Beaufort County Manager Paul Spruill resigns | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Beaufort County Manager Paul Spruill announced his resignation today, effective June 24.

    He has accepted the position of general manager and CEO of Tideland Electric Membership Corporation.

    Replacing Spruill, at least temporarily, will be Beaufort County Assistant Manager and Finance Officer Jim Chrisman.

    Click here to read Beaufort County's official news release announcing Spruill's resignation and a departure letter written by Spruill addressed to the Chairman of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, Jerry Langley--both e-mailed to press outlets at 1 p.m., today.

Beaufort County Manager Paul Spruill at a county budget workshop in June 2010.

    Five-term Beaufort County Commissioner Stan Deatherage, who, ironically, was in a self-imposed hiatus from the board when Spruill was hired, had this to say about the popular county manager:

    "Beaufort County has been enriched from the service of Beaufort County Manager Paul Spruill. He was with us through some of the most trying moments this county has known in modern times, and helped the Beaufort County Commissioners steer the county through some most-troubling waters to a safe harbor time and time again.

    "I suppose it is only fitting that these troubled times are punctuated by this bizarro episode of the BRHS debacle, as it continues to play out in one bizarre chapter, and then another. Chapters wherein is written: Long and short critical moments, where good judgment is scorned in favor of the rancor of those who speak in a much louder collective voice.

    "I don't blame him for finding a convenient escape route once the county has completed this infamous duty of divesting the hospital, and its assets, from the Beaufort County taxpayers.

    "I wish Paul well. It will be Tideland's good fortune to have him on board as their captain."