Pender County Manager David Andrews traveled with his wife from Texas to California and all along the East Coast before they knew that the Wilmington area was where they belonged.
They started with a search to find a beach house to get away from Andrews’ stressful job in the Triangle area and found a career in Pender County and a retirement home in Wilmington.
Andrews plans to retire June 30. Here’s what he had to say about his accomplishments and the future of Pender County.
What are your most notable accomplishments with Pender County?
When Andrews first started working for Pender County in 2022, he noticed that like many other areas he has worked in, the county was facing high growth, specifically in the Surf City and Hampstead areas of the county.
Where there was growth, Andrews said he saw opportunity. “When I came here to Pender County, it was you know, you had to hit the ground running because it seemed that we were behind on just about everything,” Andrews said.
Because the schools were reaching capacity, Andrews worked with the county’s employees to buy all of the land that was needed to satisfy the $178 million bonds that voters passed in November of 2022. This land will allow for the county to build a new K-8 school for students in Hampstead.