Cabarrus commissioners spar over undisclosed business run by chair, new county manager
Cabarrus County commissioners on Monday voted down a motion to fire their just-hired manager as they sparred over an undisclosed business relationship involving the board’s chairman.
During Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Kenny Wortman said Chairman Chris Measmer failed to disclose that he and newly hired County Manager Sean Newton previously were business partners. Measmer and Wortman argued during the meeting over the transparency of the hiring process and the potential conflict of interest — at times interrupting each other and raising their voices.
Reports from 2016 to 2019 on the North Carolina Secretary of State website show Measmer and Newton established Measmer Newton Enterprises LLC. Measmer is listed as the registered agent and Newton as a company official. The company was created for food manufacturing, according to the filings, and dissolved in 2019 by Newton.
After calling out the connection, Wortman made a motion to fire Newton and have a third party search for a replacement. It received applause from some in the room. Commissioner Lynn Shue seconded the motion, and it failed 2-3.
“The way this looks now is horrific,” Wortman said. “It looks like the headline is going to be ‘the county fires a 63-year-old man with 38 years of experience and replaces him with somebody under 40 because he’s your friend (and) former partner.’”
Former Cabarrus County Manager Mike Downs was fired by the board in a 3-1 vote at the end of January. Though no reason was given at the time, Measmer said in the termination letter he thought Downs’ involvement with the county’s purchase of a $42 million office building was a “critical failure.”
Commissioners unanimously appointed Newton at a March 10 commission meeting following a closed session. He is set to begin his duties as county manager on March 24.
Measmer read from a prepared statement at Monday’s meeting, saying he and Newton started the business together a decade ago, but it never went anywhere or made any money. Newton went through the same hiring process as all other applicants and hired based on merit, Measmer said. Like Wortman, Measmer’s comments garnered some applause from audience members.
“Nothing illegal has been done,” Measmer said. “I never pressured the HR department, never pressured my fellow commissioners, or created a situation where anyone felt they had the vote for Mr. Newton.”
Wortman said he would not have voted for Newton if he knew about the business relationship.
“There’s a difference between transparency and damage control, and what you’re doing right now is because you got caught,” Wortman said. “But this is not transparent.”
Commissioners Laura Lindsey and Larry Pittman said they knew about the relationship between Measmer and Newton. Wortman claimed during the meeting Measmer told him he did not disclose the relationship because he didn’t want to “poison” Wortman’s opinion. Measmer didn’t rebut the allegation.
At one point, Wortman asked why Measmer, Lindsey and Pittman didn’t disclose the relationship.
“I don’t trust you,” Lindsey said.
Shue, who has joined meetings virtually for months due to a medical issue, said he was left out of important discussions and closed sessions about the county manager and county attorney positions.
“When you were having the discussions about the new county manager and the new attorney, you never called me, you never included me in any of those discussions,” he said. “Am I not one-fifth of this board?”
Former Cabarrus County school board member Keshia Sandidge spoke during public comment and called the business relationship “concerning.”
“That sounds like bad news to me, and does not sound like transparency, which every single last one of you ran on.” she said. “I remember some time ago many of you were talking about calling the (State Ethics Commission) on a former county commission. It sounds like some of you need to call them on yourselves.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2025 at 10:12 PM.
