A state environmental regulator has been suspended for one week without pay over his actions in approving a permit for the controversial Cannonsgate development in Carteret County, then seeking to help a family member get a lot there, officials said.
Jason Dail will return to work as an express permit coordinator on Monday, the state's environmental agency said in a statement.
He is paid $51,498 annually, which means the pay penalty amounts to about $1,000.
Dail had denied any wrongdoing or unethical behavior in the episode from 2005. He had been on leave while officials investigated.
Records and an interview with Dail showed that he sought a lot in the development for his stepfather soon after approving a major coastal permit, known as a CAMA permit, for the development. According to Dail and a review of public records, Dail's stepfather never bought the lot.
But the inquiry elicited what was described in an e-mail message to Dail as a one-of-a-kind special deal: $40,000 off the sale price of a $199,000 lot for Dail's stepfather.
Cannonsgate is where former Gov. Mike Easley bought a lot that records show came with a $137,000 discount at closing.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Diana Kees, said the disciplinary action was warranted based on "the timing of the investment inquiry in close relation to permit issuance; the sales pitch language contained in the e-mail; and the news media coverage implying illegal conduct in relationship to these items."
The situation "created an appearance of impropriety that has cast doubts upon the above-board operation of the department," Kees wrote.
She did not clarify what media coverage implied illegal conduct.
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