Amherst terminates county attorney's employment

Following a closed session Tuesday afternoon, the Amherst County Board of Supervisors terminated the employment of County Attorney Vaden Hunt in a 3-2 vote.

Supervisors Claudia Tucker and Frank Campbell voted against the action.

“The board chose to terminate his employment due to what we felt was the best interest to all parties involved,” said chairman Chris Adams on Wednesday.

Adams did not provide a specific reason for the decision, but said that board members had no “ill feelings toward Hunt.”

Hunt, who has been county attorney since December 2007, said Wednesday that he was terminated without receiving a performance evaluation or any indication that the board was displeased with his job performance.

“I don’t believe it’s justified in any way,” Hunt said during the meeting, according to an audio recording provided by the county. “You took a 3-2 vote to terminate me for, in my opinion, no reason.”

Hunt also questioned why the board would terminate his employment wiothout first offering him a chance to resign or a transitional period before the termination.

“It pains me to see a board not act like gentlemen,” Hunt said at the meeting. “I’ve never come close to anything in my career like this.”

Following Hunt’s comments, the board voted to provide him with a termination allowance and approved his employment through a transition period, though the length of this period was not specified.

Tucker, who opposed the move, said Wednesday she was caught off guard by the vote and did not agree with the outcome.

“I think that with everything that we’ve got going on in the county right now, the idea that we are asking for our county attorney’s resignation is pretty irresponsible,” she said.

“I was embarrassed by the board’s vote last night.”

She and Supervisor Frank Campbell, said they were not given enough time to evaluate Hunt’s performance.

“The reason I voted no is because on my time on the job he’s always done what he’s been asked to do,” Campbell said. “I don’t know why he was asked to resign.”

Campbell and Tucker said that Adams had assured them in previous discussion about Hunt that they would have six months to consider his job performance before a vote.

Hunt has worked for the county since December 2007, when the board unanimously voted to hire him on as staff attorney. His original salary was $60,000, according to former County Administrator Rodney Taylor.

Before hiring Hunt, the county contracted legal services from local attorney Tom Shrader for five years.

Adams and Supervisor Don Kidd were both supervisors-elect when Hunt was hired and publicly stated they opposed the move.

Adams, Kidd and Supervisor Ray Vandall voted for Hunt’s termination.

Adams said the county would most likely fill the staff position, rather than enter into an outside contract for legal services.

The board will instruct County Administrator Lee Lintecum to go about advertising for the position in an upcoming meeting, Adams said.

Reporter Justin Faulconer contributed to this article.