Another loss for Currituck--County in Crisis?

Dear Friends,
Below is the notice of Sarah Keifer resignation as Currituck's Planning Director. I know that not everyone was in agreement with Sarah and some of the positions she held. Her departure comes at a very critical time. We are currently preparing to implement conditional use zoning and if the General Assembly passes the Transferable Development Rights legislation,we will untake it's implementation, both are areas that Sarah had a great deal of experience with. That experience is what helped make her stand out among the other applicants when she was hired.I have not spoken to Sarah and inquired of her reasons to leave Currituck, but as Dan's email indicates she is returning home and that I am sure that is a major reason. I do know that she had great concerns following the election the new majority on the BOC would not be committed to following a prudent common sense approach to managed growth the county was practicing when she came to Currituck.I am greatly concerned Currituck County Government is fast gaining a reputation as not being a very good place to work. I know from my conversations with many county employees, morale is at an all time low, mainly because of the many threats and intimidation they feel from some of the commissioners. I fear this reputation could negatively impact the county as we seek to find the right people to join the county's professional staff. If I am right about our reputation then, why would anyone "worth their salt" want to work here? Let us pray I am wrong and this is not the case.On another note, I am planning to carry these updates to you to the next level, by providing them as a weekly update, however if the need arises I will provide you the information asap.In closing I want to thank you for your interest, concern and involvement with our county. Your continued service to the county and citizens is most important as we work to make Currituck the best it can be. If I can be of service to you, please don't hesitate to contact me. May God bless each of you and your families.
Best Regards
Owen Etheridge

From: "Dan Scanlon" Subject: Planning Director Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:40:33 -0400
I am writing to inform you that Sarah Keifer has submitted her>resignation today as the Currituck County Planning Director. Sarah will be returning to New Kent County, Delaware to become their Planning Director. We are preparing the job recruitment notice and will be placing the ads immediately. Historically across the State, Planning Director positions have been extremely difficult to fill so we will keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, I will be leaning on David Webb to pick up the slack.
Dan Scanlon,
County Manager
Currituck County

Ponderings and Tidbits

It seems that not only are the old-school Currituckians bailing out on attempting to work with this disfunctional new board of commissioners, but even the fairly recently employed (and even more recently nearly unemployed) attorney is seeking greener grass. Kate McKenzie has tendered her resignation effective later this month. Not only does she seem to see the writing on the wall, but evidently the changes touted by these new commissioners are not being well met by some of our good volunteers. First, Bob Kohler stepped down from the Airport Board, then David Palmer resigned as chairman of the Economic Development Board and now Bobby Henley is also resigning from the Economic Development Board. All brought excellent expertise to these respective boards and will be significant losses to the county. Term limits have been removed so none of these volunteers HAD to step down which could make it more than a little puzzling. But, given the time frame involved in the new commissioners tenure, it makes me feel that our good volunteers have allowed for the breaking in period but now see, as a large portion of the other citizens have noticed, this new board is not working for the best interests of Currituck as a whole, but mainly for the 'special' interests to which they owe an allegiance.
On a more positive note, it has been 'rumored' that Gene Gregory has decided to break away from Chairman Bully. Evidently he is politically savvy enough to know that being attached to a dictatorship will not garner votes in the next election.
Even more positive, it seems that not only did the attendees at a Corolla Light meeting vote to come out in opposition to the incorporation of Corolla, but they effectively shut down an appeal by Bully Nelms defending the incorporation. Thumbs up to the people of Corolla Light for supporting the preservation of the Currituck which attracted them here in the first place.