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North Carolina Librarian Fired without ExplanationMooresville, North Carolina, Town Manager Rick McLean fired Library Director John Pritchard without public explanation June 23—the third such dismissal of a town official in the past year.Although McLean declined to comment on the case because of state personnel privacy laws, in a June 16 letter he had warned Pritchard about “negligence in the administration of public funds” and challenged Pritchard’s request for reimbursement for meals and travel expenses related to a May library conference, the Charlotte Observer reported June 29. Pritchard maintains he did nothing wrong and is consulting an attorney. He said he believed McLean, who recently announced he will retire September 30, was determined to fire him because of critical comments he had made in a newspaper article about county funding for the library, and that McLean had told him he “was getting too involved in politics again,” according to the July 1 Mooresville Tribune. “Rick McLean is a very, very fine city manager and does a good job, and as far as I can see John Pritchard was a very fine librarian,” said Commissioner Mitchell Mack. “Somewhere along the line something didn’t happen right.” In the last year, McLean fired the town’s public information officer as well as an auditor hired in the wake of a 2001 library controversy in which the previous director, Karen Khan, was convicted of embezzlement using her town credit card. Posted July 2, 2004. |
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