News

Mills River hires interim town manager

By Bill Moss, Published: April 21, 2019

MILLS RIVER — The Mills River Town Council has hired a longtime Transylvania County administrator as interim town manager while it searches for a new manager.

Mark Burrows, who retired last September as Transylvania County’s economic development director, will cover administrative work while the council looks for a replacement for Jeff Wells, who took a job as planning director for the town of Waxhaw in western Union County.
“We hired him as an interim manager and he’s going be working about two days a week,” Councilman Roger Snyder said. “We’re thinking the search is going to take about three months. He’s agreed to stay on for those three and maybe a little longer if he needs to.”
Snyder said former Transylvania County Manager Artie Wilson suggested Burrows for the interim job.
“I recommended that we hire him,” he said. “Also, he came down and talked to Jeff and Jeff also recommended him.”
His planning background is helpful, too, Snyder said, given the town’s rapid growth and demand for development permits. Wells did “99 percent” of the work on the 2019-20 budget before he left, Snyder said.
A graduate of Wake Forest University, Burrows has a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University. He was hired as Transylvania County’s first planning director in 1990 and later led business recruitment efforts through the Transylvania Partnership and Economic Development Advisory Board. Burrows starts in Mills River this week.