At its Aug. 25 meeting, the Indian Trail Town Council officially selected Michael (Mike) McLaurin as the new Town Manager. McLaurin will assume his new responsibilities on Aug. 31.
“On behalf of our Town Council, I congratulate Mr. McLaurin on his selection after a rigorous search process,” said Mayor Michael Alvarez. “We considered many well-qualified candidates and deliberated carefully, but we found the best-qualified candidate close to home. Mike McLaurin is an experienced and resourceful manager, with a strong educational background. His years of experience as a town manager will allow him to do an excellent job for our citizens.”
“I am excited to be joining the team at the Town of Indian Trail,” said McLaurin. “I look forward to working with the Town Council, staff and community to help continue to move the town forward.”
McLaurin has many years of local government experience. He is well known in Union County, having served as Waxhaw Town Manager from 2007 through April 2014. Since then he has served as interim manager in four North Carolina cities and towns—Claremont (twice), Oxford, Angier and Selma. Public service as a town manager runs in his family—his brother Bob McLaurin served as Town Manager in Vail, Colorado and Jackson, Wyoming, and retired in 2018.
Mike McLaurin also teaches undergraduate political science courses as a part-time lecturer at UNC-Charlotte. Early in his career, he worked as a communicator/supervisor with the Charlotte Police Department. Then he served as a staff member of the Centralina Council of Governments in Charlotte for 22 years, assisting local governments in the nine-county region.
McLaurin earned a Master of Public Administration degree from UNC-Charlotte, after completing an associate in arts degree in law enforcement from Central Piedmont Community College, and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Pfeiffer University. He is a native of Laurinburg, which is named for his family. He and wife Catherine live in east Charlotte.
The Mercer Group, Inc., a national public sector executive search and consulting firm with an office in Raleigh, assisted the Town Council with its search. The Council received 62 applications from 19 states and considered a number of well-qualified candidates with extensive local government management experience. The Council interviewed several semifinalists. Mayor Alvarez said that the Council greatly appreciated the valuable input of citizens and Town department heads about the qualifications, experience and characteristics that the Council should look for in the next manager. “We used those criteria as a guide in making our decisions,” he said.
“We thank Raymond Allen, who served our citizens well as Interim Town Manager,” said Alvarez. “Our new Town Manager will find that our finances are in a sound condition to deal with the opportunities and challenges ahead, with the assistance of our very capable Town staff.”