The Summerville City Council voted to hire an interim city manager at their called council meeting on Monday of this week.  Council members had previously stated that they would be taking applications for the interim city manager’s position through December 8th, but did an about-face and hired a new interim city manager this week instead of waiting on resumes from potential applicants.

The council has hired North Carolina-native Andrea Surratt, whose most recent job was city manager in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Surratt came to Sandy Springs from a job as city manager in Bozeman, Montana where she worked for two years from 2017-2019.  She was then employed by Sandy Springs from 2019 until earlier this month, when she resigned for “personal reasons”.   Surratt was making an annual salary of $158,000 per year in Montana when she left for the job in Sandy Springs.  The Sandy Springs position paid $220,000 salary.  Prior to her time in Montana, Surratt worked for the city of Hickory, North Carolina.

Surratt was offered the Summerville interim city manager’s position at a salary of $9,800 monthly.

Surratt owns property at Cloudland in Chattooga County.  A search of public records shows that Surratt owns, with another person, a little over 7 acres on Still Hollow Road; land that was once owned by Summerville City Attorney Albert Palmour.  Public records show that site work was being done on the property in 2021 for possible construction.

The vote to hire Surratt was unanimous, with all council members present voting in favor.  Councilmember Dana Mosely was not at the meeting on Monday.

Summerville City Councilman Joe Money posted on social media on Wednesday, “Mrs. Surratt has over 30 years of leadership experience in local government and city planning. Mrs. Surratt earned a BA Degree from Guilford College in Political Science and a Masters Degree in City and Regional Planning from Clemson University. Mrs. Surratt will begin her duties in Summerville December 19th pending the finalizing of her contract and completion of background information”.