Mitchell County Manager Allen Cook was recently named the 2025 Outstanding Local Government Manager in the High Country region.
Cook was honored by the High Country Council of Governments at its annual banquet. Cook said he was so surprised by the award that he struggled to find the words to accept it at the banquet.
“I was really speechless,” he said. “I think my statement (at the event) was ‘I’ve learned more about debris in the past year than I expect to learn in a lifetime.’”
HCOG representatives said that Cook’s award was determined by other government managers and administrators in the region, as well as local elected officials.
“The award acknowledges the contributions a manager has made to local government through their professionalism, leadership and accomplishments as manager or chief administrator,” HCOG representatives said in a release.
Cook has served as county manager in Mitchell for the past three years, but he has more than two decades of experience. Prior to his current position, he worked as director of the Mayland Community College Small Business center, and he also worked for Mayland Workforce Development and the N.C. Employment Security Commission.
According to HCOG, Cook had an especially strong impact locally in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land).
“His steady guidance has helped lay the foundation for a more resilient community and continues to play a key role in the County’s ongoing recovery and revitalization,” the release said.
However, Cook noted that the disaster recovery effort was part of why he was surprised to receive the award, simply because the disaster was regional and other county and town managers across the High Country had been faced with the same challenges.
“It was very humbling to have been selected,” he said. “I was not expecting it and I’m just very humbled that I received the award — I did not see that coming.”
In addition to serving as county manager, Cook is a Christmas tree farmer and an author. He can frequently be seen at area craft fairs and festivals hawking copies of his book, “Moonshine, Murder and Mountaineers: The Wildest County in America,” a book of local history.
Cook said that dealing with disaster recovery has taken up most of his life in the past year.
“It’s been such a blur — you’re not thinking of anything more than just the next fire to put out,” he said.