A heated discussion at the Feb. 6 meeting of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners had one commissioner accuse county staff of corruption for the events leading up to the demolition of the former Pungo District Hospital on Dec. 28, 2016.

Commissioner Hood Richardson brought up the hospital with a request that the county require any person holding the county planner position to obtain a minimum level of building code licensing, but discussion quickly escalated to what Richardson claims was the county’s help in demolishing the hospital.

“I still have the opinion that the Belhaven hospital was torn down because of the county’s basic dishonesty,” Richardson said.

Prior to the hospital’s demolition, managing members of hospital owners Pantego Creek LLC requested the county inspect the property, after which inspector Brandon Hayes wrote a letter to Pantego Creek listing hazards and defects that needed correction before the building could be occupied again. The letter was later submitted as evidence in a separate event — a lawsuit against Pantego Creek LLC by eight of its members of claiming the managing partners did not uphold their fiduciary duty and withheld information that would have impacted their votes to have the hospital demolished. Superior Court Judge Gregory P. McGuire ruled in favor of the managing partners, lifting a temporary restraining order and allowing demolition to proceed. Richardson maintains that the Board of Commissioners and county staff did a political favor for Pantego Creek LLC and former hospital owner Vidant Health by writing the letter, and the county acted inappropriately by sending a building inspector out to catalogue the building’s substantial problems.

“It’s dishonest, any way that you look at it. Beaufort County is responsible for the loss of the hospital,” Richardson said. He later said the entire process was corrupt.

The six other commissioners on the board and County Manager Brian Alligood took the opportunity to publicly rebut Richardson’s claims, as well as the rationalization that county planner Seth Laughlin’s lack of a building inspections certification — which was not part of the job requirement upon his hiring — played a part in the letter Hayes sent to Pantego Creek. The letter also prompted a sitting Belhaven town board member to file a complaint against the inspector with the N.C. Department of Insurance.

Alderman Greg Satterthwaite filed the complaint against Hayes on Dec. 27, 2016, the day before McGuire ruled on the Pantego Creek case. In the complaint, Satterthwaite selected two options as origin for the complaint: (the inspector) “has affixed his signature to a report of inspection or other instrument of service if no inspection had been made by him or under his immediate and responsible direction; or has been guilty of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or gross incompetence.”

Alligood said neither is true.

“Our building inspector walked that building upon request of the owner, which is what we would do — as we spoke (of) at the last meeting — on any property that we were asked to come and inspect due to safety reasons. … It’s our responsibility under the North Carolina general statutes to do that,” Alligood said. “The second piece was that he willfully and intentionally, that he … did something inappropriate. He was doing his job, which is what he was required to do.”

Alligood pointed out that when filing the complaint, Satterthwaite submitted a column written by Richardson on Richardson’s Beaufort County Observer website as proof of Hayes’ wrongdoing, and that Alligood and county attorney David Francisco had spent 10 hours refuting those claims for the DOI investigation. Alligood also made reference to Richardson’s behavior toward county staff, telling the board that belittling staff has a chilling effect on hiring and retaining quality county employees.

“I’ve worked in local government for 20 years. I worked in the private sector for five years. Never in my entire career have I ever been called corrupt or had my integrity challenged. … I understand my job and I understand what I am responsible to do,” Alligood said.

Several commissioners took issue with Richardson’s accusations.

“I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I’m getting a little fed up with Commissioner Richardson beating up on staff,” Brinn said. “That man sitting right over there is the best manager this county’s ever had, and you’ve tried to belittle him every meeting — every meeting you try to do that.”

“You should be censured,” Commissioner Ron Buzzeo said to Richardson. “These continual attacks have to stop. This board and our county employees had nothing to do with tearing down (the hospital).”

The hospital was closed by Vidant Health in 2014 when it was determined that keeping it open was not a viable option financially. After a concerted effort to reopen the hospital under new management with the help of a USDA loan, and the failure of interested management parties to follow through on the deal, a majority of members of Pantego Creek LLC voted to demolish the structure.