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AHOSKIE – Elected town officials here have made an offer to an individual in an effort to fill the vacant position of Town Manager.

Leigh Etheridge has been offered the job, conditional on a background check, drug screening, and credit check. Those conditions were still pending as of Tuesday of this week.

Etheridge was interviewed by all five members of the Ahoskie Town Council during the closed session portion of a Special Called meeting held Jan. 3. After re-entering open session, Councilman Charles Reynolds made a motion to hire Etheridge at a starting salary of $90,000 annually with a potential five percent raise after a six-month probationary period plus a job performance evaluation by the Council. Councilwoman Linda Blackburn offered a second to the motion, which passed 4-1. Councilman David Hunt cast the lone dissenting vote.

Following a seven-year career as the Finance Director for the City of Roanoke Rapids, Etheridge left for a similar position with the City of Poquoson, VA.

Prior to her employment with the City of Roanoke Rapids, Etheridge was the assistant Finance Director for Northampton County local government. She began her career as the Business Director for the Halifax County Department of Social Services.

If hired by Ahoskie, Etheridge would fill the Town Manager’s position that has been vacant for nearly nine months. Kerry McDuffie, Ahoskie’s previous manager, was fired, without cause, on April 22, 2022.

McDuffie began his job in Ahoskie on June 19, 2017, succeeding former Town Manager Tony Hammond who had retired one month earlier after 12 years with Ahoskie.