LUMBERTON — Robeson County will have two assistant county managers when Kellie Blue begins her new job on Monday.
Blue, Robeson County’s current General Services manager and finance director, was given her new title by County Manager Ricky Harris. She joins Jason King as an assistant county manager.
The Robeson County Board of Commissioners recently decided two assistant county managers are needed to oversee the administration of the growing number of county services and programs.
“We had 12 individuals who applied,” Harris said. “Three were interviewed.”
Harris said Blue “interviewed very well.”
Blue, 45, is no newcomer to county government management. She repeatedly has been publicly commended by commissioners for her management of county money.
“I’m excited and honored that the manager and the board is offering me this opportunity,” Blue, who has worked for the county for 20 years, said. “… I want to work with the manager and commissioners to move the county to the next level.”
The commissioners must decide if a new county finance director will be hired because the finance director is one of five county employees that the commissioners are responsible for hiring, Harris said. The other positions the commissioners hire are county manager, county attorney, county clerk and the tax administrator.
Robeson County had two assistant managers until the position of General Services manager was created a few years ago to be filled by Charles Britt, the county’s longtime Emergency Management director and fire marshal. As General Services manager, Britt was responsible for overseeing the county’s Emergency Management and Emergency Services departments, and the county’s communications center and general communication operations. He retired at the end of December and Blue has held the position on an interim basis since.
Blue said that her years of experience with Robeson County government have prepared her for her new responsibilities.
“During my years working with the county I have worked through and seen a lot of different things,” she said. “I’ve been through tax increases and tax decreases, revaluation, increase and decrease in water rates ad big construction projects.”
A lifelong Pembroke resident, Blue worked with the Lumber River Council of Governments before becoming Robeson County’s assistant finance director. After graduating from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke in 1993 with a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting, she took a job as an internal auditor with Southern National Bank, which is now BB&T.
Blue will soon join the UNC system’s 24-member Board of Governors.
