Get ‘er done!
Published 9:42 am Thursday, August 30, 2012
JACKSON – The role of Northampton County Public Works Director seems to fit Jason Morris.
After all, he believes in getting the job done.
Northampton County officials have hired Jason Morris of Jackson as the county’s Public Works Director. Staff Photo by Amanda VanDerBroek
“I believe in being a hard worker and getting the task completed,” Morris said.
Morris’ first day on the job was June 25 and since then he’s hit the ground running with the department, focusing on the everyday tasks and a few large projects the county has in its near future.
A native of neighboring Halifax County, Morris grew up on a farm near Littleton. After graduating high school, he moved to Raleigh and attended Wake Technical Community College where he earned a degree in survey and technology.
After school Morris worked for a surveying company for 10 years in Durham and then he took a job with Jasper Eley Land Surveying in Jackson. Morris’ wife, Betsy, is originally from Seaboard.
“She’s from Northampton County which eventually brought us back here,” he said. “We decided this was a good place to raise a family.”
Approximately three years later Morris went to work for the North Carolina Department of Transportation at Ahoskie’s District Office before taking the public works director position.
The landfill, water and sewer for the county, building and grounds maintenance, repairing county vehicles are just a few tasks the 24 person department takes care of on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, larger county projects include providing infrastructure on Lebanon Church Road for the Enviva site and Phase V water extension.
“As far as the main goals I can see expansion of Public Works,” he said. “I think we can expand to do great things for the county.”
Morris said he is enjoying the job so far mostly because of his co-workers.
“There’s a lot of great workers here in the department,” he said. “The workers have been here for a while so there’s a lot of knowledge. I’m learning from them as much as I can and trying to implement my new ways of thinking as much as I can.”
“It’s a good group of people that work here in Public Works and a lot of them don’t mind getting the job done,” he added. “And that’s one of my things: I like to get things done.”
Morris said he’s looking forward to his future years with Northampton County.
“I look forward to long years of service with the county and serving the citizens of Northampton County,” he said.