By Jessie Burchette
Salisbury Post
Bill Cowan came out of retirement to lead Rowan County government through a tumultuous period that started with the firing of a longtime manager.
Cowan is now at work in his new job in Pinehurst, which includes golfing privileges at two of the best courses in the state’s golf capital.
As director of real estate development for Pinewild Realty, he will be responsible for developing 600 acres around the company’s gated community, Pinewild Country Club.
Cowan, 55, had leaned heavily toward continuing as county manager here. His open-ended contract would have allowed him to serve indefinitely.
But the prospect of moving the family’s household to Rowan didn’t fit in his wife’s plans. Cowan, who retired as manager in Lee County, has continued to maintain his home in Sanford. He had rented houses here since taking the manager’s job.
A provision in his contract approved in January 2007 required Cowan to establish his primary residence in Rowan within one year.
Having begun his career in county government as parks and recreation director in Cabarrus County, Cowan likes the Piedmont area.
“It’s a very fine area, an area I would like to call home, but my wife had a different idea,” he said.
His wife, Teresa, favors the central area of the state.
“That’s where we are going to live,” he said shortly after packing up his personal items in the manager’s office on Monday.
Cowan discounted notions that a divided board of commissioners played a major role in his decision to resign.
He said the job here was similar to his 14-year stint in Lee County, where the board was generally split 4-3 on lots of issues.
In an unusual situation, Democrats had the majority ó four votes ó but one of the Democrats most often voted with the Republicans, keeping a Republican as chairman of the board.
In the case of the Rowan board, Cowan said, most of the votes are unanimous. The division shows up on philosophical divides ó not political. Most of the split votes have been on issues of leadership, incentives and school funding.
Cowan came to Rowan as an interim manager in September 2005 amidst a firestorm. Commissioners had fired Tim Russell, who had served almost two decades as county manager.
Russell used county money to hire private investigators to find the writer of hundreds of anonymous letters that peppered county officials for nearly a decade.
In their effort to identify the writer, who went by the pen name “Common Sense,” investigators conducted surveillance of homes, government buildings and at least one church. They followed a dozen or more people, primarily concentrating on Kannapolis residents.
A majority of the Board of Commissioners, who didn’t know about the investigation, voted to fire Russell.
Cowan arrived with a smile, a very cordial, low-key approach and 14 years in county management.
He remained low key ó rarely speaking at meetings of the Board of Commissioners.
Four months later, commissioners gave Cowan a contract and dropped “interim” from his title.
For the past two years, Cowan concentrated his efforts on identifying problems and finding solutions.
He discovered county department heads didn’t know each other and had little interaction.
Cowan set up monthly department head meetings, work sessions for exchange of information and discussions.
Taking it a step further, he created committees, assigning several department heads to work on projects and provide recommendations or solutions.
He involved committees in developing plans for revamping the Rowan County Justice Center, including new court facilities and completion of a jail pod.
The county received bids in December and the project is ready to go to contract.
Similarly, a committee worked on redoing the county’s Web site to make it more user-friendly. The new Web site is expected to go live later this month or in early February.
Cowan won kudos from the Board of Commissioners for his approach and results.
One of Cowan’s ideas will likely save taxpayers millions of dollars.
A new building to house Social Services has been on the back burner for years at an estimated cost of $10 million or more.
At last year’s retreat, Cowan suggested a way to consolidate the department, which is spread over four locations, and spend about half the money.
Cowan suggested moving the mental health agency, Daymark, out of the Health Services Building on Faith Road, expanding that section and moving in all of the Social Services employees and services. Daymark would be moved to a former Social Services building.
Commissioners liked the idea. The project is moving forward and is in the design phase, likely to go to bid later this year.
“That will solve the space problem that had to be dealt with” and should save $3 million to $4 million, Cowan said.
He also played a key role in getting the commissioners meeting room upfitted with modern audio and visual equipment.
“That needed to be done,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the way it turned out.”
While Cowan promoted the new system, he praised Commissioner Tina Hall for having the political will to take on the project and make it happen and go forward with televising the meetings.
Cowan’s biggest challenge came in dealing with the codes enforcement department.
“It came unglued and had to be put back together,” said Cowan.
As a major building spurt hit the county, most of the inspectors left for other jobs.
Commissioners have publicly praised Cowan for his reorganization of the department, breaking planning and codes enforcement (inspection) out of the former Environmental Services Department.
Cowan created a new Planning and Development Department with Ed Muire as director.
Cowan created an organization with structure and communication.
“Now, we’ve got the right people in the right structure,” said Cowan.
Reflecting on his tenure as county manager, Cowan left town with a good feeling.
“In two years and three months, we got a lot accomplished,” he said.
Asked about advice on hiring a new county manager, Cowan offered none.
“I don’t offer any advice,” he said. “I just wish them the best of luck.”
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Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254 or jburchette@salisburypost.com.