Part I, In our series on Loss of Public Trust: Up Next, Unilateral Decisions made by White and Jarvis

By Thom Roddy – July 5, 2024

Correction: The number of days the manager job was listed on InsightGlobal’s website has been corrected to 144 days, not 548.

The Currituck Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting on the evening of February 15, 2024, revealed a behind-the-scenes scheme to censure Commissioner Paul Beaumont. The debacle involving the headhunting firm InsightGlobal, in which Beaumont was alleged to have authorized the advertisement of the county manager job, may represent the most serious breach of public trust in the county’s history.

Chair Bob White opened the meeting by instructing the commissioners that a “confidential packet,” hereafter referred to as the “secret packet,” was in front of them, which they would turn in at the end of the meeting. This secret packet purported to contain proof that Beaumont authorized InsightGlobal to post the recruitment for a county manager, but it contained no proof or evidence.

On February 12, 2024, I met with Vice Chair Selina Jarvis at a public location in Grandy, NC. Jarvis had requested to see BlackwaterReport’s timeline of events surrounding the InsightGlobal debacle, which she characterized as a scheme. My timeline contained over 60 events supported by documents obtained from the county. Jarvis expressed concern and made troubling statements about Bob White and county attorney Megan Morgan’s involvement. She mentioned that the county attorney was also working on a timeline and wanted to see it before forming her decision on the February 15 BOC vote. I told Jarvis that if the county attorney’s timeline only had half the documented facts compared to the one I showed her, “She should be very concerned.”

The county attorney’s timeline fell short of the facts backed by the records I had shown Jarvis. On January 31, 2024, White posted a statement on the county website and provided copies to local media that the county considers “friendly.” In the statement, since deleted by the county, White said, “In November 2023, following the Board’s evaluation of County Manager Ike McRee, Paul Beaumont informed me that he wanted to contact Insight Global, a head-hunting firm that helps identify candidates for executive-level management positions. Paul Beaumont wanted to do this regarding the County Manager position.” Four of seven commissioners I spoke to said they had no knowledge of White informing them about InsightGlobal, including Jarvis.

As noted in White’s statement, the decision not to renew the county manager’s contract was made in November 2023. This likely explains why White agreed to Beaumont working with InsightGlobal. Beaumont had been working with Gabrielle (Gabi) Gilbert, the InsightGlobal account manager, on county manager prospects. The county attorney spoke with the following individuals at InsightGlobal: Megan Quinn, associate general counsel; Gabie Gilbert, account manager; and Allie, sales associate. Allie, the most junior employee in the scenario, was the only one who allegedly told the county attorney in a phone call that Beaumont authorized the job posting. However, InsightGlobal declined to produce an official document supporting Allie’s claim.

Allie alleged that Beaumont authorized “full-fledged” recruitment and that a “requisition receipt” was emailed to him. If such a scenario existed, the county would have the right to all documents executed between Beaumont and InsightGlobal. Still, the headhunting firm did not provide a copy of the requisition or any email, text, or record indicating that Beaumont executed any agreement with the county attorney. On the contrary, the county attorney included in her brief timeline emails from Gilbert asking to schedule a meeting with all commissioners. This seems to indicate that InsightGlobal was not moving forward until such a meeting occurred.

The county attorney’s timeline states that White instructed InsightGlobal to remove the job advertisement and that White also instructed the county attorney to tell InsightGlobal to remove it. This morning, I checked, and the county manager advertisement is still on InsightGlobal’s website. This means that for 144 days, InsightGlobal has been advertising the position despite the county demanding they take it down. These are the “facts” five out of seven commissioners relied upon to censure Beaumont.

Following the February 15 vote to censure Beaumont, I asked Jarvis on video why she voted to censure. She replied, “I had the facts in front of me.” Thanks to a thick stack of records obtained from the county, we now know there were no facts. The commissioners relied on innuendo and a junior InsightGlobal employee’s allegation that the company general counsel declined to back up with a single record.

What do you think? Did commissioners and staff live up to the county code of ethics:

UDO Sec. 2-86. – Same—To uphold the integrity and independence of his or her office.

County commissioners should demonstrate the highest standards of personal integrity, truthfulness, honesty and fortitude in all their public activities in order to inspire public confidence and trust in county government. County commissioners should participate in establishing, maintaining, and enforcing, and should themselves observe, high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of their office may be preserved. The provisions of this Code should be construed and applied to further these objectives.