Worst City Manager Contract in NC History? | Eastern NC Now

WASHINGTON, NC FAMILY — READ THIS BEFORE TUESDAY NIGHT.
Our City Attorney Franz Holscher has drafted and recommended what may be the worst and most corrupt City Manager contract in North Carolina municipal history — and he's trying to rush it through the October 13 Council meeting WITHOUT it even being on the agenda.
Here's what YOUR tax dollars are being committed to:
$250,000+ in guaranteed payroll severance — structured in the contract so that nearly EVERY exit triggers a full payout. If even ONE Council Member SUGGESTS the manager resign, she collects full severance. If ONE member is absent from a termination vote, the City breaches the contract and pays.
Poor performance and incompetence? NOT grounds for cause. She gets the money no matter what.
$1 MILLION+ total payroll commitment over the life of this contract.
This contract SILENCES your elected officials. Council Members are PROHIBITED from publicly criticizing the City Manager — every social media post, every comment to the press, every public statement is a separate breach that triggers damages. The non-disparagement clause survives termination and binds Council Members FOREVER.
This contract violates:
- The First Amendment
- The NC Constitution (Art. I, Sections 12-14)
- NC Open Meetings Law (G.S. 143-318.9)
- NC Public Records Law (G.S. Ch. 132)
- Quorum requirements (G.S. 160A-67)
- Council's statutory removal power (G.S. 160A-148)
- The City's lawful contracting authority (G.S. 160A-12) — making it ultra vires and VOID
I have TWICE requested — on October 6 and again on October 9 — that the NC League of Municipalities and our insurance carrier's legal department review this contract before any vote.
BOTH requests have been completely ignored by our City Attorney, who only works for a select group of Council Members (some say one) and the Mayor of the $1 million mayoral lawsuit he helped cause with dishonest legal advice.
What's the rush? We haven't had a long-term City Manager in almost a year, and the city is humming along as normal.
Instead, the City Attorney's plan is to "walk it in" Tuesday night for approval with NO independent legal review, NO public notice, and NO agenda item.
This is the same City Attorney who directed, with Councilman Max Perreault, an ILLEGAL process to hire the LAST City Manager I fought hard against — burying it in the consent agenda with NO public deliberation and NO public vote.
When I exercised my statutory right to remove the item from the consent agenda — which ANY single Council Member may do under our rules and the law — the City Attorney DENIED it. He dishonestly blocked a duly elected Council Member from having a voice in the hire.
How did that work out? That City Manager was FIRED just THREE MONTHS LATER in a full 4-0 vote — including the very member "flipper max-y" (the far left democrat socialist ) who illegally directed the hire alongside the attorney and the mayor.
That's the quality of judgment directing this new contract, and what our corrupt and immoral city legal department has delivered for decades under the Holscher-cabal.
Wonder why we have a dwindling population with rapidly rising taxes and light bills? These are corrupt thieves who have squeezed every possible dollar out of the City of Washington residents to enrich themselves.
He also has a documented history of working for a non-elected group while being paid by the elected governing body, a history of poorly written contracts and deficient legal work costing the city millions of property value of tax revenue, and a pattern of telling Council Members "do not reply all" to isolate us from each other so he can control the narrative off any written record and keep everything hidden from the public eye.
Transparency? One time the fraudster Holscher even accused me of recording my conversations with him, and he has refused to respond to countless emails since then — a breach of public trust and ethics.
Should the state bar get involved?
This is a DRAFT contract pushed with urgency by the same two who failed the residents during the last go around. It has NOT been signed or approved. There is still time to stop it.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. ATTEND the October 13 Council meeting. Email your Council Members.
2. DEMAND this contract receive independent legal review before any vote.
3. DEMAND transparency — this should be on the agenda with proper public notice.
4. SHARE this post so every Washington taxpayer knows what's happening with their money. Decisions like this is why the city raised taxes $1.7 million and has raised utility rates beyond comprehension.
Email jdavis@washingtonnc.gov for a full copy of the contract (candidate name redacted).
Your City Council works for YOU. Not the other way around. You deserve transparency and open governance. The days of hidden backroom deals led by the corrupt City Attorney to continue theft of taxpayer dollars are over. We will not stand for it.
— Councilmember Joe Davis
Faith | Family | Freedom | Accountability