Fired Cabarrus County manager sues over $488,000 in unpaid severance, other compensation
Former Cabarrus County Manager Mike Downs filed a lawsuit against the county Wednesday afternoon alleging he hasn’t received severance and other compensation after being abruptly fired in January.
Downs is owed a total of over $488,000 including his severance and quarterly bonus, according to the lawsuit.
“The county flagrantly breached Mr. Downs’ employment contract in bad faith... acting as a cabal of ill will in terminating Mr. Downs and replacing him with an inexperienced crony, minion, and clandestine,” the lawsuit states.
Downs’ attorney Mark Stafford sent a letter to County Attorney Daniel Peterson on March 6 challenging the lack of pay to Downs and that he planned to sue if the matter was not resolved by March 14. Peterson, who was hired the same day Downs and former County Attorney Richard Koch were fired, had not responded as of Tuesday, Stafford said to the Observer.
The lawsuit alleges the county’s former human resources director told Downs they would not honor his guaranteed severance payment. Stafford wrote in the lawsuit Downs is entitled to a lump sum that includes 18 months of his salary and benefits. Downs should have been paid Jan. 31, but was not, the lawsuit filed in Cabarrus County Superior Court states.
The delay in payment could end up costing taxpayers more money, as Downs may be entitled to 8% interest on the payment for breach of contract, according to the lawsuit.
The Charlotte Observer called and emailed Cabarrus County Chair Chris Measmer and a Cabarrus County spokesman to request a comment after the lawsuit was filed Wednesday.
Though Downs’ contract states he is eligible for severance whether he is fired with or without cause, the lawsuit also questions whether the decision to fire Downs was made with reasonable cause.
The move came after a closed session with little explanation. In the termination letter, obtained by the Charlotte Observer via public records request, Measmer cites a “critical failure” by Downs with the prior county commission’s purchase of a $42 million office building.
Much of the criticism of the county’s purchase stemmed from the fact that an appraisal determined a lower value for the property than what the county agreed to pay. Former Commission Chair Steve Morris told the Observer in November the property was the most suitable and would ultimately save the county compared to building a new office.
But the letter from Downs’ attorney claims the former manager was fired without just cause and calls the reasons for firing him “a fiction created out of whole cloth.”
It was not Downs’ decision to purchase the office building, Stafford wrote, but rather the previous commission’s, including Morris. He also states the Local Government Commission, the group that approved the county’s purchase, questioned Morris at length about it.
“If Mr. Measmer has a grievance of some sort relating to information (or the purported lack thereof) relayed to the LGC or the timing of same, he should direct his ire toward his predecessor, not Mr. Downs,” Stafford wrote in the letter. “Measmer’s accusation that the LGC was not informed of the lower appraisal as part of its consideration of the purchase is an outright lie: He knew so at the time he signed the termination letter.”
The lawsuit states Downs was given a “thank you” bonus by the previous commission, which included Measmer, days after the LGC approved the ACN building purchase.
The lawsuit comes just days after the commission voted down a motion to fire Downs’ newly hired replacement, Sean Newton. Commissioners argued at a Monday commission meeting over an undisclosed business relationship between Newton and Measmer. Commissioner Kenny Wortman said the sudden firing of Downs and the hiring of someone Measmer used to work with could have eroded public trust in the commission’s decisions.
