‘I want to end my career well’

Robbinsville – Under Becky Garland’s watch, Graham County’s financial woes did a 180-degree turnaround.

When Garland accepted the role as the county’s finance officer in 2009, there was $1.9 million in the bank – and just $1 million of that could be used as needed (unrestricted funds). She gave her last financial report at the Feb. 21 board of commissioners meeting, which noted more than $22 million now rests in the county’s account.

While $5 million of that is earmarked for the upcoming Graham County Justice Center project, $9 million is unrestricted.

That’s a noteworthy change – and with things moving in the right direction, Garland felt there was nothing more to be done. Citing her deep, personal connection with God, Garland started feeling it was time to step down as the county’s finance officer at the start of the year, and on Feb. 21 she informed the board of her departure.

Department heads learned of her exit the next day.

“I came here on a mission: to get the county fiscally stabilized,” Garland said Monday in an interview with The Graham Star. “I think my record speaks for itself, with all the hard work all of us have done. It’s been a combined effort.

“I think God has some other things for me to do. It’s not my choice; I would have stayed here and retired – I’ve got a little over five years left before I can retire with a full pension, and that was my full intent. But I just feel like the Lord wants me doing something different. I’m sure it’s going to be financial related; I have a lot of options.”

‘Dire straits’

Initially brought on as the county’s finance officer June 9, 2009 – after first being pitched the idea by then county manager, now county commissioner Lynn Cody – Garland had served as a consultant for Graham since 2002.

“Lynn was working with the Local Government Commission. He approached me and said, ‘Can you come on board? We need someone that has their CPA,’” Garland recalled. “I had a brand-new grandbaby, and it was a good opportunity to really dial back my practice.

“I thought I was going to have a life, but the joke became, ‘I live in Graham County, but I sleep in Cherokee County,’” the Andrews resident said with a laugh.

To say Garland dove in head-first would be an understatement. Immediately recognizing frivolous, short-term spending as one glaring reasons the county was one disaster away from … well, disaster, Garland implemented new policies.

“I had to reinstitute an internal control system, over purchasing and procurements,” Garland said. “That budget year, we overextended by $1.5 million – which is against the law. So I pulled the staff together and we went through what internal controls we had to have in place. J.R. Rogers gave me some of the best advice: ‘Becky, we’ll step over a quarter to pick up a nickel.’ So we started thinking more strategically about how we were spending our money. We started making better investments, like buying the better grade of something rather than the cheaper. In the long term, you spend less because you’re not having to replace something so frequently.”

While tax rates did increase, it was a necessary evil: the county was on the verge of being broke. Instead, a reserve fund began to accumulate and when it came time to purchase new ambulances – just as an example – funds were there to buy higher-quality means of emergency transportation.

“Kudos to the board: they were seeing the value of having money in the bank so we could buy ambulances that didn’t break down at the top of the (Stecoah) Gap,” Garland said. “A lot of it was educating the public to understand, ‘Yeah, we’ve gotta go up a few pennies, but this is what it’s going to enable the county to do: we will have the money to buy ambulances that will actually run.’ In my first 3-4 months, we had to buy turbos for the ambulances; we were spending money to patch things up, instead of spending money to buy better and clean things up.

“Eventually, it started paying dividends.”

What’s next?

A self-described “workaholic,” Garland admittedly has no idea what, when or where her next role will be. It will be quite the sudden pause for an employee so dedicated to the betterment of Graham County that during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not uncommon for her to patch into a meeting via Zoom – while on vacation.

Not to mention the fact that she juggled the arduous roles of both finance officer and county manager between 2017-21. When she stepped down as county manager Jan. 19, 2021, she told The Graham Star that she planned on reading books again, rediscovering her love of hiking and having more overall flexibility with her life. A little over two years later, she has opted to make sure those chances do not continue to evade her.

“The Lord is really dealing with me on that (slowing down), but I don’t know if I can,” Garland said. “You never know where I’m going to pop up next. My goal is to keep my spiritual life and my physical life healthy. I don’t know, but I know God knows. I think He’s going to put me somewhere and I can take everything I have learned in the last 36-plus years, and cobble it all together into one thing – almost like my comprehensive final. I want to end my career well; I want to take all the things the Lord has blessed me with – in experience and knowledge – and help as many people as I can.”

“I think the Lord wants me to cast the net out a little bit wider and do some good things.”

It was unclear at Wednesday’s press deadline who the Graham County Board of Commissioners would hire as Garland’s replacement. When she resigned as county manager in January 2021, Jason Marino was soon named her successor – before being dismissed from the job in December.