A crowd of residents, city officials, and county staff stuffed into the Durham County chamber room on Tuesday night.
Claudia O. Hager was officially sworn in as the new county manager. She was promoted to the position on November 4 after the previous manager, Kimberly Sowell, resigned under mysterious circumstances following two months of leave.
The commissioners described Hager as nurturing, competent, creative, and a team player with a high sense of integrity. Commissioner Wendy Jacobs was visibly emotional during the board’s remarks. She has served on the board for 12 years, all of which have overlapped with Hager’s employment with Durham County.
“Anyone who works in Durham County government knows that the first car to be in the parking lot and the last one to leave every night is Claudia Hager’s car, and that has been for years,” Jacobs said.
Hager first worked for Durham County in 1994 when she was a graduate student at North Carolina State University. She became a budget analyst and budget and management services director from 1997-2000. Hager returned to Durham County in the same position in 2014 and has been with the county ever since.