VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – Having announced in June his plans to resign from his Fayetteville trustee spot, Dennis Duggleby reveals that by the end of this summer he will be leaving the village altogether to embark on a new chapter.
Around Labor Day, Duggleby will make the 10-and-a-half-hour drive down to Raleigh to join his wife, Kristen, who will be furthering her career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The job opportunity arose after her decade-plus of involvement with the philanthropy and college of law alumni engagement programs at Syracuse University.
“Life just sort of happened,” said Duggleby, who will keep his current remote role as a national account manager in the food industry. “We feel like we’re moving forward with our lives, so it’s a positive experience, but we both will miss it here a lot because we loved it.”
Though he said he’ll cherish the memories of raising his kids on Lincoln Avenue, playing catch in the nearby park and loading up passengers for horse-drawn wagon rides amidst the annual Fayetteville tree lighting, he said he’s eager to settle down in the warmer climate, referring to Raleigh as an “up-and-coming, booming” area that people are heading to in droves.
Still, the move is not expected to be too jarring, as he said the capital city’s inner and surrounding topography connects urban and rural areas in a similar way to Syracuse with doable trips to the mountains and the beach.
In addition, Duggleby’s relocation brings him closer in proximity to his son and daughter—attendees of NC State and Washington and Lee University respectively.
As he packs and stacks boxes in preparation, the lifelong upstate New York resident acknowledges that it will be “emotional” and “surreal” to not as often see close friends, the villagers he came to know and the family members on his side who live on the shores of Oneida Lake, but he said he intends to come back for the holidays and random visits.
Around the time he and Kristen moved to Fayetteville from Manlius in 2000, he started actively volunteering as a local basketball and Little League coach. A few years later, he earned a position on the village’s zoning board of appeals.
In March of 2012, Duggleby was elected to the board of trustees, which he will be leaving midway through his third term.
“It’s been a great run,” he said. “It’ll be fun to look from afar and see where things go.”
Speaking on his chemistry with trustees past and present, he said he and his colleagues on the board have disagreed completely at times and engaged in difficult conversations while still being able to laugh together and enjoy one another’s company.
“At the end of the day, we’re all trying to do the same thing,” Duggleby said. “That’s to make decisions that improve the lives of the citizens here.”
He said the board’s newcomer Mark Matt has shown his dedication, enthusiasm and willingness to learn and that longer-serving trustees Dan Kinsella and Michael Small have consistently imparted guidance and background knowledge.
He also commends Mayor Mark Olson for his “tireless and truly inspiring effort” on behalf of the entire village, clerks Lorie Corsette and Karen Shepardson for their “incredible competence” and “great attitudes,” and Fire Chief Paul Hildreth and Department of Public Works Superintendent Pat Massett for their service and the volume of work they complete.
“The people we have in leadership roles are outstanding, and that trickles down to everyone working for them,” Duggleby said. “To work with people like that is a gift.”
Duggleby said that as a trustee he helped push for renovations to the senior center and DPW building on top of leading the charge to build the dog park and trails at Duguid Park. However, he said it was never a one-person show, preferring to think of himself as a “cog in the wheel” to get things done and represent every single neighborhood in Fayetteville.