New Bern’s City Manager Foster Hughes announced Kari Warren was selected as the new director of Parks and Recreation during the Nov. 22 Board of Aldermen (BOA) meeting. She’s held the interim director position since Sept. 2021.
The city manager told the board they conducted a two-month national search and Warren was selected out of 96 applicants. Today, Nov. 28, we received a press release from Public Information Officer Colleen Roberts that stated the city “reviewed 93 applications”. It’s unclear how many people applied for the position. This is not the first-time the city relayed conflicting information to the public.
Last month, Foster Hughes asked the board to remove the requirement for department heads to live within eight miles of City Hall, except for the police chief and fire chief.
He said, “We’ve had our issues with COVID, the economy, uh the shortage of of affordable housing in our area, in a variety of factors and what we have found out over the last eight to ten months when we have offered certain positions that require relocation, we’ve had several of our candidates that have had to back out for for what one reason or another but most of them had revolved around the relocation. Even if they had been within a 30 to 50 mile radius.”
After a lengthy discussion, Alderman Royal made the motion and Alderman Aster seconded it. The board passed the resolution 6 – 1 with Alderman Kinsey voting against it during the Oct. 11 meeting.
New Bern Now (NBN) has spoken with a number of former department heads and senior employees who resigned in 2021 and 2022. Has the BOA evaluated staff are resigning to prevent further vacancies?
NBN requested public records related to city employees on Aug. 5. The PIO provided the information a month later on Sept. 8, therefore, the following doesn’t include people who left after that.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
| Mark Stephens | City Manager | 6/14/2014 | 5/14/2021 |
| Jeff Ruggieri | Director Development
Services |
4/19/2012 | 2/4/2022 |
| Amanda Ohlensehlen | Economic and Community Development Manager | 3/4/2022 | |
| Mary Hogan | Director of Finance | 2/23/2020 | 7/2/2021 |
| Michael Horton | Parks Superintendent | 11/18/2018 | 8/20/2021 |
| Toussaint Summers | Chief of Police | 10/10/2011 | 3/19/2021 |
| Matthew Montayne | Director of Public Works | 3/29/2015 | 4/23/2021 |
| Alfred Cablay | Director of Public Works | 1/24/2022 | 8/5/2022 |
Wondering why the city manager wanted the board to change the residency requirement, NBN asked the city’s public information officer where current and interim department heads lived in an email on Oct. 12. Colleen Roberts responded, “Pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 160A-168, an employee’s address is not public record” on Oct. 14.
A public record search revealed Warren lives in Emerald Isle which is located at least 50 miles away from City Hall.
Was this a foregone decision? If so, why not be transparent about it?
Wondering why the city manager wanted the board to change the residency requirement, NBN asked the city’s public information officer where current and interim department heads lived in an email on Oct. 12. Colleen Roberts responded, “Pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 160A-168, an employee’s address is not public record” on Oct. 14.
A public record search revealed Warren lives in Emerald Isle which is located at least 50 miles away from City Hall.
Was this a foregone decision? If so, why not be transparent about it?
On a side note, why don’t board members have the same concern for the privacy of citizens? The board asks people for their name and address prior to speaking during the Petition of Citizens portion of the first board meeting of the month. The BOA has disregarded requests to reexamine this policy. They cannot enforce this ‘rule’ because it would violate peoples first amendment rights of freedom of speech.
NBN contacted the city manager, members of the Board of Aldermen and Kari Warren for comment with no response.
Questions or comments? Send us an email.
By Wendy Card, Editor
NBN contacted the city manager, members of the Board of Aldermen and Kari Warren for comment with no response.
Questions or comments? Send us an email.
By Wendy Card, Editor
Related article: Kari Warren Selected as the New Director of New Bern Parks and Recreation