
DATE: Sunday, June 29, 1997                 TAG: 9707010498

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:  108 lines

16 YEARS OF FIXING DRAW TO A CLOSE COUNTY WILL MISS SUPERVISOR'S MANY IDEAS AND TALENTS.

Bill Smith retires Monday with a reputation that will loom just as large long after his last day on the job.

As Pasquotank County maintenance supervisor for the last 16 years, Smith has come to be known as the man who can repair or build anything. In the process of watching over the county's 22 buildings, the friendly fix-it man with the engineer's mind has saved the county thousands of dollars.

``I've been blessed to work for people who understand when there is a problem, and they're willing to do something about it,'' Smith said.

Smith looks and acts much younger than his 73 years. His arms have the muscularity of a man who has spent his life hammering nails and turning wrenches. His mind is full of details, as intricate as a circuit board.

``I haven't found anything he can't do,'' County Manager Randy Keaton said. ``The money he has saved the county has been phenomenal.''

Keaton was unable to tabulate the exact amount but had plenty of examples of Smith's cost-saving measures.

A company will soon install 108 new computer terminals in offices throughout the Pasquotank County courthouse. To save money, Keaton had county maintenance crews run the 3 miles of wire necessary to connect the computers.

Computer company representatives did not believe an ordinary maintenance crew could install the complicated wiring. Keaton invited them to speak with Smith.

After a few minutes of conversation, the computer reps were convinced.

In Smith's small office in the courthouse, there is a control board full of wheels and wires designed to save on air-conditioning costs. One made commercially could cost $60,000 or more. Smith built his for $2,000.

Nearly 10 years ago, the Pasquotank County Commission expanded from five to seven members. The bulky, U-shaped wooden table where the board conducts business was not large enough. Instead of buying a new table, Smith built extensions on each end. Only close inspection reveals his handiwork.

In front of the table is a huge podium. Like a fine piece of furniture, the rostrum is made of mahogany trimmed with detailed woodwork. Smith built it in his home workshop.

State Rep. W.C. ``Bill'' Owens, D- Pasquotank, spoke of Smith's immediate impact in 1981. Smith was hired by County Manager David Harris and the board of commissioners while then-Chairman Raleigh Carver was out of town.

When Carver returned, Owens lauded Smith's abilities. ``This guy Bill Smith we just hired - he can do anything.''

``Nobody can do everything,'' a skeptical Carver said.

A few weeks later Carver approached Owens and said, ``Bill Smith can do anything.''

County maintenance can be measured in time by ``Before Bill Smith'' and ``After Bill Smith.''

``We'd gotten to the point where we were hiring people to change a light bulb,'' Owens said. ``He has saved the county thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars.''

Though Friday was Smith's last day, he's not quite done yet.

He has spent every weekend but one since February making wooden mantel clocks for about two dozen of his co-workers. He will hand them out Monday at his going-away party. Smith estimated each clock took him about 36 hours.

Thursday, most of the clocks sat on a table outside his Perquimans County home. The clocks vary in size and are made of cherry, oak, mahogany and walnut. Smith still needed to put little glass doors on most of them and mount the individual nameplates on each clock.

``We've got a deadline to meet,'' Smith said, smiling despite the long weekend to come, working in his shop. ``It'll be 10 o'clock tonight, 10 o'clock tomorrow night and all day Saturday.''

Smith worked in construction after serving as a Navy electrician. Much of his boyhood was spent helping his father and grandfather in their workshops.

Smith built the home he shares with his wife, Sonia.

``I drove every nail myself,'' he said.

Smith's cluttered shop, it seems, contains every tool and machine needed by a craftsman. He's fashioned dozens of wooden thingamabobs to help him work more easily. Most of them hang on the walls in his shop. Sonia calls them inventions. Smith just calls them jigs.

``I didn't invent anything,'' Smith insists. ``I built them. If that's inventing, then I did it.''

Once retired, he and his wife plan to drive their Winnebago west to Colorado and Wyoming. For once in his life, time won't be important.

What's it going to be like to drive down the highway and not have to be back next week or the first of the month?

Smith paused.

``I'll be able to handle it. I've got my hobbies.''

And a reputation to keep. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

WILLIAM P. CANNON/The Virginian-Pilot

Bill Smith works against deadline: He hopes to finish making about

two dozen clocks to give as farewell presents at his retirement

party Monday.

Graphic

``HE CAN DO ANYTHING''