February 9, 2024

In an Exclusive Report you won’t read anywhere else, Blackwater Reports confirms that Bob White did Notify County Manager Ike McRee that his contract would not be renewed. According to an email sent by White on October 27, 2023, he (White) informed all commissioners, ‘Attached is the letter I gave to Ike this morning following our discussions’ (Read the email below). We previously published the memorandum notifying McRee on February 1, 2024, here. That letter notified McRee, as required by his contract, six months prior to its end, that he was not being renewed. Additionally, Professor Kristina Wilson of the UNC School of Government opined that White’s email was releasable to the public under G.S. 153A-98(b)(9).

The release of White’s email confirms our previous reports on McRee’s contract. The email also confirms County Attorney Megan Morgan released false information to the media in an attempt to debunk an article featuring Commissioner Paul Beaumont. Morgan said in that release that Beaumont’s statement that McRee was not being renewed was ‘false.’ 

In a statement released by White, possibly in violation of the county’s ethics code, he said, ‘I must respond to false accusations recently made on social media about this Board.’ According to White’s own words, which are well documented, he knew that was a false and misleading statement. White said, ‘At no time has the Board leveled a public accusation against Paul Beaumont.’ The board’s direct representative, County Attorney Morgan, echoed White’s assertion that Beaumont’s statements to the press were false. Morgan told a local newspaper that she had spoken to McRee, and that he confirmed to her he had not been notified, which appears to also be false. Beaumont’s character was attacked in Morgan’s statement.

One of the most important takeaways in this ongoing saga is that McRee was notified as required by his contract of non-renewal. The law requires that the letter of the contract be followed, and it was. There is only one sentence in McRee’s contract on the matter: the requirement for six months’ notification. Nowhere in McRee’s contract does it require a public vote or discussion. White said in his February 1, 2024, statement, ‘I cannot and should not ever attempt to take unilateral action.’ But it appears he did just that by announcing McRee’s contract was extended for three years without a second vote by the board. This will likely play out in a court of law.

The circumstances of deepening controversy and likely conspiracy to oust, censure, or strip Currituck County Commissioner Paul Beaumont seem to know no end. The facts in this ongoing saga haven’t changed. Still, the narrative pushed by Commissioners Bob White, Mary Etheridge, and County Attorney Megan Morgan shifts on an equal plane with sands on Currituck’s windy beaches.

Multiple Commissioners confirm Morgan has no smoking gun; there is no concrete evidence that releasing the county manager job posting online was anything more than a mistake at InsightGlobal; the headhunter White had authorized Commissioner Paul Beaumont to engage.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is responsible for conducting criminal investigations across the state, including public corruption cases. The SBI’s mandate includes addressing such matters as part of its broader mission to uphold the rule of law and maintain public trust in government institutions, which is diminishing in Currituck. We have to wonder how long this conspiracy can go on before Attorney General Josh Stein intervenes in the interest of public trust.

Chair Bob Whites’s email is below. Metadata confirms this email’s origins.