Mooresville’s board of commissioners made history tonight, hiring its first-ever female town manager. 

Commissioner Lisa Qualls got emotional when making the motion to authorize an employment agreement with Tracey Jerome, who will begin her work here on April 29. “This is special — to be the first woman manager for the Town of Mooresville,” Qualls said. 

Commissioner Tommy Deweese seconded Qualls’ motion “with great enthusiasm.” The board voted unanimously in favor.

Jerome is currently senior deputy city manager of the City of El Paso, TX, where she’s been since 2015.

Commissioner Gary West thanked Mooresville’s interim town manager, Jim Landon, for “everything you’ve done for us” since October, when he replaced the town’s outgoing embattled town manager, Randy Hemann. 

Hemann accepted a job as manager of Oak Ridge, TN amid public outcry over his strong-arming of Josh’s Farmers Market, a 30-year, much-loved local business in Mooresville.

Commissioners Will Aven and Eddie Karriker, both of whom were elected to Mooresville’s town board in November, said Landon had been a wealth of information for them as new commissioners. 

With Jerome at the helm, said Karriker, “The sky will be the limit for us.” 

Mayor Chris Carney said he is proud of the town board’s decision to hire Jerome, not because hiring a woman is the popular thing to do but because it was the right thing to do. “We wanted a great town manager, and we looked at a lot of people, and it was clear — all seven of us thought Tracey was going to be the absolute perfect fit for where we’re going in the future. And it just happened to be that she was a woman. We looked for the best person for the citizens of our town,” he said.

“You were obviously the best,” Mayor Pro Tem Eddie Dingler said to Jerome.