Shakeup at DENR replaces top two assistant secretaries

The two top assistants to the newly appointed head of the state’s environmental agency are being replaced in a shakeup that elevates veteran staffers over political appointees.

Former state legislator Mitch Gillespie has been replaced as assistant secretary for the environment, and Brad Ives has been replaced as assistant secretary for natural resources.

Gillespie will be reassigned to a new position of director of western outreach in the Asheville regional office. Ives resigned to pursue other interests, according to a news release the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued Tuesday.

Replacing Gillespie will be Tom Reeder, a longtime DENR staffer who has been director of the Division of Water Resources. Reeder was regarded as an enforcer for former Secretary John Skvarla’s emphasis on helping “customers” obtain permits rather than punishing them for technical or inadvertent violations.

Replacing Ives on an interim basis will be Mary Joan Pugh, another veteran of the agency, who is currently deputy director of the N.C. Zoo.

The changes were announced by Donald van der Vaart, whom Gov. Pat McCrory appointed secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, effective Jan. 1. He replaced Skvarla, whom the governor moved to be commerce secretary after Sharon Decker resigned.

Although van der Vaart is a longtime DENR employee, Skvarla elevated him through the ranks of an agency that he said needed to be overhauled to have less rigid regulations. His ascent is in contrast to the two top officials who are leaving their positions after two years on the job.

Gillespie took the high-level DENR position after leaving the state House of Representatives, where he had served Avery, McDowell and Mitchell counties since 1999.

Ives came to the department with a background in law and business, leaving a position with Semprius, a North Carolina manufacturer of solar panels.

Molly Diggins, state director of the Sierra Club, said the loss of experienced staff in top leadership positions raises new concerns about the agency’s direction in the second half of McCrory’s term.

“The administration seems to be moving ever further away from what North Carolinians want and deserve from the department charged with protecting their air, water and natural resources,” Diggins said in a prepared statement.

Gillespie was a popular legislator and at DENR worked well with environmentalists and with sometimes opposing interests, such as the construction industry.

“I thought the energy he brought to that position, the purpose he had, was just outstanding,” said Lisa Martin, a lobbyist with the N.C. Homebuilders Association and a former DENR employee. “He really wanted to make a difference, to follow their mission statement, to be more business-friendly.”

Gradie McCallie, policy director of the N.C. Conservation Network, said Gillespie has been accessible and engaged even when the organization didn’t agree with him.

“More importantly, he has paid attention to his staff scientists and drawn on their advice, and his own experience in the state legislature, to give DENR – and science – a more effective voice in state environmental policymaking than it otherwise would have.”

While he was a Republican state legislator in 2011, Gillespie famously drew a target on his office window aimed at DENR, during a time when he steered significant environmental regulatory rollbacks into law.

After moving to the agency, Gillespie’s responsibilities included developing policy covering issues ranging from surface water discharges, air emissions, wastewater and drinking water projects and coastal development. Ives oversaw the non-environmental divisions of DENR: marine fisheries, parks and recreation, the natural sciences museum, aquariums and the zoo.

Diggins also praised Ives, who she said was highly thought of by his staff and outside groups.

Reeder is a former Marine who has been in the center of the coal ash spill and cleanup efforts. In July 2013, he made a video that was sent to DENR staff across the state saying some of the agency’s programs in the divisions of water resources and water quality were in the “bull’s-eye” of the General Assembly for being overly aggressive. Reeder said Skvarla and Gillespie bought DENR time with the legislature to address those concerns.

This story was originally published January 13, 2015 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Shakeup at DENR replaces top two assistant secretaries."