Jackson County prepares offer for new manager
The finish line is in sight to choose a new county manager for Jackson County.
After spending hours in closed session, spread over three days, commissioners say they’ve decided who they’ll be offering the job to and have directed County Attorney Heather Baker to start drafting the contract. The candidate will likely receive the contract this week, with commissioners setting a tentative meeting date for Tuesday, June 28, to approve the hire.
“This is a big decision,” said Commission Chairman Brian McMahan. “We’ve had 27 candidates, we narrowed it down to four we interviewed, and we’ve been taking our time to very thoroughly review each one of the applications.”
The county is not yet releasing any information about the chosen candidate, though McMahan did say that the person currently resides in North Carolina.
“Of the candidates we’ve interviewed, all have said they would like to be able to let their families and their employer know before we take action and make it public,” McMahan said.
Current county manager Chuck Wooten will be ending his tenure with the county on June 30. He’s held the position for five-and-a-half years, originally coming on board in an interim capacity. At the time, Wooten had just retired as vice chancellor of administration and finance from Western Carolina University, where he worked for 30 years. But he decided to delay retirement a few more years when he discovered that he loved the job of county manager.
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Commissioners have been working on the manager search process since Wooten announced in January that he’d be leaving for good June 30. However, it’s unlikely that the new manager will be hired and on board by the time Wooten’s office empties. Even if the candidate accepts the contract immediately after it’s offered, that person will likely want somewhere between 30 and 60 days to notify their employer and make the transition.
“At best I think probably we’re looking at the end of July,” McMahan said.
That, of course, assumes that the offer commissioners are now planning to make is accepted. During the last high-level personnel search they completed — for the planning director position — negotiations fell through the first time commissioners made a job offer.
If the gap between Wooten’s departure and the new manager’s first day is 30 days or less, McMahan said, the county will likely operate as it would if the manager were on vacation — department heads will handle day-to-day decisions and pull in commissioners when more help is needed.
“If over the next two weeks it looks like it’s going to be more than 30 days — it’s going to be 60, 90 days until we get a manager — we might go ahead and try to contract with someone to be an interim county manager,” McMahan said.
The N.C. Association of County Commissioners has a pool of retired managers to call on in such situations.
“I would like to think the citizens of Jackson County will be pleased when we come out with a decision,” said Commissioner Vicki Greene.
Wishing Wooten farewell
Jackson County will say goodbye to its current county manager, Chuck Wooten, with a public retirement reception 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 23, at the Jackson County Department on Aging.
Wooten, whose 65th birthday is this month, is leaving county employment after more than five years as county manager.
Light refreshments will be served, and a plaque will be presented at 4 p.m.
828.586.4055.
