County manager candidates due in Sylva today, Friday

By Carey Phillips

The candidates are Hal Mason, Shelby's assistant city manager; Chris Raths, town administrator for Auburn, Mass.; and Kenneth Westmoreland, president of the Greater Greer (S.C.) Development Corp.

Mason, whose interview is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, has worked for Shelby for 22 years and has been assistant city manager since 1998. He was director of the city¹s Economic Development Commission and Community Development Department from 1979-98.

Mason served as a community planner in the Tennessee State Planning Office in Knoxville from 1973-74 and in the same position in the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development¹s Asheville office from 1974-77.

He received a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from UNC-Asheville in 1969 and a master of urban affairs degree from Virginia Tech in 1974.

Mason is a native of Andrews. His wife, the former Nancy Queen, is a Jackson County native. Raths, who is scheduled for interview at 1 p.m. Friday, has served as Auburn's town administrator since 1994. From 1992-94 he was town administrator for Ashburnham, Mass. He has experience in North Carolina as Gibsonville¹s town manager from 1988-92. He served in the N.C. National Guard from 1980-90.

Raths received a bachelor of arts degree from Oglethorpe in Atlanta in 1982 and a master of public affairs degree from UNC-Greensboro in 1988.

Prior to accepting his current position, Westmoreland was Greer's city administrator from 1990-2000. He'll be in Jackson County for a 1 p.m. interview today.

Westmoreland worked as assistant to the city manager of Columbia, S.C., from 1973-75. He was with the Municipal Association of South Carolina from 1975-80 serving first as management analyst, later as director of intergovernmental relations and technical service, and finally as deputy executive director. He was Spartanburg County (S.C.) administrator from 1980-90.

Westmoreland received a bachelor of arts degree in international studies from the University of South Carolina in 1970 and a master of public administrator degree from USC in 1972.

Jay Denton, Jackson County's current manager, is also the elected chairman of the board of commissioners. Last year, county voters by a margin of 62-38 percent approved a non-binding referendum bringing Jackson in line with the state¹s 99 other counties in having an appointed rather than elected county manager.

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