From the Wilkes Journal-Patriot (7/21/10): Officials of the North Wilkesboro Housing Authority (NWHA) have released salary information for both the current and past executive director as requested by the Wilkes Journal-Patriot. The board's attorney, however, maintains that the vote taken in a closed session on May 25 to terminate the contract of Keith Deveraux, the authority's former executive director, was permissible under state general statutes. The publishers of the Wilkes Journal-Patriot dispute that and contend that the closed session vote was in direct violation of state open meetings laws as set forth in the state general statutes.
According to information requested by the newspaper and provided by the housing authority officials on Tuesday afternoon, Deveraux’s annual salary at the time of termination was $62,300. His three-year contract was to have expired in August. He had served as director for nearly nine years.
According to records provided by the authority, Deveraux’s salary was $44,096 beginning on July 1, 2003, increasing steadily with annual raises to $51,043 in 2006, and $59,300 in 2008. The records start in 2003, when the housing authority became a free-standing entity and was no longer a department of the Town of North Wilkesboro.