Guilford County is losing its top attorney to Charlotte – and the Queen City won’t waste any time swooping in.
On Thursday, Oct. 3, Guilford County announced that Guilford County Attorney Andrea Leslie-Fite is leaving on Halloween to become Charlotte’s new city attorney. Her last day with Guilford will be Friday, Oct. 31.
Leslie-Fite (pictured above next to Guilford County Manager Victor Isler) only came aboard in Guilford County in 2022 after the county spent months searching for a permanent replacement for longtime County Attorney Mark Payne. When Payne retired, the county cycled through interim attorneys and outside help before finally settling on Leslie-Fite.
Before Payne came to Guilford County for an impressive decade-long stint in that job, Guilford County ran through six county attorneys in a single year.
When Leslie-Fite was hired, the Board of Commissioners made a point of saying that she stood out from the pack early in the search.
Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Melvin “Skip” Alston said after the late Friday news of her departure that she wasted no time making her presence felt in county government when she arrived.
“Andrea has made a significant impact in Guilford County throughout her tenure, even beyond her role leading our legal department,” Alston said. “Under Andrea’s leadership, the county has made tremendous strides in strengthening our relationship with our district courts. Upon her arrival in Guilford County, she restructured the county’s legal team to enhance responsiveness and collaboration among its 30-plus departments, and provided consistent, expert counsel to the Board of Commissioners as needed. Guilford County is grateful for Andrea’s stewardship and wishes her the greatest success in Charlotte.”
Leslie-Fite said that she’s leaving with plenty of appreciation for the county and the staff she worked with.
“While I am excited to begin this next chapter in Charlotte, I will always look back on my time with Guilford County with deep gratitude to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and staff,” she said in a prepared statement. “Service is and always will be about the people we impact along the way. I hope that I was able to positively impact lives through my servant leadership. I will forever cherish the relationships I have developed with the talented and dedicated group of professionals in the Guilford County Attorney’s Office, as well as with our legal partners, coworkers, and community stakeholders. I appreciate the support of the County Board of Commissioners and the county manager as we work through this transition period.”
Her work in Guilford included steering legal strategy for several big-ticket projects. Leslie-Fite and her team played a major role in economic development efforts such as Jet Zero, Cascade, and Lenovo. She also provided legal guidance for the county’s $1.7-billion bond initiative, which was the largest in state history, and she helped oversee Guilford’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan – a massive overhaul of how the county will guide growth and development moving forward.
She also had the tough job of dealing with Samet Corp. when the county and the construction company had a huge falling out over a $20-million-plus sheriff’s headquarters project deal that fell apart after phase one. That monster legal problem happened soon after she arrived.
Before taking the Guilford County job, Leslie-Fite had already logged more than 15 years in local government law: She served as city attorney in Shelby, handled human resources litigation as a senior assistant city attorney in Charlotte, advised boards and commissions in Cleveland County, and even spent time as a law firm partner. That mix of municipal, county, and private practice experience meant she came to Guilford County with a wide-angle view of how government legal departments function.
When she was hired two years ago, Alston pointed out that even Shelby’s mayor was reluctant to let her go.
“He was way down – he didn’t want her to go,” Alston said at the time of the mayor.
Now it’s Guilford County’s turn to feel sad.
The Charlotte City Council voted unanimously to bring her back to the city, where she had already built connections during her earlier stint in the attorney’s office. A unanimous vote in a city as politically divided as Charlotte is nothing to sneeze at.
In addition to her professional experience, Leslie-Fite has remained active in several legal organizations. She currently serves as president of the North Carolina Association of County Attorneys and is also a member of the International Municipal Lawyers Association and the North Carolina Bar Association.
Her credentials include a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from UNC-Chapel Hill and a law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Her departure puts Guilford County in something of a bind. The county finally got stability in the attorney’s office after Payne’s retirement – and now just two years later the search will begin again. The always reliable Matt Mason, who was usually brought in to play the interim county attorney role whenever a county attorney departed, is no longer with the county. He retired earlier this year to spend more time with his family and enjoy biking around Greensboro.
With over 540,000 residents, hundreds of ongoing contracts, and a pile of land-use issues always on the table, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will be seeking the right person to take on those big initiatives.
