www.rhmotimes com I Thursday. January 15
County Names Deputy County
Manager and Power Forward
by Scott D Yosi
Guilford
County's
New Deputy
Manager
Clarence
Grr«e,
number 33,
at Campbell
University
Anyone who thinks Guilford
County didn't take its recent
loss to the City of Greensboro
in a city-county basketball
game seriously should think
again: Guilford County has
hired Clarence Grier, one of
the greatest basketball players
ever to come out of the State
of North Carolina, as the new
deputy county manager.
Guilford County Manager Marty
Lawing has dubbed Grier - who
was once drafted by the Houston
Rockets to play in the NBA, though he
never played in that league - as his
second in command. After playing
at Campbell University in Buies Creek
in the '80s, Grier was named to a Big
South Conference's All-Decade Men's
Basketball Team before beginning a
career in government.
Grier, who grew up in Guilford
County and attended Dudley High
School, was working as the assistant
county manager and chief financial
officer for Orange County when he
accepted the Guilford County job.
Grier lives in Guilford County with
children. George and Haven. He has
been commuting from Greensboro to
Orange County for the last five years.
Grier said he wasn't looking for
a new job a couple of months ago
when he saw that the deputy manager
position in Guilford County was open.
"I saw the advertisement and
decided to apply," he said.
Grier said Orange County, which
has a population of about 140,000,
507,000 residents, were similar in
many ways. He said both counties are
facing challenges with school funding,
the NC FAST computing system used
across the state, and a
need to manage debt.
He said that, from a
prior job working with
High Point government,
he knows Bill Bencini
- the former chairman
of the Guilford County
Board of Commissioners
who just became mayor
of High Point - but he
added that, other than
that, he doesn't know
many of the people
in Guilford County
government.
"When I was in
Orange County, I
focused on Orange
County," he said.
When asked about his
accomplishments in Orange County,
he said he was proud of his work on
the budget there and the si i
•_'"-:.'. iv niuvu liiu uuuuiy s> oianuaru &
Poor's and Fitch Ratings bond ratings
from AA to AAA, as well as the effort to
increase its savings account.
Grier's accomplishments in
government follow impressive ones on
the basketball court earlier in life. The
6-foot-7 Grier held about 30 school
records at the time of his graduation,
including scoring average, field goals
and free throws made and attempted,
and he was named the Big South
Clarence Grier
as a
senior m 1987
and a star at Dudley Gi
his Campbell colleu- the
single-seasoi ord, 739,
year
I
time to '
tl
-meone
my recoi
cket;
in the 1987 NBA
NBA.
Lawing
hired Grier due I
ach:<
"He's very professional and has
accomplished ■.
Orange County
Grier has neat
and management. He worked for
the City of Nor?
manager from 1996 to 19
the accounting services ma
the Town of Ck.. 1993 tc
2000.
manager for the C
from 2000 to 2008, when he b<
director of finance for the
Housing Authority - a job I
(continued on page 31)
accoi
