Leaders of state parks, historic sites out at Natural and Cultural Resources

Two top leaders overseeing North Carolina parks and historic sites are out at the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Posted 10:21 p.m. Mar 1, 2018 — Updated 10:37 p.m. Mar 1, 2018

Tyler Dukes

, WRAL public records reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Two top leaders overseeing North Carolina parks and historic sites are out at the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Department spokesman Neel Lattimore confirmed Thursday afternoon that State Parks Director Michael Murphy and Division of State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison worked their last day on Feb. 28, but declined to comment further. Murphy and Hardison are considered policymaking employees that serve the governor as at-will employees.

The designation means that, unlike other state employees, they can be fired at any time without cause.

A spokesperson with the office of Gov. Roy Cooper, who oversees the department as part of the executive branch, has not yet responded to a request for comment.

News of their departure was first reported by the Carolina Journal on Thursday.

State employment records provided by DNCR show Hardison had been with the department since 2006. Murphy, a former astronomy and physics teacher at the private Ravenscroft School in north Raleigh, was hired to helm the state's parks in 2014 and oversaw the park system's 2016 centennial celebration.

Neither Hardison nor Murphy could be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

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