Manager search committee schedules seven interviews

By Lisa Majors-Duff

The Jackson County manager search committee has scheduled four dates to interview seven candidates, one of whom could be named the county's first professionally-trained leader.

The seven candidates, whose names are not being released, will be interviewed at Western Carolina University's Mountain Resource Center on Monday, May 21, at 8 a.m.; Thursday, May 24, at 1 p.m.; Friday, May 25, at 10 a.m.; and Wednesday, May 30, at 10 a.m.

The meetings are open to the public; however, since the subject matter of the meetings involves a personnel issue, state law allows the committee to conduct the interviews in closed session.

Committee members were charged by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners with interviewing seven candidates and recommending three names to the board, which had hoped to hire a new chief administrator by July 1. Those plans were delayed by the death of a search committee member in March.

Until such time as a manager is hired, Jay Denton of Greens Creek is expected to continue to serve in the position. Denton got the job in November 1998, after being elected chairman of the board of commissioners. His duties were expanded to include those of county manager immediately after he and four other new commissioners were sworn in the following month.

At the same time, commissioners made plans to hold a non-binding referendum in November 2000, in which they asked the voters if Jackson County should join North Carolina's other 99 counties and hire a professionally-trained county manager.

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 an issue they have the power to change at any time.

Voters agreed with the plan by a 62 percent approval rate. The remaining question - When would such a move be made? - was answered by a resolution late last year that formed the search committee and said a new manager should be hired by June 30.

Commissioners set aside $10,000 to conduct the search. Slightly more than $1,500 has already been spent to advertise the position, with travel expenses for the candidates expe'ted to take up the remaining amount.

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