Meeting in a recessed session Monday evening, the Person Board of County Commissioners formerly approved an employment agreement with York, who will succeed retiring County Manager Steve D. Carpenter as of July 21.

For most of this decade, York has worked under the tutelage of Durham County Manager Mike Ruffin, who served about five years as manager in Person County from 1983 to 1988, when he resigned to take a like post in Cabarrus County.

The Person County position will be York’s first as a top county executive in a local government career that extends back to her days as a working college student at American University in Washington, D.C. when she served as a coordinator of governmental and community relations for Harford County Maryland.

After graduation from American, magna cum laude, with a B. A. degree in 1999, York found her way to North Carolina and a master’s degree in public administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. While she was studying for that degree, however, she served variously as consultant for the Town of Carrboro for a year while she also worked as a management analyst for the City of Greensboro. For five months in 2001, York was a budget analyst for Orange County government.

She went on, in July of 2001, to become assistant to the county manager in Durham County, before advancing, in March 2004, to her latest position as assistant county manager there. Durham County has 1,800 employees and an annual budget that tops $700 million. York’s duties have included direction and coordination of special projects, overseeing operations of the county-owned Durham Civic Center in partnership with Marriott and administering the county’s impact fee program.

York, who will be Person County’s seventh full-time manager, attended Monday night’s meeting during which she received an enthusiastic welcome from county commissioners, as most county department heads looked on from the audience, which included retiring manager Carpenter.

Commission Chairman Johnny Myrl Lunsford opened the session by announcing, “We are here for one particular purpose, to introduce to the public our newly-appointed county manager, Heidi York.

The board then went on to authorize Lunsford’s signing of the county’s employment agreement with York, and handing her a copy, Lunsford said, “We’re glad to have you on board.”

Addressing the board and the audience, York said, “I’m very pleased to accept this appointment. It’s a great honor for me, and I’m really thrilled to be here.

“Also I want to say that the hiring process while somewhat intense was extremely professional. I think that is a great testament to the level of professionalism here among the employees of Person County. That was just a really great sign for me right from the start.

“I know that Steve [Carpenter] leaves some very large shoes for me to fill. But I am committed to serving this organization and the community, its residents, with integrity, dedication and an outstanding work ethic.

“I bring to Person County a fresh perspective and a commitment to this organization and community.”

After outlining steps in her career to date, York said, “I really love this region of North Carolina and being a resident of Person County suits me and my family very well. We’re extremely excited about this opportunity.”

“I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with the board and the employees here to carry out and implement the goals and priorities of the board. I know that we will be a great team. So again thank you very much for this opportunity.”

York won the Person County post over three other finalists selected for interviews from an initial field of 27 applicants in the search for Carpenter’s replacement that began in April.

She apparently made a positive impression on commissioners at the outset, according to Commissioner Larry Bowes, who said to her Monday, “I think from the very start, we thought a lot of you as a prospect. And the farther we went in trying to achieve that goal the more it pointed towards you. I like your background, your education and the training you’ve already had being in Durham County.”

Noting that he and Durham Manager Ruffin are well acquainted, Bowes added, “Mike has been a good manager and is a good manager and you’ve trained under him. … I think you have a lot to offer Person County, and we look forward to working with you and thank you for being here.”

Commissioner Kyle Puryear observed, “I just want to welcome you to our county. I thought you did an excellent job during the interview process. This board and the way it conducted the interview process overall impressed me.

“I expect a lot of good things coming from you. You have a very impressive resume and obviously have the experience to go along with that. Congratulations and welcome aboard.”

Commissioner Jimmy Clayton echoed similar sentiments, adding that he was a county employee when Ruffin was manager here.

“So I kind of know what you may have experienced,” Clayton smiled. “It can be tough at times. But he expects a lot and you have produced a lot if you worked for him. We’re just glad to have you aboard.”

Asked to cite some of her strengths, in a telephone interview with The Courier-Times Tuesday, York said, “I think my strengths are that I love what I do, and I think that’s really important. And I think that I just have an outstanding work ethic that sets me apart from pretty much anybody,” she laughed, “and also my very open communication is a definite strength of mine.”

York believes that open communication also is “a cornerstone” of her management style, whether working with board members or employees.

“My door is always open,” she said, “and I want employees to feel like they can approach me at any time.”

She said she wants to follow a “participatory style” of management wherein, she said, “I like for employees to feel empowered to make decisions” and to feel they have her support.

As the commissioners’ concluded their introduction of York Monday evening, she got to meet some of those employees as she stopped near the door to greet and chat with department heads as they filed out of the meeting room.

York told The C-T Tuesday that she was born and grew up in Colorado near Denver before her family relocated, when she was about 14, to Bel Air, Md., where she finished high school and then worked full-time while attending college at American University. She said she has loved the area since studying for her MPA at UNC.

Her husband, Chris York, a veterinarian at Bahama Road Veterinary Hospital, is a native of Sanford, she related, “So I don’t think we’ll ever leave North Carolina,” she said.