Eastern Carolina Council

ECC hosted its Regional Legislative Breakfast on February 24th at the La Grange Community Center in the Town of La Grange. Thank you to the approximate 115 in attendance! Thank you to the Legislators who were able to attend and share their thoughts on the 2025 Session – Sen. Michael Lazzara, Sen. Bob Brinson, Rep. Jimmy Dixon, and Rep. Chris Humphrey. Thank you to our entire Legislative Delegation for their support of our region. And thank you to our members – we had municipal and/or county representatives from all nine counties of our region. Also, we appreciate our event sponsors – Duke Energy Corporation, Mark III Employee Benefits, Jones-Onslow Electric Membership Corporation, WithersRavenel, and the Town of La Grange.

The Eastern Carolina Council (ECC) is assisting the Town of Mount Olive, NC with its Town Manager search. This is a great opportunity for the right candidate. The town is preparing for growth and is focused on lifting a sewer moratorium by updating its utility system through grant funding and best management practices. Mount Olive is in both Wayne and Duplin counties and is the second largest municipality in Wayne County. The town is the home of Mount Olive Pickles, the University of Mount Olive, and Southern Bank. Mount Olive is a community that values education, agriculture, small business, historic traditions, and a civic-minded, caring public. Mount Olive prides itself on being a safe and secure community with a diverse economy and an exceptional quality of life. It is the home of the NC Pickle Festival, held the last full weekend of April each year. Located in eastern North Carolina’s coastal plain, Mount Olive is a town of beauty and charm like no other in the region. Mount Olive sits amid (one hour in each direction) the cities of Raleigh, New Bern, Greenville, and Fayetteville. It is eight miles from Interstate I-40 and fifteen miles from I-795. The town is also just over an hour from the center of the Research Triangle Park and, in the other direction, the beaches of the southeastern Carolina Coast, including Wilmington and Wrightsville beaches. Interested applicants should email a cover letter, at least three references, and résumé addressed to Town of Mount Olive Manager Position, c/o ECC Executive Director David Bone at [email protected]. Candidates are responsible for assuring delivery. The position is open until filled. The first review of résumés will begin on March 11, 2025. For more information, visit https://lnkd.in/eYVig8uk.

In partnership with Jones County Community Hope, the Eastern Carolina Council held a Jones County Digital Inclusion Plan Listening Session at Kings Chapel FWB Church in Trenton on December 28th. This is a part of ECC’s Digital Inclusion Plan project, in which ECC is partnering with North Carolina State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues (NCSU IEI) and The William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NCSU to develop a Regional Digital Inclusion Plan for our nine-county region. A digital inclusion plan is a tool and resource for a community to assess who has the access and resources to utilize, broadband, the internet, computers, and all the resources that come along with that. The conversations from these listening sessions will help us tell the narrative of the communities' needs and gaps to help increase digital resources, literacy, and access. Thank you to Beverly Hines and Jones County Community Hope for their partnership with this effort!