Recently, brand new Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis was appointed to that job by the Greensboro City Council – and now the team running the city has another brand new member: Andrea Harrell, who’ll soon take the job as assistant city manager.
Harrell, who will assume her new role the day before Halloween this year, has served as the senior assistant city attorney since 2021.
As assistant city manager, she’ll have a lot of very important duties.
Harrell will oversee the Greensboro Police Department, Guilford Metro 911, the Office of Community Safety and the Greensboro Fire Department.
Davis, of course, had some extremely positive things to say about the woman he has chosen to help him run the city.
“Ms. Harrell has the depth and breadth of public service leadership experience to excel in the executive office,” Davis said this week in a public statement after the hiring. “Andrea’s legal background and community connections positions her to bring a unique approach to managing our public safety departments.”
Harrell, who’s been working for the City of Greensboro for nearly a decade, previously served as an assistant city attorney.
She began her career in 2007 working as a law clerk at Burton & Sue, LLP in Greensboro, before becoming an attorney with that same firm in 2009.
“I am looking forward to joining the City Manager’s executive team and serving the city in this new capacity,” Harrell stated in a press release this week. “Working alongside the visionary leaders of the public safety teams will present opportunities to continue our efforts to make Greensboro safe for our residents, visitors and business community.”
According to City of Greensboro officials, Harrell has been “instrumental” in many of Greensboro’s past initiatives, including – but not limited to – business strategy, legislative matters, the coordination of large-scale land use transactions, and employment-related matters such as workers’ compensation.
She’s also a member of the North Carolina Bar Association and the Greensboro Bar Association – and she’s a past president of the Elon Law Alumni Association.
Harrell has also engaged in public service with the First Baptist Church of Greensboro Endowment Committee and the Youth Focus Resource and Development Committee.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Juris Doctorate degree from Elon University School of Law.
Is Andrea Harrell replacing an assistant manager, if so, who? Or is Harrell just another assistant manager added to the City’s roster of assistant city managers designed to reduce the responsibilities of the City Manager, Trey Davis? Why is there a need for so many assistant managers? Are there other assistant managers who have other titles such as Executive Assistant to the City Manager or Special Assistant to the City Manager? Government has become a hotspot for highly paid individuals who either want a job for life with little accountability to keep the job, or/and benefits that only employees in the private sector can only dream about. What a flip from years ago. City Hall is filled with grifters who use government jobs to advance their own self-aggrandizement, including politicians. All salaries are paid with taxpayer money. Where is the outcry from the public? Greensboro’s City Hall size needs to be reduced significantly, starting with a city manager willing to reduce the number of City Hall employees. Obviously, Trey Davis is not that person. My speculation is that the actual people doing the work in the field are languishing in need of help to do their jobs while the fat cats in City Hall keep getting fatter and fatter with taxpayer money.
She’s replacing Mr. Davis.
He didn’t need to be replaced, too many assistant managers. What do all these AMs do?
Great points made. Just another person who will answer to the powers to be and blow money that is to make t.he warm and fuzzy feel good. How about some common sense approach
Trey Davis got promoted to the City Manager job (after an intensive and expensive national search… Eye Roll). Harrell is being promoted from within as well to fill Davis’ vacant spot. Interestingly, there was no national search for her, nor was the job even posted on the city’s job site. Well, technically they did put it up there long enough for her to “apply”, but then they took it right back down and gave her the job.
I hope she does well, but my concern is that now you have someone who has no practical experience in public safety and has never lead or managed a large organization who is now in charge of police, fire, and dispatchers. That’s almost 1,000 people. I was frankly surprised that the city posted her list of experience, because it basically says she was an attorney for a few years and…that’s it.
I find it hard to believe that there are not interested, better qualified candidates out there. Unfortunately, we will never know because they didn’t let anyone apply. It doesn’t require hiring some expensive firm.
All they had to do was post the job for 60 days and do a press release, but they didn’t even do that. I’m sure Harrell and Davis are just really good friends. Nothing to see here.
I have no idea whether she is qualified or able to do a good job. But, I am glad to see some promotions from within. Too many times we spend big money on national searches for city or county manager, school superintendent or police chief and we get people from outside of gso with some issues who don’t stay around (eg: Jaiyeoba). So for a change, we have a city manager who has worked here. As for the new assistant city manager, at least she has been in Greensboro for awhile and she has a work history. The same for our new county manager. And finally, we have a school superintendent who attended and worked in our schools. At least when we hire from within there is much less chance of getting the “unknown” quantity. I don’t like the seemingly endless layers of bureaucracy, but, I’ll give Ms Harrell the benefit of the doubt.
I can guarantee you there were more qualified people who would have loved to apply. It’s the same way Davis got his Asst. City Manager job when he was a police captain. He is just continuing the pattern. And yes they do have too much top heavy staff-and they refuse to lay off all of the nonsense employees brought in by Tai. More of the same. You need a city council change next year to get any of this stuff turned around. How would you like to be a police or fire chief reporting to a city attorney (what attorney works for the city-oh ones that cannot get a private sector job) who has never answered a police, fire, or 911 call?
Hey Term Limits, I personally agree 100% with everything you said but I need to say at least she is White. A refreshing change
Well, that doesn’t amount to much since I feel confident, she is a Democrat because she is a lawyer.
Term limit, did you see another former Fine Greensboro assist. manager just resigned in Durham after 6 weeks of paid leave under suspicious circumstances. Her name is
Kimberly Sowell. Goggle it interesting read
As I recall, Sowell was considered a darling of the City of Greensboro leadership.
I’m thinking she was a Nigerian princess.
You are probably spot on. I will wish her well since she has worked here long enough to see the city council issues and how they operate. Hopefully she makes a positive change for taxpayers and not more of the same snafu employees dealing with what is called a city council. Time will tell.
You serious about making it safer? Close down the Illegal housing at the former Hebrew Academy and also close down the facility in downtown Greensboro. TDA, the worst Venezuelan gang which took over 3 apartment buildings in Aurora, CO has been blamed for criminal activities in NC. Do you want them to get a foothold here as well?
Hope is not a strategy.