ROCKINGHAM — A settlement has been reached in a months-long battle between Commissioner Jamie Gathings and the rest of the Richmond County Board of Commissioners.
The settlement — which is expected to be made public on Thursday — came at the end of a nearly three-hour special meeting July 9 at the Richmond County Airport.
A majority of that time was spent in closed session, with Gathings and his attorney Ellen Bragg, as well as Commissioner Jason Gainey’s attorney Bill Van O’Linda waiting in the adjacent conference room.
The notice for the meeting and the agenda both had the statute for a special meeting listed for the closed session. However, when the motion came up at the beginning of the meeting, county attorney Michael Newman made sure to add the statute for closed session, though the subsection was not announced.
This was the fourth special meeting since February regarding complaints filed against Gathings from county employees and Commissioners Justin Dawkins and Jason Gainey.
Gathings had been suspended for 90 days pending an investigation into those complaints.
Dawkins and Gainey had filed legal complaints against Gathings, who had himself filed a lawsuit against Commissioners Dawkins, Andy Grooms and Robin Roberts, alleging false statements and asking for “in excess of” $25,000 in damages.
Throughout the legal back-and-forth, the county filed a motion to move the matter to federal court.
Gathings had been banned from county-owned buildings and board meetings from Feburary-April. Following a special meeting in May, he was allowed to particiapte in meetings remotely. During those meetings, he was outside the courthouse in his truck.
The doors closed shortly after 4 p.m., with Dawkins having to leave at 5:02 p.m. He rejoined remotely for the vote at the end of the meeting.
There were several short conferences between Newman and the other attorneys starting just before 5:30 p.m. Gathings left the meeting at 6:14, before the settlement was reached.
While making the motion to accept the settlement, which was reportedly offered the morning of July 8, Commissioner Jeff Smart included the insertion of an apology to Dr. Tammie Gainey — owner of Sandhills Best Care and wife of Commissioner Gainey.
During a prior meeting, Gathings accused Grooms of buying Gainey's vote with the support of providing opioid settlement funds for a treatment program at the practice.
Roberts and Grooms were the only two to not vote in favor of the settlement.
Grooms went on the record to say: “I think it’s pathetic that it took five months to get this situation. A lot of wasted dollars and a lot of backpedaling to basically get to where we were two months ago.”
The board also voted to withdraw the amotion resolution, which would have set up a quasi-judicial proceeding where the commissioners — acting as a jury — would have heard testimony from those who made complaints and determined if Gathings would keep his seat.
“I hated it took this long but I’m glad it’s over,” Gathings told the RO after the meeting. “... and I’m glad that we can all be a board now and start working for the county,”
Gathings went on to issue an apology to Tammie Gainey for his vote-buying accusation; and to Roberts for “the things I said about her” that were “not true.”
“I was angry at the whole outcome and I shouldn’t have lashed out at her, I was wrong,” Gathings said.
The commissioner issued a third apology to the county employees who filed complaints: “It was never my intention to make anyone feel unease at my presence.”
In addition to the apologies, Gathings thanked the board members and voters who supported him.
“Let’s everyone come together and work toward the positive things that are coming in the future for Richmond County.”
NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the structure of a sentence. 9:48 p.m. 7-9-25.
