DURHAM COUNTY

Political battle brewing over Durham County

manager’s pay, perks and severance package
BY CHARLIE INNIS
MARCH 09, 2021 01:12 PM, UPDATED MARCH 10, 2021 07:03 PM

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Durham County Manager Wendell Davis’ current contract expires in June 2021. DURHAM COUNTY

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This story was updated March 10, at 5:00 p.m. to include a statement provided by
Durham County on Wendell Davis’ contract.

One of Durham’s most powerful political groups said this week it is “greatly
concerned” by County Manager Wendell Davis’ contract, calling it “extremely
lopsided against the community’s interests.”

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Several Black community activists immediately called the open letter from the
People’s Alliance a plot to get rid of a prominent African-American leader in
Durham.

The People’s Alliance has nearly 2,000 members, and its endorsements are sought
after by political candidates. In its letter, the board of directors questioned Davis’
$200,000-plus salary, seven weeks of vacation time, term life insurance and “hefty”
vehicle allowance.

His contract terms, the letter continued, make it “nearly impossible for a board to
hold the manager accountable for his performance or lack thereof absent a massive
severance package.”

The group, saying recently retired City Manager Tom Bonfield was more centrist
than the left-of-center council majority he served, urged city and county leaders to
appoint managers who match their elected bodies’ progressive political philosophy.

Davis’ contract expires in June, and the People’s Alliance stated, as written, it will be
automatically renewed.
In an emailed statement to The News & Observer, the county’s Human Resources
Director Kathy Everett-Perry wrote “the terms of the contract speak for themselves.”

“If there is a provision for the contract to renew at the end of the five years, it may
be considered a convenience clause to continue county operations without the delay
associated with additional contract negotiations,” Perry wrote.

Nia Wilson, executive director of SpiritHouse, a grassroots organization addressing

poverty and racism in Durham, said the PA’s letter has nothing to do with being
progressive.

“The People’s Alliance has felt like they have cornered the market on what
progressive is or isn’t in Durham,” she said. “And oftentimes, their progressive-ism
shuts out much of the Black community in Durham, who are also very progressive.
And I see it as actually very racist.”

The role of a county manager is to manage millions of dollars and to be accountable

for how it is spent. It’s not based on how progressive their politics are, she said.

“If every time a new administration, a new board comes on, they choose a new
manager based on their political ideologies, that doesn’t make sense,” she said.
“That’s not how you run a budget.”

Davis declined to comment in a phone call with The N&O.

Some residents are voicing concerns about the integrity of an independent investigation into allegations
of racism among the Durham County Board of Commissioners. As reported by our media partner, ABC11
News. BY ABC11 NEWS

FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Millicent Rogers, co-president of the People’s Alliance, said it is a time for change in
Durham.

She said the new Board of County Commissioners, likely the first all-women county
board in North Carolina, should not be bound to the kind of contract Davis has,
which was implemented by the previous board.

Davis’ contract includes a severance package of one year’s salary and all
compensation remaining in his term if the board fires him without cause. It also
states the county will pay $600 a month for “personal vehicle use for County
business.”

Rogers, who is Black, said the PA’s concerns about Davis go beyond his contract.

“If you look at Davis’ track record, you can see that he has not supported the
progressive values of the community, particularly in regards to funding public
schools,” she said.

In 2018 and 2019, Davis proposed giving less money to Durham Public Schools than
the school board asked for, partly because of diminishing enrollment as parents
gravitated toward charter schools, The N&O reported.

Wilson said Davis has been seeking greater accountability from the school system
for many years, and he has received a lot of push back from the Durham Association
of Educators as a result.

“They’ve accused him of not caring about children over the years, of not caring
about education,” she said.

Grade-level proficiency across the majority African-American and Hispanic student

body has been consistently below 50% every year. Between 2015 and 2019, it grew
from 44.9% to 49%, according to DPS’ most recent data.

The issue of school funding came to a climax last February when Davis and
Commissioner Heidi Carter feuded over the district’s construction needs, which
followed with Davis accusing Carter of racism, The N&O reported.

COUNTY MANAGER CONTRACT

The county commissioners last approved Davis’ contract in a 3-2 vote after calling an
unadvertised closed session during a budget meeting, The N&O reported in 2016.

At the time, the two commissioners who voted against it said they needed more time
to review the contract, which raised Davis’ salary to $210,709 a year.

In comparison, in 2018, Durham’s city manager made $243,503 a year, The Herald-
Sun reported.

Wake County’s manager makes $250,637 a year, with a $300 semi-monthly travel
allowance, according to Wake County’s communications manager. His contract does
not automatically renew, and Wake County’s population is about three times larger
than Durham County’s.

Lavonia Allison, a former chairwoman for the Durham Committee on the Affairs of
Black People, had described the two commissioners’ votes against Davis’ contract as
“racial,” The N&O reported. She also linked the issue to how Davis had pushed
Durham Public Schools for more accountability.
The three commissioners who had voted for the contract are Black and the two who
had voted against it are white. Commissioners Chair Brenda Howerton and Vice-
chair Wendy Jacobs are the only members from then who remain on the board.

The PA’s board of directors is racially diverse, with four Black members, six white
members, one Asian and one Hispanic member.

Rogers said it’s time for the county commissioners to give the contract another look.

“This is an effort for accountability and a true assessment of the work that the
manager is doing,” she said.

But Wilson thinks the PA published its letter to “provide cover” for the three non-
Black commissioners — Carter, Jacobs and Nida Allam — if they ended Davis’
contract.

She said the PA, Jacobs and Carter “have wanted to get rid of the manager from the
very beginning.”

When asked by The N&O whether the PA wanted the commissioners to eliminate his
contract, Rogers said she wants the board to have a conversation.

“I want them not to auto renew his contract,” she said.

CARTER ASKED TO “RECUSE HERSELF”

Shortly after a closed session during Monday night’s board meeting, Howerton made
a motion that Carter “recuse herself from comments (and) from any involvement in
the manager’s contract.”

“I’m not recusing myself, no matter how the vote goes,” Carter said. “So we can take
a vote, but I will not be recusing myself. I don’t know how to be any clearer.”

The motion failed 3-2, with Allam, Carter and Jacobs voting against it.

Howerton and Commissioner Nimasheena Burns voted for it.

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CHARLIE INNIS

Charlie Innis covers Durham government for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun through the Poynter-
Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship. He has been a New York-based freelance writer, covering housing and
technology for Kings County Politics, with additional reporting for the Brooklyn Eagle, The Billfold, Brooklyn
Reporter and Greenpoint Gazette.

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