Staff shakeup in Canton
Then-town Manager Nick Scheuer (right) walks through flood-ravaged Canton on Aug. 19, 2021, with Sen. Thom Tillis (left) and Mayor Zeb Smathers. Cory Vaillancourt photo
Just months after a staff realignment meant to free up then-Town Manager Nick Scheuer to focus on recovery and resiliency efforts in the wake of twin tragedies, Scheuer has submitted his resignation to Canton’s town attorney and governing board.
“Thank you for the opportunity to work with you all over the last six years,” wrote Scheuer in a July 16 email. “Despite my love for Canton and its people, the current workload is not sustainable for a single person to manage. I am very proud of what we have accomplished, and I wish you all the best.”
On March 28, Canton made a little bit of history by promoting longtime administrator and Assistant Town Manager Lisa Stinnett to interim town manager — the first woman in Canton’s long history to hold the position. That move gave Scheuer the ability to turn away from the day-to-day operations of the town and, as the newly styled “recovery and resiliency manager,” direct all his attention to the substantial to-do list associated with the 2021 Pigeon River flood and the 2023 closing of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill.
Scheuer, previously a transportation planner with the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Division, was hired in April 2018 as an assistant manager and was subsequently promoted to manager in April 2021, four months before the flood.
Since then, Scheuer’s been the point person for all things recovery-related in Canton, including a dynamic situation at the 185-acre mill site. St. Louis-based demo/developer Spirtas Worldwide signed a letter of intent to purchase the parcel from Pactiv, but the deal is still in the due diligence phase. The town seeks to negotiate several issues with Spirtas, including general economic development and a possible deal for the ongoing treatment of the town’s waste water.
Stinnett, reached by phone last week, said that for now existing staff and select partners would pick up the pieces.
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“We have a very diverse staff that can handle the odds and ends,” she said, noting that newly hired Development Director Byron Hickox, formerly a land use administrator with the Town of Waynesville, would be particularly helpful. “I think we’re going to be just fine.”
Scheuer gave the town 60 days’ notice in his resignation letter and said he would entertain managing “a small range of projects or priorities” if that be the will of the governing board. There’s been no word on whether the town will take him up on the offer.
Mayor Zeb Smathers referred all questions about Scheuer to William Morgan, the town’s attorney. Scheuer’s employment is covered by public records laws that prohibit town officials from providing all but the most basic information about an employee.
Stinnett added that the town’s immediate task would be to assess the various projects and divvy up the workload.
“We’ll probably work through those fairly quickly and see how things are working out, and if we need to reassess, we will,” she said.
