In what was a surprise to many, Greensboro City Manager David Parrish announced today that he is resigning effective June 30.

Parrish took over as interim city manager on May 1, 2018 when former City Manager Jim Westmoreland retired.

Parrish got to drop the interim and become city manager on June 5, 2018, when the City Council voted unanimously to offer him the job.

When the tornado hit East Greensboro on April 15, 2018, the City Council was so impressed with the way Parrish – who was then the brand new interim city manager – organized and handled the recovery that they decided to forgo the planned national search and hire Parrish as manager.

Parrish, who grew up in Greensboro, came back to the city as an assistant city manager in November 2012.  Even before Parrish became interim city manager, at City Council meetings it appeared that most of the questions directed to the city manager were answered by Parrish.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan said in a press release, “David Parrish accomplished a number of impressive projects during his time with the City.  Under his leadership, the City has increased affordable housing stock, improved our water infrastructure system and provided much-needed leadership with economic development issues.  Additionally, at this most critical time, David helped the City become a model for equity and inclusion efforts.  His exceptional leadership will be missed and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

City Councilmember Justin Outling said, “It’s a definite loss to the city.  He’s a great manager.”

Outling noted that Parrish took over from Westmoreland in the midst of a battle the city was having with developer Roy Carroll, who owns the Rhino Times, over the construction of a parking deck on Bellemeade Street across from the baseball stadium.

Outling said, “But for David’s intervention, you wouldn’t have the new office building, or the new parking deck and the development and that is to come.  We would have lost out on all that development and all those jobs.  That was David Parrish’s idea.”

Outling, who is running for mayor, also said that with an election coming up in November, “The next mayor and the next City Council should select the city manager they will be working with for the next four years.”

Outling noted that Parrish won’t be leaving until June 30, after the 2021-2022 budget is passed, and that waiting until after the election would prevent the decision from becoming a campaign issue and give the City Council plenty of time to conduct a national search and make a decision.