After nearly two decades of service to Carter County, Finance Director Ingrid Deloach feels it is time to say goodbye.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Deloach said. “The Lord opened a door, and I had promised Him that if He opened it, I would walk through. Well, He opened it, and I’m walking through.”
That door is leading Deloach to the Sullivan County Department of Education, where she will serve as the school system’s business manager.
“I never dreamed resigning would be so hard,” Deloach said.
On Monday morning, Deloach contacted Ray Lyons, chairman of the Financial Management Committee and asked to meet with him. When Lyons arrived at her office, he said Deloach tendered her resignation but the two decided to hold off on making the announcement right away.
“She wanted to make sure she didn’t do anything to interrupt the budget process,” Lyons said, adding the plan was for him and Deloach to make the announcement together during the County Commission meeting July 20, after the full Commission voted on the annual budget.
“That plan kind of went way south last night during the budget committee meeting,” Lyons said.
During the budget committee meeting Monday night, the group failed to pass a correction to the debt service portion of the county’s proposed budget. Because the correction failed to pass, a public hearing on the budget scheduled to follow the committee was cancelled.
Because of state law surrounding public notice of meetings, a new committee meeting could not be set before July 21, would make the earliest date for a public hearing for the budget on July 31. The delay pushes back the county’s budget approval meeting into August.
“We couldn’t wait until August to make this announcement,” Deloach said, adding she is slated to begin her new job on August 17. Her final day as Carter County’s Finance Director will be August 13.
Deloach’s career at the county began in 1997.
“I came two weeks after I graduated high school to the Register of Deeds Office,” Deloach said. “I was supposed to start a six-week long job and that six weeks turned into a few years.”
Deoach told some members of her staff and some of the county’s officials about her decision Monday night following the budget committee meeting but she made a formal announcement of her resignation Tuesday morning with several of the office holders and some members of the County Commission in attendance along with the staff in the Finance Department.
Several of the county’s officials offered words of praise regarding her service to the county as well as her as an individual.
Lyons, who was elected to the Commission just last year, noted during short tenure he has learned much from Deloach and said she had truly been an asset to Carter County.
“I have never worked with a lady for such a short period of time, just about a year, that has treated me with more dignity and respect and she has show me integrity and trustworthiness,” Lyons said. “Above all that, I think she is a fine Christian lady who is always trying to do the right thing.”
Budget committee chairwoman Sonja Culler also praised Deloach for her helpfulness to the Commission.
“I appreciate all the help she has been to me during the budget process,” said Culler, who is a retired teacher. “I feel like Ingrid is one of my children since I’ve known her since high school.”
County Commissioner Danny Ward also thanked Deloach for her assistance.
“You will be very much missed,” he said to Deloach. “I think you’ve done an excellent job. Your shoes are going to be hard to fill.”
Also among those whose spoke highly of Deloach’s performance as County Finance Director was County Mayor Leon Humphrey.
“We really appreciate all of your hard work and due diligence,” Humphrey told Deloach. “You’ve tried to guide us and much too often we’ve not taken heed to that advice.”
The Financial Management Committee oversees the selecting of the county’s Finance Director. The search for a person to fill the position will be at the top of the agenda when the group next meets in August, Lyons said.