At its October meeting the Macon County Commission said goodbye to long-time County Manager Derek Roland and announced its selection of interim County Manager Warren Cabe.
After more than a decade of leadership in the county, Roland announced his resignation last month. At that time, he said that the Oct. 8 meeting would be his last.
The board honored Roland with a proclamation and every sitting board member thanked him for his leadership. In addition, several past commissioners took to public comment to thank Roland and to say that choosing to hire him was the “best decision” they’d ever made for Macon County.
“I was here for his very first meeting and there’s no way on God’s green earth I was going to miss his last meeting,” said Jim Tate, past commissioner for Macon County. “I had so much, as a much older man than him, to learn from him about being a man and I’ll forever be grateful for that. When we all set through life, we want to leave it better than we found it. And without a doubt Mr. Manager, you have done that with this county.”
After a half hour closed session during the Oct. 8 meeting, the board came back into public session and made a motion to appoint Cabe as interim county manager effective Nov. 1. The contract runs through June 30 and Cabe’s annual salary was set at $154,526.45, plus a $500 per month car allowance.
The board approved Cabe’s appointment unanimously.
“Warren, I want to thank you for the example that you’ve set for me,” said Roland. “You’ve always been a steady hand, and you’ve always done it with confidence, you’ve always done it with grace. I’m so happy that you’re getting appointed as interim. There’s nobody that I could’ve hand selected that would’ve been any better fit in my opinion.”
The county will continue its search for a permanent county manager during Cabe’s term as interim.
“I want to express my appreciation to the board for that vote of confidence, and Derek, publicly I want to say to you, you’ve been a good example to me. I’ve learned as much from you as you may think you’ve learned from me,” Cabe said. “Those are some big shoes that I have to fill, and I appreciate the confidence of all of you for me to at least make an honest attempt at that. And I will do my best to make sure that we keep going the direction we’re going.”