Former Bertie County Sheriff, Greg Atkins, resigned Friday so his Chief Deputy, John Holley, could take over his slot and run for sheriff.
Holly wanted to be sheriff, but couldn't run as chief deputy because of a federal law.
Holley has called Bertie County home all his life. For the last 27 years he's been with the Sheriff's Office.
"I started out as a patrol deputy back in 1983,” Holley said.
He hopes to be able to retire as sheriff, a position he planned to run for in the upcoming election but there was one problem.
Holley explained, "I was covered under Hatch Act and I was prohibited to run for sheriff being the chief deputy."
The Hatch Act is a federal law that says if you hold certain positions in a government organization that benefit from federal funding, you can't run for higher offices like sheriff.
Holley's position as chief deputy made him ineligible and left him with two options.
"He could have resigned until after November, until the general election, which would have left him unemployed for nine months and it would also have affected his retirement pretty adversely,” Atkins said.
So Atkins, who was sheriff until last week, and a friend of Holley’s since high school, decided to help him out.
"He's been very supportive of me through three elections. And I told him when it became his time to run, I would do everything I could to support him."
Atkins resigned as sheriff, the county commission appointed Holley as sheriff and Holley appointed Atkins to his former roll as chief deputy.
Now Holley, as sheriff, can run in the upcoming election.
“It's just what I saw as a practical solution to a problem,” said Atkins.
Atkins says if Holley did not choose to run for office this year, he would have run for re-election.
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