Economic officer Dwight Bassett returns to town

Dwight Bassett is coming back.

After a seven-month stint as the manager of Raleigh’s newly created Economic Development Office, Bassett announced Monday that he will return as Chapel Hill’s economic development officer — the same job he left in March.

Bassett said he and Roger Stancil — Chapel Hill’s town manager and Bassett’s good friend — began discussing the possibility of him returning a few weeks ago.

“After we went through the interview process and hadn’t identified the candidate that was right for us, Dwight was in here saying hello, and I said ‘You want to talk about coming back?’” Stancil said.

Bassett said in addition to conversations with Stancil, he began to hear from other members of the economic development community.

“A lot of people started reaching out to me,” he said. “I almost thought it was setup … All these people were reaching out. It just felt like a really positive opportunity to come back.”

And at about noon Monday, Bassett made the decision to return.

“Up until then it was a question mark,” Stancil said.

Bassett was among Stancil’s first hires when he became town manager in 2006.

“I came in ‘07 and the town couldn’t define economic development then,” Bassett said. “Here we are five years later — the comprehensive plan has lots of economic development in it. It gives indication that I did have an impact there.”

Stancil said Bassett was instrumental in developing an economic development strategy, and his work has led to almost 2 million square feet of nonresidential development being proposed in the last few years.

This time around, Bassett said, he will focus on developing the Ephesus Church-Fordham and Rosemary Street areas, which the town has targeted for future growth.

Bassett will return to a salary of $91,500, about the same amount he would have made if he didn’t leave.

Bassett — who has held development positions in Statesville, Rock Hill, S.C., McCormick, S.C., and Hinesville, Ga. — spends his spare time building furniture from recycled wood and riding his Harley Davidson motorcycles.

He carved a player’s hand holding a basketball out of a broken tree on Franklin Street to commemorate UNC’s 2009 men’s basketball national championship. The sculpture stood outside Spanky’s on Franklin Street for three years.

On Nov. 1, Bassett will return to his position, which he says he’s looking forward to.

“I think there are a lot of professionals, town employees, Roger (Stancil) — I look forward to revitalizing those relationships,” he said.

And Stancil agreed.

“For me its liking hiring someone that I don’t have to worry about having to be able to do the job,” Stancil said.

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