Stewartappointed A'ville clerk

Michael B. Hardison, The Sampson Independent, Clinton, N.C.
·2 min read

Apr. 16—AUTRYVILLE — The search is ongoing for the town board as their vacant town clerk position has yet to be filled.

The position has been open since February after the departure of longtime clerk Cassandra Tyndall. Since then the board has been actively searching for a permanent replacement.

Autryville Mayor Grayson Spell reflected on Tyndall's service to Autryville in a post from their Facebook page.

"I want to take an opportunity to thank Cassandra Tyndall for her service to the Town of Autryville," Spell said. "She has been a model for integrity, accountability and dedication for many years. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors."

In the meantime the board has received assistance from their partners at Mid Carolina Regional while they look to fill the role.

"On Feb. 15, your Board of Commissioners swore in Paula Stewart as Interim Town Clerk of Autryville," Spell stated. "Paula works for the Mid Carolina Regional Council and comes to us with over 25 years of experience in State and County government. She will be working Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Autryville Town Hall to serve the citizens of Autryville until we hire a permanent clerk."

Stewart is currently the Management Consultant for Mid Carolina Council of Governments.

Before that she worked in Harnett County for those 25 years and nine years in state government before retiring July, 1, 2021. In that time she served as County Manager, Interim County Manager, Deputy County Manager, Interim Deputy County Manager and Director Of Information Technology.

She spent eight years as Budget Analyst and Application Analyst at N.C. State University before that and is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill.

Now as interim town clerk, Stewart shared these thoughts on being able to serve the town in this capacity along with her Mid Carolina duties.

"I'm contracted with Mid Carolina Regional Council and I'm just the Interim Town Clerk but I want to make sure that everything gets done that supposed to be done," she said. "Autryville is great place, if I lived closer things would be different, but I live an hour away in Angier so unfortunate it's not convenient for me to come everyday and be the permanent clerk," Stewart said."

"While I'm contracted to do other things, Mid Carolina saw Autryville had a need," she said. "We tried to find a retired clerk to be interim but couldn't find one in time for as quickly as they needed one so I volunteered to come and help them out."

"I love the town, I love the people but it's just too far away for me to do this full-time," she added. "I wish them the best of luck in getting somebody."

Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-592-8137, ext. 2588. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our new Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.