All Lenoir County Board of Elections expenses now have the stamp of the county manager.
At the meeting of the board Friday morning, Board of Elections Director Dana King said in response to a question from board member Kim Allison that now, County Manager Mike Jarman gets each expenditure request for pre-approval.
“Like I told y’all that day over lunch, I can’t spend a dollar without getting his approval on everything,” King said. “We don’t need to spend any money without getting Mike’s approval until all this gets ironed out.”
The board is seeking the removal of King from her position as director, filing a petition with the State Board of Elections in January. She has until Tuesday to file a response.
The board members also requested information on recent travel to a District 7 county elections directors meeting in Pamlico County. King said she rode with another county elections director and paid for her own lunch, so there were no mileage or meal costs.
Allison passed out a copy of N.C. General Statute 163-35 to the board members and others assembled in the conference room, directing King to read aloud from N.C.G.S. 163-35(a), which says, among other things, that a person cannot serve as director if the person is a member of the board of elections.
“It’s been brought to my attention that you’ve been out in the community saying that I wanted your job,” Allison said to King. “And I just wanted you to be aware this is what the statute says. I’ve never been after your job. I don’t want your job.
“All I want is what’s best for the citizens of Lenoir County, which does not include a budget overrun of nearly $21,000, possible fines and violations of state and federal law for I-9s and workmen’s comp. I want what’s best for the county. And I just wanted it on the record that I have never sought your job.”
At the end of the meeting, King denied the statement, calling it hearsay. Allison clarified her statement by saying she heard it from people at Tanglewood Church.
As well, some problems with distribution of minutes of the meetings were brought to light when Board of Elections Secretary Oscar Herring said he found out emails he sent to Lenoir County government email addresses were being flagged as possible spam and sent to a quarantine folder.
He said the people responsible for maintaining the Lenoir County email system have been notified and changes made.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at WolfeReports.