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CHARLOTTE | The directors of the N.C. Ports Authority effectively fired Chief Executive Officer Erik Stromberg on Tuesday, nearly a week after the state auditor released a report critical of its financial oversight and its top administrator.
"As difficult as it was, we felt his ability to lead the organization going forward was severely limited," said J. Richard Futrell Jr., chairman of the 12-member authority board, which held its March meeting in an uptown Charlotte hotel.
Mr. Futrell, of Morehead City, said the board asked Mr. Stromberg for his resignation.
He did not immediately offer it, Mr. Futrell said.
"It's not appropriate to talk about this right now," Mr. Stromberg said minutes after the decision was announced. "I will have something to say, maybe tomorrow."
"He's discussing the way he wants to handle it," Mr. Futrell said.
The board expects the resignation no later than Thursday, Mr. Futrell said.
The directors debated the matter in a session closed to the public.
Mr. Futrell said the board voted, behind closed doors, to request Mr. Stromberg's resignation.
A lawyer familiar with the state's open meetings law said the action should have been taken in public.
But board member Betty Medlin, also mayor of Kure Beach, said the vote was 6-4 and that she supported Mr. Stromberg. Two of the board members represent other state agencies and do not vote.
"I was one of those that voted not to ask him to resign," she said. "Erik has done a good job for the port."
How the decision was made
The decision to ask for Mr. Stromberg's resignation came after a two-hour closed session that followed an open meeting. During the open portion of the meeting, board members questioned the handling of the state auditor's investigation leading up to the report and the subsequent outcry from public officials and the media.
After the meeting, most members of the authority board declined to comment for the record or say how they voted, pointing to Mr. Futrell as their official spokesman. But they generally said that as a result of the audit and a 2003 DWI conviction, the relationship with Mr. Stromberg had become so strained that it would be impossible for him to continue.
It was, said board member...
