HAMLET — Jonathan Blanton is leaving the world of municipal management for academia.
Blanton, the city manager for Hamlet, announced his resignation — submitted to Mayor Bill Bayless and the City Council on Monday — in a Tuesday morning press release, saying he has accecpted a job at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
There, he will be the new director of business affairs and finance where he will be overseeing an $18 million budget, as well as personnel and business operations for the University’s Graduate School, according to the release.
“I am truly blessed and bettered by the opportunity to have served as city manager and to have made Hamlet my home over the last nearly two and a half years,” he said in a statement.
Blanton was hired in January of 2017, replacing Marcus Abernethy, who also held the role a short time.
His last day in office will be May 17 and the city will soon begin the process of searching for a new manager.
