Marino will continue as project manager
Jason Marino
Robbinsville – Jason Marino was not re-appointed county manager during the Graham County Board of Commissioners’s organizational meeting on Monday.
He will continue to be the county’s project manager, however.
The board met Monday to swear in re-elected members Jacob Nelms and Lynn Cody, as well as newly-elected commissioner Natasha Williams. The board elected Nelms chairman of the board and Williams vice-chairman during the meeting.
The next business was to appoint a clerk, attorney and county manager.
Kim Crisp was re-appointed clerk and J.K. Coward was re-appointed attorney – both on unanimous votes – but the board was divided when it came time to decide the appointment of a county manager.
Connie Orr made a motion for Marino to be re-appointed and Nelms seconded it. Cody, Williams and Keith Eller voted against it.
Crisp said Marino will continue as the county’s project manager, overseeing the Graham County Courthouse rebuild/replace, completion of the Robbinsville Middle School addition and other capital projects. The board scheduled a closed-session meeting for 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Graham County Community Building, to discuss appointing an interim county manager and finding a path forward to find Marino’s replacement.
A call to Marino on Tuesday morning was not returned by deadline.
Personnel privacy laws prevent county officials from discussing personnel matters publicly aside from position, salary and date of hire.
Marino, whose annual salary was $97,864 (the highest-paid county employee), was hired as project manager in 2019. When Becky Garland stepped down as county manager to focus on being finance officer, Marino was named interim county manager in March 2021 and county manager about a month later.
His salary as project manager had been $65,000. He was bumped in pay to $80,000 for Interim and then to $95,014 for the dual roles. A cost-of-living raise then brought his salary to $97,864.
Meanwhile, the board re-appointed Dale Wiggins to the Graham County Travel & Tourism board as a county resident for a two-year term. Wiggins lost his seat on the board of commissioners to Williams in the Republican primary. Orr will fill Wiggins’ old seat on that board.