Salmon out as city manager

Goldsboro parted ways with City Manager Tim Salmon Monday evening in what was characterized by Mayor Charles Gaylor as a “mutual” agreement that was discussed and signed off on during a marathon closed session held at the tail end of the City Council’s first meeting of the month.

And the details of that agreement, which were obtained by New Old North in response to a records request, show that Salmon will receive more than $106,000 in severance pay and an additional $21,144.46 in accrued paid vacation to secure his exit. (It is worth noting that Salmon has a week to back out of the agreement, but there is currently no indication that he will do so.)

Assistant City Manager Matthew Livingston has been promoted, on an interim basis, to fill the void while the city begins its search for a new leader.

Salmon’s tenure was plagued by the resignation of department heads — a half-dozen left City Hall within his first two years as their boss — and a series of late audits that culminated in the excoriation of Goldsboro leaders by State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who ordered the Office of the State Auditor to complete a thorough deep-dive into the city’s finances.

The city’s inability to complete its financial reporting duties in a timely manner also resulted in one of the nation’s leading bond credit rating agencies withdrawing its rating on Goldsboro’s General Obligation Bonds and General Obligation Street Improvement Bonds due to “insufficient information,” a deficiency characterized by Folwell as a “serious matter” that he characterized as “a reflection on the quality of both governing board oversight and management practices of the city.”

Salmon responded to the news by saying he wasn’t concerned about the city’s inability to borrow money because “we’re not asking for any new debt right now,” and added he interpreted communications from the state as a warning about ensuring future audits were submitted on time — not the fact that the 2018-19 audit was more than a year late.

To date, Goldsboro is still not caught up, as its 2022-23 audit is already several months overdue, leaving the city at risk of incurring financial penalties recently approved by the North Carolina General Assembly.

As for the investigation ordered by Folwell, revelations from auditors’ preliminary findings that were sent to City Hall Jan. 12 have been published in previous stories on NewOldNorth.com, including that Salmon was given what the state characterized as an “undocumented” water bill credit they said had the potential to “erode” the public’s trust in its local government.

Salmon was supposed to submit the city’s official response to the state’s six findings — which included everything from more than 100 missing vehicles and undocumented water bill credits allegedly given to elected officials and city employees to tens of thousands of dollars in purchases made with government credit cards auditors said were not justified by required supporting documentation or approvals — by Jan. 26, but had to ask for an extension.

None of that was mentioned after the city signed off on its “mutual” parting of ways with Salmon.

Instead, Gaylor released a statement on his Facebook page “personally” thanking the former manager for leading the city “through turbulent times,” being willing to make “difficult, sometimes unpopular, but necessary decisions,” and pushing “his people to be better than they were.”