Melvin Poole, president of the Rock Hill branch of the NAACP, threatened a legal battle if York County doesn’t re-evaluate its minority hiring practices and then walked out of the County Council’s meeting Monday night before the council had a chance to respond.

Poole said the percentage of minorities employed by York County doesn’t reflect the county’s minority population.

“Only 11 percent of the employees hired by the county are minorities while minorities make up about 30 percent of the population,” he said. “It’s time to stop the unwritten quota system ... ‘Hire one or none, but never two,’” he said.

Minorities make up 25 percent of the county population, and 19percent are African-American, according to the U.S. Census.

Poole also criticized other decisions the council has made including refusing to help the Blackmon Road community, a blighted, mostly minority neighborhood on Rock Hill’s southeast border that lacks adequate water and sewer services.

If the county doesn’t take steps to re-evaluate its hiring practices and contact the NAACP on the matter within 45 to 60 days, Poole said he would look to federal laws banning discrimination and pursue legal action.

“We will take every opportunity that is appointed to us to expose the difficulties minorities experience with county government in York County,” he said.

Poole approached the council last fall about its hiring practices.

On Monday night, he said at the earlier appearance he didn’t ask the council to lay anyone off to hire a minority, hire an unqualified person, or create jobs for minorities. Instead, he asked them to “ensure the hiring, promotion and retention practices of the county be completely color blind” so that the county employees will reflect the diversity of the county.

Poole criticized the council for inaction.

County Manager Jim Baker said the county doesn’t have any policies on hiring minorities. Instead, the policy is to hire the most qualified candidate. In the first half of 2011, 24 percent of applicants for county jobs were minorities. New hires in that same period included about 10 percent minorities, according to data Baker provided.

Baker said he shares Poole’s concerns about diversity among staff, conceding that the county’s ratio of 10 percent minority employees to 90percent white employees doesn’t reflect the diversity of residents.

At the same time, the ratio reflects a trend in neighboring counties and elsewhere in the country where unemployment remains highest among minorities.

Councilman Bump Roddey, who recently asked the staff to look into how many minorities the county employs and what its hiring trends have been, suggested that the county work toward having a staff that better reflects the county’s diversity and, by doing so, rise above neighboring counties.

He said the county could try to appeal to more minorities.

Councilman Eric Winstead challenged Roddey, saying “being unemployed should be an incentive to apply to everything.”

Several councilmen commented on Poole’s exit after his remarks.

Winstead called it “extremely disrespectful” and said he was “insulted.” Others agreed, including Chairman Britt Blackwell.

“If a man has a legitimate complaint, he looks you in the eye” instead of walking off, Blackwell said.

Video: Poole addresses council

Other business

The County Council also expressed its intent to move forward with paying for a county agritourism site that would provide a facility for a county fair, equestrian and farming activities and passive recreation.

The nod is positive news for the dozens of people who showed up at the meeting, nearly filling council chambers. Such a site has been in discussions for a decade now.

The previous County Council authorized a study to find potential properties for the site. The next step is to have private companies propose plans for designing and building the facility.

In other business, the leaders of the Culture and Heritage Museums announced Monday that an Oklahoma-based museum director has accepted the offer to become the next director of York County’s museums.

Carey Tilley will leave his post as executive director of the Cherokee National Historical Society in Park Hill, Okla., to become the museums’ next executive director.

The position came open in September when director Van Shields resigned. Harry Exell was hired as interim director.

“I feel really good about it,” Tilley said Monday. “The commission has been very encouraging to me. They answered questions openly and honestly.”

Tilley said he feels confident that he and the commission can start “making something special.” He starts March 19.