It wasn’t a gold watch or a “golden handshake” but a bag full of pine cones that Alamance County’s governing board presented the latest high-ranking administrator to announce his departure from the county’s employ.
Bruce Walker, who is slated to step down from his role as assistant county manger on September 30, received this peculiar bon voyage present this week in keeping with a local tradition that spoofs North Carolina’s prestigious Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
Dubbed the “Cone of the Long Leaf Pine,” this parochial honor was first lavished on former county manager Bryan Hagood when he retired in the spring of 2022. It was later resurrected to send off former county commissioner Craig Turner, the author of Hagood’s satirical award, when he stepped down from the county’s governing board to assume a district court judgeship.
In Walker’s case, the customary tote bag of pine cones was presented on Monday along with a more conventional, framed certificate that saluted his roughly 19-years of service to Alamance County. Initially recruited from New Hanover County to serve as the county’s mapping director, Walker would go on to become head of information technology before he was tapped as one of two assistant county managers, who comprise the county manager’s leadership team long with a deputy county manager.
Although the original inspiration for this honor may have been a bit tongue in cheek, Walker took the whole thing in stride when he was called up to the front to accept his award. In the end, the outgoing manager dwelled more on his unsung colleagues than on his own contributions to the county.
“It’s about public service,” he added. “There’s so many people behind the scenes that make the whole county work.”
Walker’s remarks were later echoed by a former subordinate, Scott Ward, who retired from his own post as the county’s webmaster this past December.
“He always had service on his mind when I worked for him,” Ward said of his one-time boss during a designated public comment period on Monday. “He will be missed, and he will be very difficult to replace.”
In somewhat ironical twist, Alamance County’s manager Heidi York told The Alamance News that she doesn’t plan to fill Walker’s position, although the commissioners had included this post in their current annual budget. Walker’s current salary, according to the county’s personnel records, is $164,777.66 a year.
