Pam Dudding-Burch
Contributing writer
‘New blood’ always brings new ideas to any administration or group. By all accounts, Clay Goodman was one of those people who brought many new ideas and creative ways of thinking to the team in Craig County.
Goodman accepted the position as part-time County Administrator three years ago when Richard Flora retired. “He has been a consummate professional public servant to the citizens and the Board of Craig County,” Martha Murphy, previous board member shared. “His career has spanned more than a few counties and towns in our region, and he has always made decisions with the residents and taxpayers in mind.”
Murphy added that during his leadership she had served as the Chairman and Vice Chair of the Board and regularly looked up to him for guidance. “He operated from a place of kindness which made it comfortable and enjoyable to work with and for him. I always felt he had the utmost of integrity and very much appreciate his willingness to share his perspective about any given situation especially if he had personal experience, which he often did,” she said.
Goodman was complimented by people who worked with him. They said he always gave his all on the job. He had a bitter-sweet decision to make to step down from the position as he was wrestling with some health issues.
“We very reluctantly accepted his resignation in June as we all felt he was giving us 110 percent,” Murphy shared. “He agreed to stay until we found a replacement and did just that.”
Many felt that he had shown grace in contentious situations and strong project leadership in the areas of passing a balanced budget every year, the ups and downs of the complex and ongoing MVP Pipeline fight, and working with the USFS, DEQ & RVARC on infrastructure projects like maintaining the Dams on John’s Creek/Black Diamond, increasing Broadband and other technologies, just to name a few.
Staff and county officials that worked with Goodman said that his shoes to fill are going to be big. Recently, the position was filled by Gerald Duncan, but he chose to resign within a couple of weeks. Because of that, the position of County Administrator is open again.
Clay was given a farewell party at the November Craig County Board of Supervisors Meeting and was presented with a Resolution of Appreciation of Service. His retirement was effective as of October 31, 2017.
Goodman shared, “I appreciated the opportunity to work for Craig County for the past three years. I was afforded an opportunity to continue to work in local government serving elected officials and citizens and work part-time giving me more time with my family.”
