Summerfield accuses ex-employees of ‘potential criminal’ wrongdoing

The News & Record reports that the allegations of wrongdoing by Summerfield involve the former town manager, Scott Whitaker and former finance officer Dee Hall.

On Thursday, Summerfield announced that it had delivered the results of an “internal investigation” to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, following a “Guilford County Superior Court order authorizing its release.”

The town says it completed its investigation on June 30 and “began the process of referring the potential criminal matters to law enforcement” in July.

Whitaker was ousted by the Summerfield council after they voted on February 13, 2024, not to extend his contract. That same month, the council put Whitaker on notice and threatened severance he believed was written into his contract.

In May 2024, Summerfield’s town staff submitted their collective resignations in an email that was sent to the FOX8 Newsroom. The statement cited the treatment of Whitaker by the town council and their decision not to renew his contract.

The statement read in part:

“If they had treated Scott with the dignity and respect he has earned after 12 faithful years as Manager, let him go with his severance from the very beginning and allowed his wife to continue her cancer treatments with insurance, we would have been sad to see him go; but we would have remained. However, that is not the path they chose.”

88.5 WFDD reported in August that Summerfield filed a lawsuit against Whitaker and Hall “over several allegations of misconduct.” The town says that the results of its investigation are “separate and apart” from the lawsuit.

Whitaker has denied the claims of the town’s lawsuit, telling the News & Record, “Summerfield’s civil suit is more of what it started—a misguided pursuit of former employees with lies and distortions. Dee and I haven’t committed crimes against the town we loved. Litigation is the current administration’s go-to, and on advice of our attorneys, we’ll save our comments, truth, and vindication for the courts.”

The attorney representing both Whitaker and Hall told the News & Record in a separate statement that the lawsuit “is replete with outright lies, distortions, and purposefully salacious allegations.”