Two months after assuming a dual role as Sampson’s county manager and full-time attorney, Rick Moorefield may be leaving.

Commissioners reportedly received individual calls earlier this week from Moorefield, who stated that he was considering an offer from Cumberland County. No official notice has been made and Moorefield has not announced his resignation publicly, but told commissioners he was seriously mulling the offer.

“Yes, (I) have had discussions with Cumberland County,” Moorefield said via email Thursday to the Independent. “Any details or actions will be disclosed when, and if, appropriate.”

Asked Thursday whether he had been made aware of Moorefield accepting a position in another county, Commissioner John Blanton said he had. He said he believed others received a similar telephone call Tuesday.

“I have been made aware of it, yes, although not officially,” said Blanton. “Nothing is official. We have not been informed in writing. He said ‘I’m considering.’ He’s just alerting us to the fact that he’s considering. I think if he accepted anything, he would have sent me something in the form of a resignation letter. The board will probably wait for him to give more information.”

The board will meet again today in closed session. It is not known if Moorefield is the focus of that closed-door meeting.

Blanton, for one, is bracing for the prospect of filling another position.

He mentioned the recent resignation announcements by longtime Emergency Management director Ray Honrine and recreation director Ali Noll from their respective posts.

“We’re losing people like hotcakes,” Blanton remarked. “My question is where are we going to get these people? What are we going to do to get the train back on the tracks?”

Blanton said he was under the impression, while the specific wording of a resignation had not been handed to him, that Moorefield would likely take the job.

“He said it was such a good deal, I’d gather he was planning on taking it,” said Blanton. “It’s a money field and we don’t have the kind of money other counties have. He’s gone as far as I’m concerned.”

Cumberland County officials said no action has been taken on any matter regarding Moorefield or a county attorney hire, however two closed sessions regarding personnel matters were held at the courthouse in Fayetteville on Monday, one in the afternoon and one following the Cumberland board’s regular meeting that night.

“I am unable to verify any information on this personnel issue,” board clerk Marie Colgan stated via email Wednesday.

A call to Cumberland County manager James Martin Thursday was returned by the county’s communications manager Sally Shutt, who said “there has been no announcement made” on the matter.

“A closed session meeting was held on Monday regarding a personnel matter, but there has been no announcement made in a public session,” Shutt said. “All I know is that we cannot discuss a Board of Commissioners personnel matter until an announcement is made in public session.”

When asked to clarify, Shutt said no action was taken following either of the closed session meetings held following a 12:45 p.m. special meeting and then after the board’s 6:45 p.m. regular meeting.

“Nothing has happened in a public session,” Shutt said. “No announcement has been made and no action has been taken in public.”

She said the Cumberland Board of Commissioners was not currently scheduled to meet in special session in the near future. The next regular meeting is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 7, Shutt said.

Moorefield does have previous experience in Cumberland County.

He was introduced as the new assistant county attorney in Cumberland County in October 2006, serving in that position for just six months before coming to Sampson. Prior to his service in Cumberland, he served as Macon County’s attorney and, before that, as Alamance County’s attorney.

Moorefield was hired as the Sampson county attorney in April 2007. He took on an additional role as Sampson’s interim county manager, at an additional $250 a week to his $104,292 attorney’s salary, following the departure of former county manager Scott Sauer to Harnett County Feb. 1, 2009.

Moorefield was hired as the county manager less than two months later, on March 23.

At that time, the board authorized that he be paid $3,000 for legal fees and an additional $1,000 a month on top of the manager’s salary of $107,112 for any additional legal work he performed.

He continued to offer legal services before being designated as the county’s full-time attorney in September, the culmination of a more than three-month search for the same county attorney’s post held previously by Moorefield. Upon hiring Moorefield to play a dual role as county manager and attorney, he was given a $33,000 pay raise.

Currently, Harvey Raynor serves as county attorney for Cumberland County on an interim basis. Phyllis Jones is the assistant county attorney.

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.