Commissioner Dane Scalise described his version of the incident on Tuesday morning on Wilmington’s Morning News with Nick Craig, a conservative radio show.
Scalise said after Monday morning’s Board of Commissioners meeting, he was confronted in the parking lot adjacent to Thalian Hall and the county’s 320 Chestnut Building, which has office space for the Register of Deeds and Port City United (you can hear his account here).
According to Scalise’s account, the unnamed employee accosted him regarding his criticisms of PCU, in particular, its Mediation and Outreach program (formerly known as Violence Interruption). The program, which had hired former and potentially active gang members, many from the troubled Tru Colors Brewing company, has seen two employees arrested in as many months, including its top supervisor, Stephen Barnett.
“And all of a sudden, a man who I don't know who I don't recognize, is just standing there turns to me and said, ‘I'm one of those gang members that you've been talking about,’ comes up, gets in my space, and starts going on about how he is an employee of Port City United. He doesn't agree with me in the positions that I've taken, I am dehumanizing him,” Scalise told Craig, saying that things got tense when he tried to voice his side, “And I attempted to speak to him and give him my side of the situation. And he yelled at me and said, ‘Don't effing interrupt me.’”
Scalise said he felt the conversation ended on a threatening note.
“His comments to me included, ‘you won’t be a county commissioner for long,’ and ultimately [he] ended, his last parting comment to me before we separated from one another was, ‘be safe out there,’” Scalise said.
Scalise, who was appointed last year, is up for his first election as commissioner this year. But he did not believe the employee was simply making a political prediction. He also noted that PCU’s mediation specialists have all been "suspended" (they're on paid administrative leave since Barnett was arrested) and should not have been at the 320 Chestnut Building.
“They've been suspended. They're not supposed to be on site. But I don't know what this man was doing at the county facility, other than waiting for me, to give me a piece of his mind,” he said.
Scalise said he didn’t recognize the employee and hadn’t had any previous encounters with him, either in person or by email or other communication. Scalise said he reported the issue to county management, which confirmed the person was a PCU employee.
While acknowledging that the situation was intimidating, Scalise — unsurprisingly — said he had not changed his mind about PCU, which he believes is a “dangerous liability” and needs to be shuttered at the end of the fiscal year, which is at the end of June.
In a statement, a county spokesperson said, “New Hanover County is aware of an exchange that occurred on May 20, involving a Port City United employee, who is currently on and has been on administrative leave, and a county commissioner on county property. The commissioner reported feeling threatened by comments made during the encounter.”
The county confirmed that “a formal Human Resources investigation was initiated the same day the allegation was received, in line with established policies and processes,” adding that further information would be provided to the extent allowed by state personnel law.
