By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — It may seem incongruous at first glance but former Blowing Rock town manager Shane Fox is returning as the “new” Blowing Rock town manager after serving as the county manager in Alexander County for the 10 months.
Fox’s decision to move up the ranks of municipal government was announced in April 2023, effective June 7, 2023. Subsequently, the Blowing Rock board of commissioners immediately appointed former planning director Kevin Rothrock as Interim Town Manager as they began the search for a permanent replacement, with Rothrock one of the candidates for the full-time position.
Almost a year later, the Board of Commissioners’ search had come up empty for what the members felt was a fully qualified candidate.
What I realized is that I value and enjoy the ‘customer service’ aspect of municipal governance. You get that more as town manager. As county manager, you are more insulated from the public at large.
At the same time, Fox did some soul-searching and realized that although he had helped guide Alexander County professionally through some tough decisions and created some good relationships in the process, there are differences in the county manager role that did not particularly match Fox’s personality. So, he threw his name in the hat to return to the position in Blowing Rock that he had left.
“What I realized,” Fox told Blowing Rock News in an interview, “is that I value the ‘customer service’ interactions of municipal government as much as anything. As a county administrator, you are more insulated from the direct relationships with the people you serve. As a town manager, much of what you do, especially in a smaller town like Blowing Rock, is having those interactions.
My family and I love Blowing Rock. This is home.
“Frankly, I have missed those opportunities that I had while serving Blowing Rock,” Fox added. “It is nothing against Alexander County because I have met and enjoyed meeting some terrific individuals. But the job of county manager creates a level of distance between that role and the end beneficiaries of service, the taxpayers and other constituent interests.”
And then there is that other thing.
“My family and I love Blowing Rock,” said Fox. “We have maintained our full-time residence here. We have children in school here. In so many respects, this is home.”
And, as it happened, the Town of Blowing Rock still had a vacancy in the permanent Town Manager position. For the Board of Commissioners, it was an easy decision to lay out a welcome mat for Fox.
Fox was introduced as the “new” Town Manager at the March 12 meeting of Town Council. His re-employment is as of May 1, 2024.
Fox re-enters the Blowing Rock governmental sphere at a time when several issues are converging to potentially require an adroit town manager guiding the town through difficult decisions and action plans. They include what to do about the ongoing problems related to parking that were brought to light and defined in the Roger Brooks International study.
A short-term solution under consideration to potentially ease the problem is paid parking but the longer term solution is to identify more parking facilities. That will potentially bring into play property acquisition, construction costs and how to foot the bill, among other considerations like employee parking vs. visitor parking and any special rights for Blowing Rock residents — and how those decisions impact property tax rates or other usage fees.
Improving both emergency communications as well as mobile telephone service are also pressing issues seeking near-term and long-term solutions.
From the Town Council’s winter retreat, here is a list of priorities developed by the currently sitting commissioners:
- Paid parking with a target implementation date of April 2025; tied for No. 1 is additional parking with Town-owned locations to be assessed for potential by McGill Associates, the town’s engineering firm.
- Memorial Park – Phase II – financing options for either full project ($2.1 million) or modified project (w/out pickleball, $1.8 million) to be reviewed. In either case, a $500,000 grant from the state is expected to be available.
- Mayview (Broyhill) Lake Spillway repairs
- Overall employee pay/benefit evaluation, including police officers (the interim chief suggested an across the board raise of 16% over the next two years (in addition to COLA increases) would be appropriate to help recruit and retain needed officers).
- Update and upgrade Town website.
- Water tank maintenance request for proposal (RFP).
- Creation of stormwater utility (this would be a separate charge on the water bill – $5/month was mentioned as the statewide median). A $5 fee for Blowing Rock was estimated to produce $135,000 annually. This would allow a certain amount of General Fund expenditures for other areas and as well as other needed work to be done.
- Cemetery expansion
- Sidewalk master plan – McGill to be asked for an estimate to do this work.
Also from the retreat, other concerns not put on the priority list include:
- the downtown development code
- additional water/sewer work
- sewer expansion to properties now on septic systems
- potential for bond referendum on ballot in November 2025 for water/sewer/paving
- the opening of the Town daycare facility (projected to open in February 2025, the actual ribbon cutting on the new facility was March 12, 2024, nearly a year ahead of schedule)
- study of various historic landmark/historic preservation programs (including the benefits, as well as any problems)
- the improvement of public safety communications
- improvement of mobile phone service in and around town to eliminate dropped calls
- possible relocation of police department to Valley Boulevard
- the town government’s increased space needs and planning
