Kinston dissolves DKR director position after public personnel debate, closed session
Kinston City Council voted after closed session Tuesday to dissolve the Downtown Kinston Revitalization director position from the city government, following an extended open-session discussion that included criticism of the current director’s performance.
The action came after City Manager Ralph Clark read a letter from downtown property owners, business owners and volunteers asking the city to eliminate the city-employed Main Street director position and transfer hiring, supervisory and personnel authority to DKR’s board.
The letter said the existing structure “has failed to deliver the level of engagement, business recruitment, and disciplined use of the Main Street America Four-Point Approach.”
It asked the council to “fix the structure that produced it, to do so now and not in some future budget cycle.”
Clark told the council he believed the current arrangement was unsuccessful.
“I think the model that we’re currently working on is not working,” Clark said.
He said the city would first have to abolish the existing position before DKR could establish its own hiring structure. Clark also discussed complaints and observations related to the director’s performance, including concerns about DKR’s leadership, budget process and the director’s communication with city officials.
Council member Sammy Aiken said the director had not been given clear goals or direction from the council and cited work that had been completed downtown, including facade-improvement efforts, downtown marketing and beautification initiatives.
Council member Felicia Solomon questioned how much could legally be discussed in open session because the issue involved a city employee.
“I really don’t know how much we can say because this is personnel,” Solomon said. “How much can you discuss on the floor when it’s a personnel matter?”
Solomon asked the city attorney for guidance, saying she did not want the council to “violate law” by discussing a personnel issue publicly. The attorney said performance-related matters could be appropriate for closed session, but left the meeting because of a prior court-related commitment before the council entered closed session.
The public discussion continued to include criticism of the director’s performance and debate over whether DKR should receive city funding for a future position without city oversight.
After the attorney left, the council voted to enter closed session. When it returned, the council voted to dissolve the DKR director position from the City of Kinston. Aiken was the only nay vote.
The vote did not include a commitment by the city to continue paying for a future DKR director position, despite the request in the downtown group’s letter. The letter said DKR still needs financial support, but asked the city to change “who directs and supervises this position, and not to walk away from funding it.”
