During A Friday, Oct. 4 meeting, the Greensboro City Council voted to appoint Nathaniel “Trey’ Davis as the new city manager.
His term began immediately.
“I am honored by the level of confidence the City Council has shown in my leadership ability,” Davis stated publicly after his selection. “Greensboro offers an exceptional quality of life. As we prepare for continued growth, I look forward to working with our leadership and employees to focus on supporting our infrastructure, economic development and public safety as a whole.”
Ever since the previous city manager left under very controversial circumstances in March, the city staff has been guided by Interim City Manager Chris Wilson, who will now, with Davis in place, assume his former role as deputy city manager.
Davis has served as an assistant Greensboro city manager for five years – and city officials, in an October 4 press release announcing the City Council’s choice, stated that Davis “has been integral to public safety, infrastructure and economic development.”
Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan told the Rhino Times in July that the city was conducting a national search and that the council would take the time it needs to find the right person. In recent weeks, the City Council brought in the finalists for in-person interviews.
Vaughan praised Wilson’s guidance during the interim and she also surprised many by announcing that she would not be running for mayor again next year.
After the announcement of Davis as the city’s pick, Vaughan stated, “After an extensive, national search, the City Council selected Mr. Davis due to his years of service to the community and extensive experience in public safety, a primary focus of Council.”
The mayor added, “I look forward to his innovative approaches to the continued vibrancy of Greensboro.”
Davis got his start in public service in the mid-1990’s when he served as a police officer in Creedmoor, North Carolina.
In 2002, he came to Greensboro and joined the Greensboro Police Department as a patrol officer and in the meantime, Davis served as Commander of the Office of Community Engagement and in other positions.
He has also served as the Commander of Professional Standards, where his main job was making sure the department maintained and followed proper ethical standards.
Davis – a graduate of the Public Executive Leadership Academy; the UNC School of Government, Boston University’s Senior Management Institute for Police, Administrative Officers Management Program at North Carolina State University, and Leadership Greensboro – earned his Bachelor of Science degree as well as a Master of Arts degree from Liberty University.
National search as usual. Ha.
Yes. After an intensive (and expensive) national search, here he was the whole time. What a waste of money. They do this every time. Just pick the guy from the beginning and save us all the headache and expense of your “national search.”
Let’s see what he can do about the homeless situation in Greensboro. If he can get that under control he has my support if not he needs to go.
“After an extensive, national search, the City Council selected Mr. Davis due to his years of service to the community and extensive experience in public safety, a primary focus of Council.”
So, he’s worked hard to turn Greensboro into Portland East and knows how to say yes to Nancy & the libtard council? What an amazing legacy! Next he will be invited to join the Greensboro Men’s Club so Skip, Walter & the crew will have him in their talons as well.
As someone who retired from public safety, I can say with absolute certainty that there is no such thing as public service. Maybe there once was? But nowadays we only serve the masters who manipulate nearly everything we see, hear and do outside of our homes. Behold a Pale Horse! Auribus teneo lupum.
Best of luck to Mr. Davis in “assuming his new position.” Congratulations sir, please heed this one small piece of advice: Always remember we cannot serve two masters. Serve only the one that matters. If the rest of the world burns down, you can close your eyes knowing you did what was right and will be looked upon with favor when you meet Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Service to any other leads someplace “farther South.”
Well said JUST SAYIN’, my prayers are with him for he has a huge task ahead of him.
Trey Davis sounds like a much better hire than the previous manager. I hope this city council will give him the support he needs, especially in relation to public safety. He sure has the background.
Trey did not fit the DEI requirement.
Hope the previous manager was not his mentor or we are in trouble until 2026 when most of this board will be gone. Hopefully a few conservatives can get elected and turn the progressive programs and waste of taxpayer money around.
Davis is the epitome of a climber. He will do as council says.
As expected.
Greensboro was once a well run city and it can be again . Don’t know Davis but time will tell. He has better assets than his predecessors.
Get the council out of the management business abd if Davis is as qualified as Matt Brown things will happen but if he is just a figurehead for the council things will continue to deteriorate.
Bring back the two basics that taxpayers want…the rule of law including traffic control and the loose leaf program and you will be off and running but leadership must support you.
Good luck.
Enjoy the comments more than the article.
Do appreciate the Greensboro city news.
Give the man a chance.
New boss same as the last boss
Sounds to me like he is well-qualified and also well-known to the Council and familiar with Greensboro. So, I wish him well and hope for the best. Given the issues with the last manager and his departure package, I hope the City Attorney has revised the employment contract to better protect the taxpayers as well as the employee. I have no idea whether anyone on the Council requested this, but someone should have…
It appears that Mr. Davis has managerial classroom experience but no actual managerial experience. There is no substitute for genuine experience. The rough-and-tumble day-to-day is learned from doing the job not from sitting in classrooms. Good luck.
He served as assistant manager and so had management responsibilities. I think the best news here is: he had been here a few years and so is somewhat a known quantity – unlike the last hire. I am optimistic and wish him the best. Give him a chance to show what he can do. He has to be responsive to the council as they are his boss. But, the best city manager I ever saw was in Charlotte about 35 years ago. He knew more than the council members and in a very gentle, polite way educated them to arrive at the best decision in certain issues.
How many assistant city mangers does the city have? Well, there is the deputy city manager, and two assistance city managers. What do the assistant city managers do in their positions and why does the city manager need three underlings? How much “managerial experience” did Mr. Davis receive as one of three assistant managers? Answer: Not much. Seems to me he spent a lot of time sitting in classrooms at the taxpayers’ expense. Regardless, I wish him well.
There are actually 3 assistant city manager positions… and a deputy… and an assitant to the manager. A great first move by Trey would be to eliminate 2 of them. But I doubt he will!
Only in government would so many assistant managers exist. Assistant managers are added to lighten the load of the manager. What exactly does the manager do? What exactly do the many, many assistant managers do? The city and county need to hire an outside agency qualified to evaluate the structure of the hierarchy of the city and county governments, emphasis on qualified. The smaller the government, the better for its citizens. Why are more government workers needed with so much information online? Property information is online; by 2025 all judicial branch information will be online, including court dates; lawyers will be required to submit papers online; and on and on. Why so many government workers? Because the government is a welfare system, hiring people to provide jobs that are for life, regardless. And, who pays for this system? Taxpayers.
At least he’s black.
What else did you expect. Can you name the last WHITE city manager
Warren Harding?
That’s close but it was actually that dumba$$ Mitch Johnson , who orchestrated to railroad David Wray out of office.
Seriously? David Parrish was City Manager from 2018 – 2021. And before that it was Jim Westmoreland from 2014-2018.
Oh dear Polly you forgot Mitch Johnson who railroaded David Wray out of office
Are there any white people in Greensboro?