Forsyth County Commissioner Ted Kaplan backs off his proposal to repeal the hotel occupancy tax that funds the county’s Tourism Development Authority.
Now the only issue is how to take care of Visit Winston-Salem administrator Bob McCoy, who was granted a six-month leave of absence for “health reasons.” Interesting that lawyers got involved in McCoy’s health issues:
McCoy,(TDA chairman Hobie) Cawood and McCoy’s attorney, Walter Holton, talked yesterday about the process that led to McCoy’s request for a leave of absence. According to Cawood, McCoy started saying about a month ago that he would “like to get out” and that his doctors were telling him that he could do without the stress that the dispute created.
Cawood said that McCoy mentioned the need for some financial security — he has a mortgage and needs a health-care plan because of his condition. Cawood said that some county officials worked quietly to help put together a plan for McCoy. The TDA contracts with the county for some administrative functions, but the TDA, not the county, is paying the entire bill for McCoy’s leave, Cawood said.
The TDA’s attorney, Walter Pitt Jr., and Holton worked out the nuts and bolts of the deal for McCoy in advance of Tuesday’s meeting, Cawood said.
McCoy’s take on the talks was that “lawyers were talking in advance; I was talking to my doctor.”
“Between the lawyers and the doctors, they came up together with an acceptable agreement,” he said.
It doesn’t seem likely that a six-month leave of absence would translate into “financial security,” so we’re left to imagine exactly what type of deal McCoy and his lawyers worked out that would prevent a lawsuit. Is it possible that county taxpayers are going to be paying McCoy’s healthcare expenses beyond his leave of absence?
I’m not being unsympathetic to McCoy’s health issues (though note in the comments below the article that at least one reader is unsympathetic), but its fair to say Kaplan has left an even bigger mess behind. McCoy’s been forced out of his job, yet nothing’s been resolved, and board members are now talking about the “need for a retreat to “sort of evaluate what they are doing and how they are doing it and develop criteria and standards that suit this board.”
Voters need to remember this the next time Kaplan’s up for reelection. It’s one thing trying to get something done; it’s another thing messing up in the process.
