The future may be full of uncertainties. But for Alamance County attorney Rik Stevens, the coming week could bring a small measure of assurance to his position as the county’s chief legal counsel.
On Monday, the county’s board of commissioners is slated to consider an employment contract that would clarify several aspects of Stevens’ continued employment with Alamance County.
Among the items that appear in this proposed agreement are guarantees about the county attorney’s salary, travel reimbursements, and other forms of compensation. Also included are provisions related to his potential departure, including a severance package equal to two months of wages in the event that the commissioners decide to dispense with his services in the absence of any just cause.
The terms of this six-page agreement represent the culmination of several closed door-discussions that Stevens has held with the commissioners since he took over as county attorney in the summer of 2022. The latest of these private powwows apparently took place last week when the commissioners conducted a marathon closed session, whose topics included personnel matters that Stevens acknowledged would touch on a potential employment contract for an unspecified county staff member.
At the time that Stevens first joined the county’s legal department in 2022, the county manager was the only person on Alamance County’s payroll who had obtained a formal employment contract from the county’s governing board. The commissioners had previously denied a similar contract to their former attorney Clyde Albright, whose eventual dismissal in 2021 led to an inquiry by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and a subsequent settlement for $165,000.
Stevens, who represented the county during the latter stages of the EEOC inquiry, has so far worked for the county at the pleasure of the commissioners. The county’s governing board would retain its ability to sack him at will under the proposed employment contract. In fact, the agreement stipulates that the county “may terminate Stevens’ employment for any lawful reason, or no reason, upon [the] appropriate action” of the commissioners. Even so, Stevens would be entitled to some compensation if the commissioners dismiss him “for any reason other than for just cause.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Stevens could be justly let go for “an illegal act involving personal gain to himself, a felony, a misdemeanor that involves moral turpitude,” or the suspension of his law license. If he’s dismissed for any other reason, the county would be obligated to pay Stevens “the equivalent of two months [his] then-current base salary,” along with his accumulated vacation pay, within 30 days of his termination. The county wouldn’t be required to shell out the severance package if Stevens leaves of his own accord – in which case, he would also have to give the county 60 days notice of his departure.
In addition to these separation provisions, the proposed employment contract includes guarantees of Stevens’ compensation while he remains in the county’s employ.
Among other things, the agreement nails down his base salary, as of June 30, 2024, at $176,751.28. This sum is actually a bit lower than Stevens’ current pay, which the county’s personnel office puts at $182,053.83 as of July 1. The proposed employment contract goes on to note that Stevens will receive the same pay raises as other county employees – and the resulting increases will be factored into the base pay used to calculate his severance package.
Also addressed in the agreement are Stevens’ vacation pay and sick leave, as well as other forms of remuneration, such as the reimbursement of county-authorized travel expenses, the payment of professional licenses and membership dues, and the coverage of any “continuing legal education” he obtains.
This contract is currently slated to be approved by the commissioners on Monday as part of a “consent agenda” of putatively routine or noncontroversial items that they typically adopt en bloc at the beginning of their regularly-scheduled meetings.
