Blame Game Will Not Correct Longstanding Systemic Issues

I took no pleasure in publishing former County Manager Scott Whitaker’s statement.

In fact, I vomited for hours afterwards. The statement felt like a sucker punch to county staff and Commissioners who I knew would be limited in their ability to respond.

I suspected certain loudmouth political operatives would sensationalize and weaponize its contents (turns out I was right), but it was a first-person account from a public officer about matters of great concern to Caswell County taxpayers.

It was also written by a recently terminated individual who had just received confirmation that the county did NOT intend to pay him any severance. It’s easy for one to assume he might be a little disgruntled.

But the statement does a lot more than simply allow Whitaker to share his side of the story, it also gives Caswell residents enough of an inside peek into the situation to thoughtfully consider some details and context instead of immediately pointing a bunch of fingers and slinging harmful, sensational accusations at individuals.

Small companies, small non-profits, small towns, small counties, they all tend to operate more informally than their larger counterparts. There’s usually less bureaucracy, less red tape, and fewer levels of management to get through. When it‘s working well, it can be a good thing. It‘s often easier to get things accomplished because you're not going through 15 people and 6 reviews.

But when it’s not working well…

A lack of strict policy, procedure, and strong internal controls can cripple an organization.

One of the first things I learned as a compliance officer is that successful compliance programs aren't punitive in nature. Employees working within an organizational culture that focuses on blame and punishment are significantly less likely to report issues and concerns that someone working in an organization that focuses on identifying and correcting the problem.

The other thing I learned is that individuals are rarely THE problem. Root cause analysis of incidents often reveals the gaps, failures, shortcomings, or unintended consequences of the organization's policies, procedures, systems, and/or environment. And when individuals ARE the problem, you'd better hope that you have the policies, procedures, and internal controls in place to be able to handle that problem.

Let me, for a moment, assume that Whitaker's assertions are true. Given the incredibly hostile climate created by some politically motivated social media personalities, I can't blame folks for not wanting to bring attention to the issue. In recent years, county employees have endured vicious, public attacks on their character, been harassed, and been the subject of social media smear campaigns.

I worked at the Senior Center 2008-2012 and have worked closely with them in the years since on countless community projects and initiatives. I know the people who work there and THEY ARE NOT THIEVES. Everyone who knows them would agree so I'm not necessarily alarmed at the idea that the county may have chosen not to ask for an SBI investigation. But Whitaker doesn't know those folks and he's been under fire from the Town of Summerfield so I could hardly blame him if he did in fact request one, if for no other reason than to protect his own reputation.

I also know that, like the rest of us, staff are human and humans make mistakes. Life is hard. It's easy to become overwhelmed. Time passes quickly and problems can snowball out of control before you realize it.

That's when you better hope your organization has strong policies, procedures, and internal controls in place. Caswell County does not have those. In the 24 years I've been paying attention to our local government, that has always been a deficit, regardless of who was County Manager or Commissioner.

When I walk through a hypothetical root cause analysis in my mind of how nearly $62k goes undeposited (not missing mind you, undeposited) over the course of 9-10 months, and how the situation has been handled, there's so much context I consider.

Until March 2, 2026, Caswell County did not have a cash handling policy. I want you to really think about that. When the policy was presented to the Commissioners for their approval, staff explained that they could not find any record of such a policy. They didn't say that it had been repealed, or that it was buried and forgotten about, ignored by staff. No, they said it had never existed. How many County Managers and County Commissioners came through those offices without even knowing that?

$62k is a lot of money for the Senior Center. Citizens were reporting that checks weren't clearing their bank accounts. Expenses were being processed. Did no one notice that the Senior Center wasn't making deposits? What was the process? Oh that's right, there was no documented process. We also had an extremely short-staffed finance department that had experienced a lot of turnover and only just recently, in November 2025, hired a Finance Officer after that position went unfilled for over a year. Bank reconciliations were years behind and have only recently been caught up.

Multiple people knew and delayed reporting the concern. If we, as a community, have created an environment so hostile that good people are afraid to speak up, that probably says a lot more about us as a community than it does the staff.

No, this was a complete systemic failure and systems don't unravel overnight, not if they're strong and well-maintained from the start.

Like every board before it, the current Board of Commissioners inherited a county government that has long been held together by Duct tape, zip ties, comp time, and good intentions. This board has made great strides in getting audits completed, establishing or refining some basic policies, and updating contracts. County departments are beginning to coordinate their work with Finance, HR, and others in ways I've not seen up until now. But there is so much more work to be done and I'd prefer they focus their energy on that, not responding to allegations made on social media.

We will likely never know the details of the argument Whitaker claims to have had with another employee, or what was alleged.

What we do know is this, the seven men currently serving on the Caswell County Board of Commissioners rarely agree on anything but they spent hours in closed session with the County Attorney, deliberating over details we will never be privy to and in the end, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM agreed that Whitaker's employment should be terminated. It was a unanimous vote. That alone should tell us a lot about the situation.

It doesn't make their job any easier for us to be out here jumping to conclusions and distorting the truth. And it certainly doesn't make it easy for us to recruit new staff.

We don't get a better local government by letting politically motivated social media personalities yell at them and twist the truth. (But, if you insist on using content from Caswell News & Notes to do so, you really should give proper attribution so you don't risk repeated copyright infringements.)

We get a better local government by educating ourselves on how local government works, paying attention, and volunteering our time. We can ask questions that hold people accountable without accusing them of crimes and we can acknowledge their missteps without labeling them an enemy that should be destroyed.

Also, if you don't feed it, it will go away.