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GREENSBORO - Guilford County deputy manager Ben Brown has announced his plans to leave his post, though it's unclear whether his intentions are to retire or resign.

Brown was not fired, though at least one commissioner believes that the longtime government administrator was forced out.

"He didn't want to leave Guilford County," said Commissioner Paul Gibson, who also spoke out against former county manager David McNeill's sudden retirement last week.

"He's been forced out and the county attorney is next," Gibson said of Brown, while speculating on whether county attorney Sharron Kurtz would be the next official to leave the county's employment.

The departure of McNeill and Brown comes in the first two weeks of the leadership of new Board of Commissioners chairman Melvin "Skip" Alston and vice chairman Steve Arnold.

Usually when people in top county posts such as McNeill and Brown announce plans to leave, the plans are laid out months in advance so that replacements can be found.

There was little warning for either announcement, and according to Gibson and Alston, Brown is taking vacation. Other details about his departure were unavailable this morning.

Alston said he believes that interim county manager Brenda Jones Fox is likely to name current human resources director Sharisse Fuller as the interim deputy county manager, though he couldn't say whether that had happened yet.

Neither Fox nor Fuller were available by phone this morning.

The changes in leadership come as Alston and Arnold say they are working to scrutinize the county's budgeting and avoid a potential property tax rate increase that would raise the tax bill on a $200,000 home by $100.

"We just feel that we need more people with more motivation to carry out this aggressive agenda," Alston said.

The pair of commissioners met with McNeill on the Monday before his retirement, but didn't ask whether he would join the plan, Arnold said last week. Some commissioners, Gibson included, previously said they believed that McNeill was forced out of his job and speculated on the conditions surrounding Brown.

Alston denied that Brown was forced out.

"We didn't say anything about firing, we just expressed our concerns and he made his own decision," Alston said.

Though it appears as though the Alston and Arnold weren't interested in keeping McNeill or Brown.

"It's no disrespect to them at all, but their style of leadership is not what you need in a crisis situation," Alston said. "And we want to see who can really weather this storm."

Some of the factors of that "crisis" he pointed to were the nation's economy in recession and a looming local property tax rate increase.

"I don't have what they call a ‘hit list' or nothing like that," Alston said, "and I just want the best service possible, and sometimes you might have to change captains on the ship in order to steer it in another direction."

But Gibson said he believes that the people in place now are best to direct the county.

"We need to look at accountability and the processes we have in place," he said, instead of removing people from their positions.

"Arnold and Alston want to micromanage, and the people that they are getting rid of are the people they cannot control," Gibson said.

The Board of Commissioners appoints positions including the county attorney, finance director, tax collector, county manager and clerk to the board of commissioners.

Most other positions, including those such as deputy county manager, are filled under the county manager. State laws say that while the commissioners may have the final say on hires done by a manager, the commissioners don't have as much authority when it comes time to let people go.

"Once they get appointed, the manager is involved in supervision," said David Lawrence a public law and government professor at the UNC Institute of Government.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com