Prince George county administrator is leaving post next month after 10 years on the job

PRINCE GEORGE — County Administrator Percy Ashcraft is resigning the position he has held since 2011 to take a similar post with King William County in eastern Virginia.

Board Chairman Floyd Brown Jr. confirmed for The Progress-Index Friday afternoon that Ashcraft turned in his papers earlier this week. Brown said Ashcraft called him Monday night to inform him of the decision and told county staff of his decision Tuesday morning. Brown said a news release officially announcing Ashcraft's resignation was expected to be released next Monday.

Ashcraft's last day in Prince George will be Dec. 3.

"While I know I will miss him, I have to support his decision," Brown said of Ashcraft. Brown said Ashcraft "had an extremely good hand" on how to manage the county through some of the changes in its economic base over the past decade.

"I'll miss that personable experience, and I will miss the knowledge he has," Brown said.

Brown said the Board of Supervisors will hold a special closed session Wednesday night to decide on Ashcraft's interim replacement and start the process for searching for a permanent replacement.

Ashcraft, a West Virginia native who spent 11 years in the West Virginia House of Delegates, came to Prince George in 2011 from Caroline County where he was county administrator for more than 11 years. He also was a former city manager in his hometown of Clarksburg, West Virginia for four years.

King William County has a population of about 18,000 people, which is less than half the total in Prince George.

In King William, Ashcraft inherits a position that has been held on an interim basis since last February. According to a report by the Daily Press of Newport News, the previous administrator, Bobbie Tassinari, abruptly resigned after learning that a county supervisor and King William's commission of the revenue withheld information pertaining to the county's tax reassessment process for 2021 from the company hired to perform it. The commissioner of the revenue resigned in November 2020.

According to the newspaper, King William has had a rash of top-level personnel resign in the last year. Tassinari was the fifth to give her notice, following the commissioner of the revenue, the treasurer and interim treasurer, and a member of the county School Board. 

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is daily news coach for USA TODAY's Southeast Region-Unified Central, which includes Virginia, West Virginia and central North Carolina. He is based in Petersburg, Virginia. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com.