We are allowed to speculate freely on this one so I think we should.
Since us lowly taxpayers are not privvy to the real reason our County Board of Health found it necessary to continue paying our recently resigned Health Director's hefty salary and benefits, even after he "voluntarily and freely" resigned, what else can we do but speculate? Don't mind if I do.... begin speculation...
Could it be that during one of the multi-hour closed-door meetings in the month's leading up to Dr. K's announced "voluntary" resignation, the Board fired him because they finally realized they had made a huge mistake in hiring a child to do an adult's job?
Right after the vote to get rid of Dr. Krishnaraj , someone in the room (probably Dr. K or his assigns) informed the Board that that would be fine, but under the terms of the Director's contract he was still entitled to his salary and benefits for another six months because his firing cited no other reason for the action other than he was woefully incompetent and under qualified for the job he was hired to do. What's more, the Director informed the Board that he intended to sue the county for breach of contract to the tune of, oh... let's say $1 million or so.
So... in a CYA move they re-hired him on the spot. At that point, Dr. K knew he had the county by the short and curlies. Real smart attorneys for both sides subsequently cooked up a severance package whereby Dr. K could remain on the public dole. To make the deal sort-of legal, the severance agreement merely "requires Krishnaraj to offer his services as a consultant to the county" according to today's N&R and Thursday's Rhino Times. He doesn't have to do any real work, but then again, he apparently hasn't been doing much of any anyway.
I sounds like here's the real reason why the taxpayers must pony-up for the good doctor for six more months. In the Nixon era it was called 'hush money'. From Mark Binker's article...
"Other lawyers, interviewed on and off the record, said that language in the agreement through which Krishnaraj releases "all claims" against the county could be considered something of value for which the county could pay."
I see no reason to be wishy-washy on that last point. The county seems to have figured it must pay Dr. K to take a six month paid vacation. The only alternative to the ransom is probably the spectre of a nasty and expensive lawsuit that the taxpayers' attorneys figured we would have a snowball's chance of winning.
End of speculation, begin opinion...
The Guilford County Board of Health made a huge mistake in hiring Dr. Krishnaraj in the first place and they made another, even bigger, mistake by not firing him for a "moral turpitude" infraction the day after he was sworn in while he was probably still too drunk to know what was happening. Now, it seems we simply can't get rid of him unless we pay through the nose.
10:08:52 AM 
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