Asheboro hires new city manager

Janet Imrick
Randolph Hub 

ASHEBORO — The Asheboro City Council got an earlier start to 2025. Mayor David Smith and the council moved forward the time to 6 p.m. because the meetings were getting longer.

Next City Manager

On Jan. 9, council began by introducing Asheboro’s next City Manager, Donald Duncan. He traveled with his family from Caldwell County to sign his employment agreement.

“With a lot of work, a lot of input from different people, and a good job on behalf of the [Piedmont Triad] Regional Council, we’ve come up with someone we think is perfectly suited to be the next city manager of Asheboro,” Smith said.

Duncan was The County Manager for Caldwell County for three years and city manager of Conover for 15 years. The city said he’s been successful in attracting investments and partnerships for economic development and improving transportation. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration degrees from Appalachian State University.

Duncan said it was humbling and thanked John Ogburn for his guidance. “I’ve never had such a good kinship real quick,” Duncan said. “[Ogburn] said, ‘Let me tell you everything.’ And he did, and that was the deciding factor. He was so honest. You just don’t know how much our family appreciates it.”

Duncan’s first day will be March 17. Ogburn will remain through April 1. Council member Clark Bell joked about the timing of the transition. “I don’t know. St. Patrick’s Day and April Fools,” he said.

Council member Charles Swiers called the news “bittersweet,” but said, “I think we made an excellent choice. I appreciate his family being here this evening. It exemplifies the fact that the family will be integrated into the city.”

Smith thanked Matt Reece with the Regional Council for leading the hiring process. “They were bringing us good, qualified candidates,” he said. “There were many, many qualified applicants wanting to come to Asheboro.”

Council member Kelly Heath thanked Ogburn for his work with the applicants. “I think it really added to their positive experience,” she said. “We’re all excited to welcome Donald and his family.”

Ogburn said they will announce an event with the Chamber of Commerce to formally introduce Duncan to the Asheboro community.

Winter weather prep

The night of the meeting, Public Works was putting the last few chains on truck tires ahead of the Jan. 10-11 winter storm, according to Director David Hutchins.

He told the council that since it had been three years since a significant snowstorm, roughly half of their drivers were new. “We had enough experienced drivers to put in the plows to train the ones that are not experienced, but just barely,” he said.

At the same time, his teams had to deal with five large water main breaks due to the cold snap.

Heath asked Hutchins about the cost of salt and sand. Hutchins said it had tripled in price since they last restocked. Bagged salt was up from $3 to $9.

Garden braces for roadblock

Assistant City Manager Trevor Nuttall warned the council that they’re less certain about getting a community block grant (CDBG-CV) to help pay for the David and Pauline Jarrell Center City Garden on Cox Street. 

Nuttall said they learned the environmental regulations are different than the ones they used to secure a grant from the Land and Water Conservation. He said staff will have to redo the application with a firm that understands CDBG environmental assessments. 

Furthermore, they heard that the state is likely to divert remaining money to hurricane recovery in Western North Carolina. Nuttall said staff will look at other sources. The Land and Water Conservation grant needs a match from the city, but most other federal funding rewards cannot be used for matching.

Lease sent to Zookeepers

The City Council approved its second iteration of a 10-year lease for the Asheboro Zookeepers to play baseball at McCrary Park.

Council member Joseph Trogdon Jr. remained the sole dissenting vote, reiterating his position that the fee was too low. Since the team used the park last year without a lease, the council raised the fee for the first year from $1,000 to $2,000.

The ZooKeepers owners, the Pugh family, asked for revisions to the lease the council approved last summer. City Attorney Jeff Sugg said he believed they had satisfied those issues by only requiring a right of first refusal should they sell the team, and by clarifying the responsibility of Recreation Services to resolve scheduling conflicts with other teams.