Walls' deal to cover 4 months pay

The Knox County Commission on Monday agreed not to fire long-time county internal auditor Richard Walls, and instead agreed to wait until next week to talk about whether to offer him a severance package that would cover four months of salary.

The retirement proposal, if approved, would take effect Sept. 3 and also include single insurance coverage for 18 months.

In addition, Walls could receive a payout of all unused vacation leave he accrued during his career, as well as any unused sick leave he has left at the rate of $100 per day.

Walls, a county employee for almost 13 years, makes $92,700 annually. His severance pay would amount to almost $31,000.

If he and the board do sign the proposal, then Walls also could not pursue legal action against the county due to his termination.

The board during Monday's work session forwarded the proposal on without recommendation to next week's voting meeting; however, officials said they expect to approve the contract next week.

"He has agreed to retirement and my feeling is that we should let him be, let him go into retirement," said Commissioner Mike Hammond. "But we need to have a separate discussion about the future of the department and what direction to take it."

Click right smack here for the complete bad a$$ story.