THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170348
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Patches of Steven Harrell's desk at City Hall are still visible beneath a growing pile of manila folders and paper stacks.
But not for long.
``I'm the world's worst pack rat,'' Harrell, Elizabeth City's new city manager, said toward the end of his first day on the job.
``Sooner or later,'' he said, forecasting the towers of budgets and reports he expects to build, ``it'll look like a castle in here.''
Harrell comes to Elizabeth City after working for a decade in the 10,000-population town of Clinton, S.C. On Tuesday, he spent much of the day meeting his new subordinates and getting a feel for the Albemarle area.
``I haven't started a new job in 10 years,'' Harrell said. ``So it's been kind of a learning process.''
Harrell met briefly with his department heads Tuesday and began putting together an agenda for Monday's council meeting. He also set up meetings with individual council members to talk about their goals for the city. He's also taking a crash course on the key issues facing the city in the next few months: unfilled vacancies, a hiring freeze and a 10 percent employee reduction goal, a new fire station, a new city hall and a $24 million water-sewer overhaul that he has inherited.
Folders strewn across Harrell's still shallowly covered desk provide reading material on all these issues - and a few more that city staff members thought their new manager should know about right away.
Then there's the correspondence.
``I was surprised to see a stack of mail like this,'' Harrell said, holding his thumb and finger two inches apart, ``already with my name on it.''
Harrell and his family are renting a house on West Church Street until they can buy the one they've picked out on Hopkins Drive. Harrell's 8-year-old son toured his new school, J.C. Sawyer Elementary, on Tuesday. And his 5-year-old daughter visited her preschool, hoping to find other girls her age.
``And then I've got a 1-year-old. And he doesn't care,'' Harrell said, smiling.
Harrell replaces interim City Manager Victor Sharpe, who has returned to his job as city planning director. Sharpe filled in after Ralph Clark left Elizabeth City's employment in June.
City Clerk Dianne Pierce, who has served under six city managers and filled in as the interim manager herself during one vacancy, said she was hopeful about Harrell's tenure.
``I think we've got a good man,'' Pierce said. ``Council made an excellent choice.'' by CNB