Former Alamance County manager Craig Honeycutt is returning to the area – actually, to some extent, he never left – this time to serve as assistant Burlington city manager of administrative services.
Honeycutt served as Alamance County manager for almost eight years before leaving in 2017 to accept a position as assistant county manager in Wayne County in eastern North Carolina.
He started that post on March 13, 2017, until being promoted to county manager January 3, 2018.
He announced his resignation to the Wayne County board of commissioners Tuesday, with a last work day on June 30.
Meanwhile, Burlington has announced he will begin July 5 in his new position here.
Apparently, even while living in Wayne County, Honeycutt has maintained a local residence, in Elon, where his wife of 26 years, Amber Honeycutt, has continued to reside. The couple has three sons – now ages 20, 23 and 24 – all of whom are all graduates of Western High School.
Honeycutt has 29 years of local government management experience, according to a news release from the city of Burlington Wednesday.
Honeycutt says, “I appreciate the opportunity to come work back to work for a community that I know extremely well and have always greatly respected. I am excited about this new opportunity and position and am ready to get to work for the citizens of Burlington.”
Various city officials assured an Alamance News reporter than Honeycutt is being hired as assistant city manager without any expectation, or plan, for him to assume the vacant city manager’s post for which a permanent replacement is being sought. Hardin Watkins announced his resignation earlier this year, and he left in March.
Former Mebane city manager David Cheek has assumed the interim position in Burlington through the end of the fiscal year (June 30).
For his part, Cheek highlighted Honeycutt’s experience during brief comments to the city council Tuesday night. “He’s actually a resident of Burlington and a former Alamance County manager. He knows this area well, and is excited about starting here on July 5.”
[Note: according to the North Carolina Board of Elections, Honeycutt’s official residence is in Wayne County; living in the county in which you are employed is generally expected, sometimes required, for county managers.]
Honeycutt holds an undergraduate degree in Public Administration from UNC Pembroke and a Master of Public Administration from Western Carolina University. He also has held the ICMA Credentialed Managers certification from International City/County Management Association since 2001. He also served as the President of the North Carolina City and County Manager’s Association in 2016 -2017.
