The new county manager
My, how times have changed.
Thursday night, Brenda Jones Fox became county manager again, with Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston's full support.
Sixteen years ago Brenda Jones was ousted as county manager.
Among her chief critics was Alston, who said she had been handpicked by Republicans for the job. Alston also questioned her qualifications.
Here is a News & Record story from January 1993:
With Brenda Jones' demotion, Guilford County has lost two county managers by two boards of commissioners in nearly two years.
And for the second time, partisan politics are being blamed.In a name-calling meeting that slipped past midnight Thursday, the Board of Commissioners voted 7-4 along party lines to transfer Jones from county manager back to her old job as finance director.
Jones, who was paid $95,148 a year as manager, accepted a $20,148 pay cut, effective in two months. Her contract specified that, if she lost the manager's job, she'd be paid $75,000 a year. As finance director 16 months ago, she was paid $72,096 a year.
The demotion was effective immediately, and assistant County Manager John Shore has, for the second time in two years, been appointed interim county manager.
An outraged GOP minority cried partisan politics, saying the move was retaliation by Democrats who took control from Republicans with the Nov. 3 election. GOP commissioners picked Jones in September 1991 to replace John Witherspoon, whom they'd forced out after taking over in December 1990.
``This is hypocrisy demonstrated once again by a Democratic liberal majority,' Republican Steve Arnold said. ``This is a personal vendetta against myself, against the Republicans who served on the previous board, and anybody who's ever smiled on a Republican in Guilford County.'
Democrats tried to deflect the criticism, with board Chairman Wally Harrelson saying that Jones had requested the closed session to ask if the commissioners intended to keep her as manager.
``The old board fired four or five people and put them on the street,' he said, referring to Witherspoon and other county administrators who lost their jobs two years ago. ``This board has not done that.'
Harrelson and Democrat Melvin "Skip" Alston made it clear during the fall campaign that they thought Jones was unqualified for the job and that they wanted to fire her. After winning election, they and commissioners Margaret Arbuckle, John Parks and Joe Wood said they would be willing to evaluate her.
Harrelson said Friday that he later ruled out an evaluation because of concerns over Jones' performance.
Then again, maybe things haven't changed all that much after all.
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