BY MILES LAYTON AND NICOLE LAYTON
Staff Writers
Edenton Town Council met in emergency session – mostly in executive session – Sunday in council chambers.
According to anonymous sources, the meeting was held to discuss a pay increase for Town Manager Corey Gooden.
According to town records, Gooden’s annual contract for 2024 includes an annual salary of $124,440.
Gooden sent an email the morning of Nov. 17 announcing that a special council meeting was to be held at 5 p.m. that day. The agenda cited that council was to meet in executive session to “consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee.”
The Albemarle Observer received a copy of the agenda via email and contacted city officials for further information. Mayor Hackney High said he can’t comment on personnel matters.
The Albemarle Observer submitted a public records request to the town asking for a copy of the agenda and emails sent by Gooden through his town manager’s email to town employees and officials related to the meeting. According to state law, emails created and received by a government agency are public record.
Gooden responded via email to the request on Nov. 19 saying, “I have received your request and at this time, this is a personnel matter and this is all I can say at this time.”
According to the source, council discussed giving Gooden a substantial raise – a dollar amount that Albemarle Observer is withholding release pending confirmation from a records request sent to City Hall.
Gooden, also acts as the town clerk. In a recent case in Ohio, a municipality (the city of Nelsonville) voted to supplement the police chief’s salary to cover his additional work as interim city manager.
As of Nov 10, 2024, the average annual pay for a Town Manager in North Carolina is $108,407 a year, according to ZipRecruiter. That works out to be approximately $52.12 an hour — $2,984 per week or $9,033 per month.
The town of Beaufort, which has a similar population size as Edenton, pays its town manager between $130,676 and $202,548, depending on experience.
Gooden has been city manager since 2021. Prior to that, he worked as director of the town’s Public Works Department starting in August of 2017.
North Carolina’s open meetings laws says that for emergency meetings, council should send a meeting notice to each media outlet that filed a written request for emergency notice. “This notice shall be given either by e-mail, by telephone, or by the same method used to notify the members of the public body and shall be given immediately after notice has been given to those members.”
The Town of Edenton’s website says emergency meetings can be “called within a day — are rare and usually occur when council receives a pressing or emergency item, such as a natural disaster briefing, personnel emergency or legal matter. Advance notice to the public may be short, but we do the best we can. These meetings are also open to the public, but typically, only the item in question is addressed.”
According to UNC School of Government, a city council usually must allow at least six hours notice when scheduling an emergency meeting. Many states require at least 24 hour’s notice.
All regularly scheduled Edenton Council meetings can be attended virtually via Zoom and are available to view on the town’s YouTube channel. The Sunday meeting is not listed on the town’s website nor is it available via YouTube. The meeting was not announced via the town’s social media channels.
Council’s next meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 25 in Council chambers.
UPDATE: Story was updated at 4 p.m. Nov. 19, 2024, to reflect the town’s response to a public records request.
