Raymond severance totals $43,654

Former Police Chief Langdon Raymond could receive $43,654.81 in severance pay and other compensation from the town of Fletcher after resigning in July amid department turmoil.

The amount includes $37,000 in severance pay spread over eight months, vacation pay and up to a year of health insurance premiums for the embattled former chief, who left the department after two years of complaints from former officers, lawsuits and investigations by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Details of the compensation agreement were released after the Times-News sent a public records request to the town on July 24. Town Manager Mark Biberdorf initially refused to release the information, saying “the document was not a public record.”

But after a Times-News attorney spoke with Fletcher town attorney Joe Ferikes, Biberdorf agreed to release details of the severance package.

“Although we cannot release a copy of the severance agreement between the town and former Police Chief Langdon Raymond, we are required to release the details of any compensation provided to him,” Biberdorf wrote.

According to the town, Raymond will receive:

• $37,104.48 over eight months in severance pay. This amount is based on his salary as of July 9, 2008, the date he retired, and equates to a biweekly gross payment of $2,319.03.

• $2,454.01 for accrued vacation leave.

• The town-provided health insurance premiums for up to one year, or until he finds full-time employment. This equates to a monthly health insurance premium of $341.36. The town is still paying the premium, Biberdorf confirmed.

He said Friday the town is still paying Raymond’s insurance and that he has not obtained new employment.

Biberdorf said the town’s legal fees are covered by liability insurance through the League of Municipalities. They only pay a deductible to the League, not the full legal fees, he added. Information about the deductible amount was not immediately available.

Biberdorf said the town has not paid any of Raymond’s legal fees. Raymond has his own representation.

After months of turmoil, Raymond’s retirement in July brought an end to a tumultuous period for the town.

The problems began in April 2006 when former Fletcher Police officer Adam White stopped an off-duty trooper driving his personal car at a high rate of speed on Mills Gap Road.

White has stated that Raymond approved his decision to give the trooper a warning ticket, but that decision was changed after District Attorney Jeff Hunt was made aware of the situation.

Hunt ordered the trooper be charged with speeding and reckless driving.

What followed over the next two years was a series of lawsuits, countersuits, firings and resignations.

White and another former Fletcher police officer, Timothy Foxx, took out warrants charging Raymond with misdemeanor assault after Raymond allegedly shoved White and grabbed Foxx’s groin.

The town suspended Raymond pending a resolution of the charges. Six months later, Raymond was reinstated as the town’s top police official after a special prosecutor appointed by the state dropped the charges.

Back on the job in February, Raymond fired Foxx and White in March and the two later filed suits against the town, the council, town manager and Raymond.

Those lawsuits are still pending in federal court.

Also in March, town officials requested an outside investigation into Foxx’s firing be conducted by then-Hendersonville Police Chief Donnie Parks and Hendersonville City Manager Chris Carter.

The findings of that investigation were never made public.

In addition to the firings and lawsuits, a state Employment Security Commission ruling in July of last year supported Foxx’s case against the town. The ruling found the town failed to follow its own policies and procedures in firing Foxx.

To add insult to injury, on Jan. 28 the ESC reversed the town’s denial of unemployment benefits to another fired officer, Sharon Archer. The ESC found Archer had done nothing to warrant her firing and that Raymond had not followed the proper procedures set up in the town’s police manual and the town’s own disciplinary procedures.

Then in June, Raymond announced he would be leaving the department. Raymond started work with the Fletcher Police Department as an officer on Oct. 11, 2004, and was promoted to chief in June 2005.

Although the town manager and council denied there were any problems in the department under Raymond, the town is now spending a substantial amount of time and money to train officers, institute community policing and solicit residents’ and business owners’ opinions on what they want from their police department.

The Town Council hired former Henderson County sheriffs George Erwin and Eddie Watkins at a cost of $30,000 to help reform the department. It also hired a separate consultant to help with the search for a new chief.

Erwin and Watkins, who are now working as consultants, are overseeing the operations of the Police Department and making suggestions for improvement as the town develops a formal selection process for a permanent police chief.

Police officers have been receiving legal training and other coaching from the consultants.

“This will help the officers get to know their community rather than just driving around in their cars,” said Erwin.