Lee County Manager Ron Rabun ousted

LEESBURG — Lee County Manager Ron Rabun’s employment was terminated Tuesday morning when the Lee County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to relieve Rabun of his duties during a special called meeting of the board.

The motion to terminate Rabun’s employment contract came after a brief executive session and was made by Commission Vice Chairman Dennis Roland, who read the following prepared statement:

“I move that the ‘at will’ employment agreement between the Lee County Board of Commissioners and Ron H. Rabun be terminated for cause in accord with paragraph 7(B) of that employment agreement due to Mr. Rabun’s repeated gross abuses of Lee County ordinances, Mr. Rabun’s failure or refusal to follow the directions of his employer, Mr. Rabun’s failure or refusal to carry out his duties under his employment contract in a proper, satisfactory and professional manner and Mr. Rabun’s breach of his employment contract.”

Their was little discussion of the matter in the open meeting, but commissioner Greg Fritch shared that despite having been with the county through some successful projects since being hired in fall of 2013, Rabun’s accomplishments did not outweigh the need for the board to make a change.

“It’s a difficult thing,” said Fritch of the decision. “He’s obviously had some significant accomplishments while serving the board and the citizens of Lee County. However, the county manager has to have the trust and confidence and the support of the whole board.”

Stating that counsel had advised him not to elaborate on the decision to terminate Rabun’s contract, county commission chairman Rick Muggride did say that he “was not surprised,” but was “disappointed.”

Muggride also shared that the board began having concerns about Rabun’s ability to satisfactorily perform his duties back in September and had addressed the situation during the September 22 commission meeting.

“We had an executive session to discuss Wadsworth Road and that was kind of the first chink in the armor,” said Muggridge.

It was reported following that meeting that the board had met in executive session to discuss what Muggridge at the time called a “flawed process” involving the resurfacing of a 0.497 mile stretch of Wadsworth Drive from Winifred Road to the Terrell County line.

Although they had approved payment of $22,297, which represented 50 percent of the project cost, that same night, Muggride said the board had taken issue with the way the project had been developed and not with the project itself.

“Our issue is that a process developed contrary to our normal process,” Muggride said at the time. “Our staff developed it and proceeded with it without the board’s consent and advice. That is contrary to our process. That responsibility falls on the county manager and that is what we will discuss.”

Rabun received no discipline at that time and Muggridge went so far as to say he did not want the issue to “reflect negatively on our county manager. It is that aggressive pursuit of getting things done that, frankly, so many of us find attractive.”

With no county manager in place after Tuesday’s vote, Muggridge said the county staff would handle daily operations of the county and that he felt confident that the short term lack of a manager would not create issues. He also added that the county commission would meet again soon to discuss the search for Rabun’s permanent replacement.

“We’ve got an incredible country staff,” said Muggridge. “For the near term the county staff will continue the day-to-day operations. We will reconvene soon to discuss our plans going forward. Until then our county is in capable hands in the hands of our staff. We’re committed to not slowing down to do the things that Lee County needs to have done.”