According to the Vance County website, there are 22 departments within county government, from administration to tax administration. Of those 22, County Manager C. Renee Perry reports that four departments face vacancies in the director role after one director was fired and three more turned in resignations.
That’s a lot of vacancies, but Perry, now in her fourth month as county manager, remains positive: “It gives me the opportunity to build my team and move forward…I’m looking at it as an opportunity.”
Perry said Vance County Economic Development Director McKinley Perkinson’s last day is Mar. 19; she was named to the job in November 2021. Perkinson told WIZS that she is leaving for another opportunity, but wasn’t ready to divulge what that opportunity is.
Vance County Board of Elections Director Jennifer Cocklin has resigned her post. Cocklin said she’d see the county through the Mar. 5 primary elections and will leave on Mar. 29.
Cocklin said her resignation has nothing to do with the job, but she cited personal reasons for deciding to step down. “The board has been very good to me, as well as the poll workers,” she said.
The county elections board is responsible for naming her successor, Perry noted.The Department of Social Services has an interim director Tilda Marshall, who stepped in when Denita DeVega resigned. Perry said DeVega is the new DSS director in Nash County. The DSS director reports to the DSS board, which is charged with finding a replacement.
All that on top of the Feb. 9 firing of County Deputy Manager/Chief Finance Officer Katherine Bigelow, and Vance County is facing some big holes in its administrative leadership.
If you count new Planning Director Sherry Moss and Animal Services Director William Coker, both of whom assumed their duties in the last month or so – and County Manager Perry, who came on board in November 2023, that’s seven of the 22 departments -close to one-third of the county’s departments.
Perry, sounding undeterred, said Vance County “is not unique in the amount of vacancies…other counties are experiencing the same.” She said she would continue to recruit and look for the best candidates for the open positions, adding that she hopes that prospective employees will see her as “a manager who wants to support them and lead Vance County in a different direction.”