diligence and background checks! (You know, to make sure the have a legitimate degree and credentials!)