From Staff Reports 

After a rash of reforms for transparency, which included an online dashboard for citizens to keep track of county money; the Buncombe County leaders most heavily engaged in the changes — including County Manager Mandy Stone — are departing and nobody is at liberty to explain why.

Six county employees in key positions have now retired since it became public knowledge that former County Manager Wanda Greene was under federal investigation.

 First, Bob Deutsch, who was serving as the attorney for the board of commissioners, resigned in October. He only worked part-time, and he said he needed to spend more time with his private practice.

In December, Assistant County Manager and Planning Director Jon Creighton announced he would retire. Then, in March, the commissioners’ clerk, Kathy Hughes, followed suit. The latter two were eligible for retirement, and the county had offered incentives for early retirement, so not much was made of the events in the press.

 Then, the people behind the closing of loopholes to make sure nobody would get away with ripping off the county the same ways the former county manager is accused of having done, started to leave. 

CFO Tim Flora gave his two weeks’ notice on May 30. Working under Greene’s replacement, Mandy Stone, Flora was instrumental in making county financial data more accessible to the public.

 It was Flora who told the public what could be divulged about how staff in Budget and Finance had detected “irregularities” and “breaches.” They contacted the proper authorities, locked out the perpetrator, and began preserving evidence. Flora explained the former county manager had used multiple devices to appropriate unchecked power to herself. “We trusted when we should have questioned; and when we did question, we let ourselves be convinced,” he lamented.

 Flora’s letter of resignation was submitted after a two-hour closed session during which the commissioners discussed his performance. His letter of resignation spoke of accomplishments and only offered, “the time is right.”

 Then, on June 8, the new county manager, Stone, announced July 1 would be her last day, and that she would use accrued leave time until that date. Stone had led the charge to redistribute powers her predecessor had amassed to herself. Under Stone’s leadership, the county set up checks and balances and strengthening the county’s internal auditing systems. Stone pushed for more transparency and even caused upper management to take salary cuts to fund pay raises for the lowest earners on the county payroll. That decision followed the discovery that her predecessor had misrepresented to the commissioners the beneficiaries of a pay increase they approved.

 The corruption Stone had inherited was so widespread, it took time for county staff to unravel the threads. The investigation is still ongoing, but Stone sought to right wrongs as they were discovered.

 Stone gave no reasons for her departure, and commissioners’ Chairman Brownie Newman told the press he could not comment due to the ongoing federal investigation. Media outlets, however, are connecting her resignation to an anonymous press release from the county.

 Stone claimed she had been responsible for a press release issued only to certain media outlets on June 8. 

Described as “clarifications,” it was reactionary to a second round of indictments with which her predecessor had been hit. The first round addressed $200,000 in public funds appropriated by Greene and her son Michael for personal use. The two had used gift cards and other employees’ purchasing cards, making detection difficult.

 The second round of indictments concerned life insurance policies. 

 The “clarifications,” corroborated much that had been published with the indictment, but it added, “At least one employee asked the former chair and was advised that the board supported the county manager’s action specific to these policies.”

 The chair at the time would have been David Gantt, and he released a statement reading, “I am troubled that the county is issuing statements to the media on behalf of anonymous employees. I would ask that the employee making this claim make it publicly or that the county, before issuing any more press releases, identify its sources.”

 If Stone was not let-go because of the press release, another rumor, which has not been substantiated, is that the FBI raided her office.

 The last key person to announce their departure from the county was the county’s Director of Human Resources and Community Engagement Lisa Eby. Eby reportedly had intended to leave at the end of last year, but was asked by Stone to stay.

 Under Stone, Eby had been responsible for revising the county’s personnel ordinance to eliminate opportunities for fraud and abuse. For example, Greene had modified the old personnel ordinance via a budget amendment. Eby also helped set up anti-nepotism rules and a no-retaliation whistle-blower hotline.