Madden: ‘It’s hard to leave home’; here’s what others are saying about his departure

ELIZABETHTOWN — Eddie Madden’s route to town manager was not the usual script.

He’d worked as a planner in Highlands, a small community near the Georgia and South Carolina border in the southern Appalachian mountains. Then a 10-year stint with his father in real estate.

It was early 2008, about the time America was entering a financial crisis. Sylvia Campbell had just won her first term as mayor and the town’s clerk, Juanita Hester, said among the applications was one she thought worthy of giving a good look.

“He was flying, flew into the airport, we began to talk, and I knew immediately he was the man for us,” Campbell said. “We thought so much alike. I had some high expectations. I don’t think I ever took an idea to Eddie that he didn’t pick it up and run with it. He thinks outside of the box. That’s an attribute.”

And perhaps why his first stint as a town manager was such a success. On Wednesday morning, it climaxed with his selection as the new Columbus County manager.

“I think he has done a wonderful job as being a manager for the town of Elizabethtown,” said Rufus Lloyd, the Town Council’s mayor pro tem and a councilman every year since 1991. “I hate to see him go. But he’s done a great job.”

Campbell is sad for Elizabethtown, and yet happy for Madden’s opportunity. His feelings mirror hers.

“I’ve been here long enough that this feels like home,” he said. “It’s hard to leave home.”

Though, in the literal sense, he’s done it twice. Hurricanes Matthew and Florence each forced his family to relocate. He’s since bought a farm in White Oak and is building a house. It’ll be home when done, and eventually his place for retirement.

“For 13 years, Mr. Madden has led our town in many ways,” Councilman Ricky Leinwand said. “Our town is admired by many people thanks to his leadership. We knew he would be a popular candidate for a bigger place. We appreciate his service and wish him well.

“Elizabethtown will be fine in the future because of our caring, diverse board and our wonderful mayor.”

Madden’s work ethic and tenacity on projects commands respect among peers and elected officials. He’s particularly strong at finding grant money, something White Lake’s commissioners utilized by making him their project manager for a multi-use path 20 years in the making.

“With a small town, you can’t do it without grants,” Campbell said. “That has been his secret, finding money. He’s just able to do it.”

Madden doesn’t have a definitive explanation.

“I don’t know,” he says, “I was an English minor in college. I love to write. I don’t know if I missed my calling. Some said I needed to be an investigative reporter. I like to connect resources with needs.

“Having partners like the state of North Carolina, and Golden LEAF Foundation, and Duke Energy, and on and on, has certainly assisted everything I’ve tried to do with providing grant funding projects in Elizabethtown and elsewhere. It just seems to have jelled.”

And really, from the outset 13 years ago when he left the bursting housing bubble.

“Timing is everything,” he said. “Phase 1 of our streetscape project occurred really on the heels of the downturn of the economy. There was money available for local governments. Part of it was having the resources at our fingertips we could put to work, like planning documents that were done long before I arrived. The town had done a good job 15 to 20 years ago of having the Department of Commerce come in and look at how to improve the town of Elizabethtown. We took those ideas and partnered them with opportunities. It’s been a symbiotic period of time in my life.”

Lloyd and Campbell said the town’s growth has been significant.

“He was a great guy to work with, easy to work with, and considerate of other people’s feelings,” Lloyd said. “He was just a great all-around guy.”

Campbell said she was aware about a week or so ago that the possibility existed the town might lose Madden.

“When opportunities come along like this, that’s sort of where it leads you if you’re good,” she said.

And the evidence of that is significant.

“I had to fight back the tears,” Campbell said. “I think so much of him and his family. They’re the best.”