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Susan Rhodes
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By JAKE POTTER
Whiteville City Manager Susan Rhodes has resigned, effective June 30. The City Council formalized a release agreement with Rhodes at its meeting Tuesday.
City Attorney Carlton Williamson said the council now would begin a search for an interim replacement. “The council will want to move on this as soon as possible,” he said.
Mayor Dial Gray said city officials are obtaining a list of possible candidates for the position from the N.C. League of Municipalities.
After a few brief agenda items, the council went into closed session for nearly two hours before resuming the meeting to announce Rhodes’ resignation.
Gray said he had only recently heard of Rhodes’ intent to offer her resignation but speculated that she might have begun considering it after a closed-session council meeting two weeks ago.
“We just got wind of it a few days ago,” Gray said.
Rhodes didn’t cite any specific reason for her resignation.
“I have some employment options,” she said. “Other opportunities have arisen.”
Rhodes, a Whiteville native who has worked in City Hall since she was 19, became the city’s first female manager in September 2003 when she took over for departing manager Hazen Blodgett.
Her resignation comes on the heels of a May 16 lawsuit that alleges that she and city Building Inspector Carey White, a subordinate, had been engaging in an adulterous affair.
Plaintiff Andrea White, estranged wife of Carey White, is seeking a minimum of $30,000 in damages from Rhodes.
The charges, if proven, could conflict with the city’s personnel policy regarding sexual harassment.
The policy notes that “all supervisory personnel are reminded that sexual harassment is a serious offense and is a prohibited personnel practice when it results in discrimination for or against an employee on the basis of conduct not related to work performance.”
Another section of the policy states, “Department heads and supervisors who allow sexual harassment to continue or who fail to take appropriate action shall be considered a party to the act of behavior … such department head and supervisors shall also be subject to corrective action.”
According to her release agreement, signed by council members Tuesday, Rhodes will receive three months’ worth of salary — $16,378.75 of her $65,515 total annual compensation — as severance pay and is entitled to all earned benefits, including retirement and 401(k) benefits, through June 30.
The release also acknowledges that the city retains the right to choose to contract with Rhodes as a consultant after her resignation.
Another section of the agreement, a “covenant against interference,” stipulates that both Rhodes and city officials “restrain themselves from … disparaging the reputation, good name or professional standing of any other person signing this agreement.”
The city also has provided Rhodes with a letter of reference.
“According to our attorney, it’s pretty much basic,” Gray said of the agreement. “It’s a standard agreement for any kind of public official.”
Rhodes said she was pleased with the outcome of her offer of resignation. “I just like the outcome,” she said. “The council members seem happy with how it turned out, too. And I think a lot of every one of them.”
Though she declined to name any specifics as to her future employment plans, Rhodes said she wouldn’t rule out municipal government work. She completed a Municipal Administration course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute of Government in April 2005.
“As for the direction in which my professional life is moving, I will soon be channeling my time and energy to another fine city,” she states in her letter of resignation.
Rhodes also said she probably would remain a Whiteville resident.
“I grew up here,” she said. “This is my home.”
Gray said he was sad to see Rhodes resign. “Susan and her family have been friends with our family a long time,” he said. “It’s unfortunate to see it happen, but it’s one of those things.
“We just have to move on.”