Robbinsville – After nearly four months of vacancy, Graham County will soon have a new Department of Social Services director.
County Manager Jason Marino confirmed that the Graham County Board of Commissioners had approved the hire of Amy Seay to lead the county’s department of social services.
Seay comes to Graham County from the Swain County Department of Social Services, where she serves as adult and child services program manager. Her first day in her new role will be Sept. 27.
“Going through the hiring process, she applied and had a really good, highly qualified resume, interviewed really well,” said County Manager Jason Marino.
Marino said he had met with both Seay and with interim Graham County Department of Social Services Director Angela Pittman-Vanderweide to discuss the transition.
“That’s how we wanted to do it, was spend some time with the interim, do a left-seat, right-seat kind of turnover,” Marino said.
He further discussed the turnover during the regular department of social services meeting Tuesday evening. Seay was not present at the meeting.
“Amy’s in the process of moving things into her office,” Marino said. “She’s met with staff. Everybody seems to be really excited.
“She’s very excited about coming on board. Angie’s met with the staff, and they’re very excited that someone’s coming on board, and Amy does know a couple of people that are working here and has worked with them before, so there’s a lot of positives.”
Marino also said that Seay was pleased at the state of the department she is taking leadership of.
“When I told her about some of our cases, she said this was actually a really really good report for our area,” Marino said. “She can deal with some of the cases in Swain County that might have 45 cases open. This is actually a really, really good report.”
Graham County has been without a full-time Department of Social Services director since Cris Weatherford stepped down in June to take the helm of the Jackson County Department of Social Services. Weatherford served as director in Graham County for approximately two years. Marino served as interim director in the immediate aftermath of Weatherford’s departure, before Pittman-Vanderweide was brought on in July.Directors must also be approved by the state of North Carolina – in addition to the hiring county – before an offer can be made.