County manager finalists to be announced tonight

By Lisa Majors-Duff

The names are expected to be announced to the Jackson County Board of Commissioners tonight (Thursday) during a closed session for personnel.

The three men on the list for county manager are Christopher Raths, city manager in Auburn, Mass.; Hal Mason, assistant city manager in Shelby; and Kenneth Westmoreland, head of the Economic Development Commission for Greer, S.C.

More than 40 applications were received for the position of Jackson County manager. "There were some good people who were interested," said search committee member Maurice Moody, who is a member of the Sylva Town Board.

Commissioners began their search for a new county manager after the results of a countywide referendum in November showed a 62-percent approval rating for changing the form of government. A resolution to that effect was adopted in December.

Each commissioner appointed a member to the search committee. Two additional members were named from Western Carolina University and Southwestern Community College. The committee was charged with reviewing the applications and interviewing the finalist. Five people were interviewed late in May.

Current county Manager Jay Denton, who was appointed to that position immediately after being sworn in as chairman of the board of commissioners in 1998, confirmed Wednesday that he had received information about the applicants and the finalists, but he would not elaborate on the names, qualifications or current positions of the candidates.

Board members have indicated they plan to interview the finalists in the coming weeks. A starting date for the new manager has not been announced.

Commissioners set aside $10,000 from the current year's budget to conduct the search. Another $80,000 has been proposed in next year's budget for the manager's salary. Denton is currently being paid $47,866 to perform the manager's duties.

When a professional manager is named sometime in the coming weeks, Jackson County will join North Carolina's other 99 counties, which hire - not elect - their top administrator. Movement in this direction began in 1992, when county voters were first asked if they wanted to hire a county manager. The ideas was rejected by a 53-percent margin at that time.

A subsequent board of commissioners changed the county's form of government by resolution in 1996, setting of a storm of litigation involving the county's political parties. Though a lower court initially ruled in favor of preventing the change, the N.C. Court of Appeals overturned that decision, saying the board has the authority to change how the county is governed.

Current county commissioners wanted one more time to gauge the feeling of county residents before finally agreeing to the change. All but one, Denton, made campaign promises to put the question to the people during the presidential election in November 2000.

The question was added to the ballot against the advice of county attorney Raymond Large, who pointed out that state election laws do not allow a governing body to "poll" the public on the issue of how to choose a county manager. Since the question would not alter the structure of the board of commissioners and the board has the authority to hire a manager, state law says the county may not spend taxpayers' money on such a question, he said.

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