BAKERSVILLE – Mitchell County will soon have a new County Manager.
The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners at its regular meeting Monday, Dec. 2, approved a decision to replace County Manager Kathy Young with Commissioner Danny Burleson on an “acting” basis until the board can find and approve a new, full-time County Manager.
Burleson will perform Young’s duties until the new County Manager is selected and approved by the board to begin working.
Burleson replaces Young, who was hired as County Manager in November 2016 to replace Charles “Chuck” Vines.
The appointment of the County Manager was one of several on the agenda for the meeting. Before the agenda was adopted, the board approved a decision to add a closed session before appointing the County Manager.
In open session, Burleson nominated Jacob Willis for Board Chair. Willis was unanimously approved and will replace Burleson in that role.
Commissioner Jeff Harding nominated Matthew “Vern” Grindstaff for Vice Chair. Though Grindstaff was absent for the meeting, his nomination was unanimously approved, and he will continue in his current Vice Chair role.
Burleson then moved to reappoint Lloyd Hise as County Attorney, and the decision was unanimously approved.
The board then went into closed session as Young exited the room.
Young waited alone in another room in the County Administration Building as the board convened for more than 40 minutes.
Young re-entered the room just after 8 p.m., roughly 45 minutes after the beginning of the closed session. After spending about 10 minutes inside the conference room with the board, Young was seen with her coat and bag in hand exiting out of the back door of the building.
After another 15 minutes, the board reconvened in open session where Harding promptly made the motion about the County Manager that was seconded by Commissioner Steve Pitman and approved by the board.
The board closed the appointments period by unanimously voting to reappoint Mavis Parsley as Mitchell County Finance Officer.
We will have more on this story as it develops.