Harnett Dispatch

Lillington Town Attorney Tony Buzzard response to Commissioner House request that the Town Manger not contact him anymore. “Read Below for full Letter”

Tony Buzzard

Dear Commissioner House,

As you are likely aware I am the town attorney for the Town of Lillington.  I am in receipt of an email you sent to Lillington Town Manager Bill Summers as a follow up to a letter he forwarded you from Lillington Police Chief Frank Powers.  It appears that you are requesting that Mr. Summers not contact you in the future for any reason.  For the reasons outlined below, we cannot honor your request that Mr. Summers not contact you for any reason.   However, rest assured that Mr. Summers does not have any personal desire to contact you.  In fact, I am not aware that Mr. Summers even knows you personally or that you have ever met.

Mr. Summers forwarded you the letter from Chief Powers for two reasons. First, the letter was sent specifically to you since you were the person involved in the incident.  It was only fair that you receive a copy and I instructed Mr. Summers that you should be sent a copy.  Second, since you are a member of the County Board and we were copying all Board members, you would have been copied for that reason as well.

As a County Commissioner, there will likely be occasions when the Town of Lillington may need to contact you concerning official Town business.  This contact will likely be from the Town Manager.  If Mr. Summers is the Town Manager, then it will likely be from Mr. Summers.  The Town is not required to comply with your special request about the particular person who will contact you about Town business.  And we certainly cannot comply with your request that you not be contacted about Town issues by the very person who is responsible for managing the Town.

In addition, since this issue involved you personally, it was necessary that you be notified of the position of the Town in regard to your unacceptable behavior and your follow-up statements. Given that the letter requests an apology for your behavior, the letter would have to be sent to you.  And since the request came from a Town Department, it only makes sense that the Town Manager send you the letter.  This would be standard practice in such an incident and that standard practice would likely remain the same in the event of future incidents.

If, for some reason, you prefer not to be contacted by Mr. Summers then I would recommend several courses of action. First, I would recommend that you simply comply in the same manner as anyone else with Town rules and regulations.  Second, I would suggest that you not be argumentative or berating of law enforcement officers.  Third, I would recommend that you not attempt to use your position as a County Commissioner to try to extort special privileges or to threaten others.  Lastly, if you truly desire for some reason that Mr. Summers not have any contact with you, even about official Town business, then you would have to resign your position as County Commissioner.  Short of these things, the Town Manager (whether it is Bill Summers or someone else in that position at the time) will likely be the person contacting you about Town business.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office.  If you prefer, please feel free to do so through your own private counsel.

Sincerely,

Robert A. “Tony” Buzzard

BAIN, BUZZARD & MCRAE, LLP

Lillington Town Attorney