Commissioners mum on Comfort's firing

Contract allowed for ‘termination without cause'

Friday, June 26, 2009

"It took me by surprise," said Roy E. Hancock, assistant to the county administrator. He will serve as interim administrator until a permanent replacement is found.

The county commissioners announced their decision to relieve Comfort, an at-will employee, in an e-mail late Tuesday afternoon. Human Resources Director Stephen Brayman explained the exact term for Comfort's firing was "termination without cause."

"It's quite normal at the chief administrative level," Brayman said of the clause in Comfort's contract that gave the commissioners the option to remove him. "It allows for an elected body to determine who is the chief administrative officer at any given point in time."

Though he would not elaborate on the details of the termination — it is policy for commissioners to not comment on personnel matters — Charles County commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper (D) said the without-cause termination is different from a with-cause termination, because the latter implies something was done illegally or happened to merit dismissal.

Cooper also explained that a without-cause termination does not require unanimous consent, and that the decision to let Comfort go only required a majority approval of the five commissioners. Commissioner Gary V. Hodge said on Tuesday that he "was not in the majority."

While it remains unclear why Comfort was let go, local political insiders are speculating that there was a widening rift between Comfort and several commissioners.

One source said the commissioners felt Comfort had too much contact with the media and was trying to upstage them. His management style was more suited for an elected county executive job, rather than an appointed administrator position that serves at the commissioners' pleasure, the source said.

Hancock, a 35-year county employee, will take over for Comfort during the search for his successor. He said the without-cause provision of a contract could be employed, for example, when a difference in opinion or philosophy between a board and its at-will employees cannot be reconciled. Because the terminated employees do not engage in any wrongdoing, they are eligible to receive compensation following their departure.

Comfort, previously the Queen Anne's County administrator before taking the job in Charles, will receive a severance package worth six months of continuing salary and benefits, which is paid out regardless of whether or not he gains new employment, Brayman said. Comfort signed his original contract in March 2007 and it was set to expire Dec. 31, 2010. He was paid $179,000 per year, plus benefits.

"I've appreciated the opportunity to serve the board of commissioners and the citizens of Charles County for the past two years," Comfort said Wednesday. "I believe in the vision of the board of commissioners of [promoting] economic development, protecting the natural environment and allowing the county to grow in a responsible way."

Comfort's two-year-tenure is not the shortest for an administrator in recent memory.

In 1987, the then three-member board of commissioners hired Bill Bailey as its top employee. Within six months, he was dismissed, recalled Sen. Thomas "Mac" Middleton (D-Charles), who was then in his first term as commissioners' president.

"He didn't have the management style that we thought he had and that he needed to get the job done," Middleton said Thursday. "He was more of a micro-manager."

Cutting bait in such an instance is not necessarily a bad thing and won't reflect poorly on the commissioners, explained Middleton, who said he was not familiar with the circumstances surrounding Comfort's firing.

"If the relationship isn't what you expect it to be, why continue with it?" he said. "That's too important a job not to have a good strong working relationship between the governing body and the county administrator. I don't think they do the citizens of the county justice by not making a change."

An individual's management style can be "hard to pick up" on a resume or in an interview, Middleton continued. It's not until employees are on the job interacting with elected officials, department heads and the public that they can be truly evaluated.

Commissioners' Vice President Edith J. Patterson (D) and Commissioner Samuel N. Graves Jr. (D) declined to comment on the decision, while Commissioner Reuben B. Collins II (D) did not return a phone call placed Wednesday.

abrody@somdnews.com