Morgan called to testify in suit over project
Ex-commissioner voted for shopping center; board agrees to pay his attorney
Published: Thu, Apr. 05, 2007 12:00AM
Modified Thu, Apr. 05, 2007 02:44AM
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closePITTSBORO -- The former chairman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners has been called to testify in a lawsuit against the county over a shopping center he voted to approve.
So Bunkey Morgan, who lost his re-election bid last year, asked the Chatham County Board of Commissioners to provide his legal representation.
"I am asking you, ... as a former commissioner acting in an official capacity, [to] permit Mr. [Paul] Messick to represent me at the county's expense," he wrote March 28 in a letter to the board.
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On Monday, board members agreed to pay for Morgan's defense. They also agreed to provide a lawyer for any past commissioner sued over county business.
"It's a matter of principle," Commissioner George Lucier said. "He was an elected official and a representative of Chatham County at the time."
In November, 16 property owners near the proposed shopping center sued the county after the board of commissioners rezoned 20 acres near the Orange-Chatham line from residential agricultural to business.
After the rezoning, county Planning Director Keith Megginson said there had been a mistake in the land records and that 30 acres, not 20, were zoned for business there. The additional acres would put the development closer to residents' homes.
Three new commissioners joined the board in December, and the board voted not to defend the lawsuit.
So the property's owner, Lee-Moore Oil Co. of Sanford, intervened and took over the defense.
The company then subpoenaed Morgan.
Morgan went to his deposition last week, but said he refused to answer questions until he had a lawyer with him. He said he did not know what the company wanted to ask him.
"Everything was done outright," he said, adding that the minutes of the commissioners' meeting document the decision. "My contention is that as a county official I should not have to answer questions," he said.
Messick, whose firm no longer represents the county but did when the suit was filed, will represent Morgan.
On Tuesday, Messick refused to comment or say how much his services for Morgan might cost the county.
A woman who answered the phone at Lee-Moore Oil said everyone there was on vacation.
Staff writer Leah Friedman can be reached at 932-2002 or leah.friedman@newsobserver.com.
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