Fired Onslow County manager sues county, claims commissioners broke state law

ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - The fired Onslow County manager is suing the county, saying county commissioners often broke state law.

David Smitherman was fired on February 16th by a unanimous vote, and commissioners refused to given him more than $900,000 in severance pay, saying he was fired for cause.

Smitherman was manager for just over two years, and before that was interim manager for four months.

In the lawsuit that was filed yesterday in Onslow County, Smitherman says he was always praised and commended for his work, and his last evaluation he was rated 4.25 out of a score of 5, and noted as exceeding expectations.

The county said Smitherman was fired because he wasn’t willing to perform his duties.

In the lawsuit, the former manager claims he never refused to carry out lawful duties, “but did object to actions or directives of the Board that violated North Carolina law.”

The suit says commissioners routinely attempted to use county government for personal, business, or political gain.

Some of those include:

• Board chairman asked Smitherman to hire a state House representative to a no-show county job
• Board chairman sough influence over a relative’s employment conditions
• Board vice chairman demanded confidential Child Protective Services information to assist personal friends
• Permitted select commissioners to live outside of the county
• Unlawfully released confidential closed session information to assist political acquaintances

The lawsuit is asking that Smitherman be reinstated with back pay, benefits, and seniority rights.

Onslow County says since Smitherman was fired, he has resorted to name-calling and intimidation “in an apparent effort to coerce the County to pay him money” that they don’t believe he is entitled to.

The county says it won’t cow to these antics and is confident that a judge or jury will find his allegations not true.

DAVID SMITHERMAN LAWSUIT