Attorney, cop, firefighter. Meet Beaufort’s versatile new assistant city manager
The city of Beaufort’s latest high-level hire is jack of all trades — attorney, police officer, firefighter and even forest ranger.
John J. Sauve will bring his versatile skills to his new role as assistant city manager, which he will begin Jan. 8. The city announced his hiring Monday.
That post has been empty since June, when Reece Bertholf left to take the city manager position in New Hope, Minn. Bertholf had been a finalist for the city manager’s job, which was filled by Scott Marshall.
Sauve, who goes by JJ, lives in Tryon, N.C. but works just across the border in Landrum, S.C., where he oversees operations, training, and compliance for the Landrum Fire and Rescue District. The area is about 250 miles north of Beaufort.
He’s got varied skills.
His law practice — Sauve Law Firm — represents local governments and public safety organizations across western North Carolina. As part of his legal practice, Sauve serves as the staff attorney and public information officer for the Polk County, North Carolina Sheriff’s Office.
From April 2016 to March 2019, Sauve also served as an assistant district attorney in Polk and Henderson counties in North Carolina prosecuting misdemeanor and felony cases.
Sauve started out in public safety as a junior volunteer firefighter at the Tryon (N.C.) Fire Department. He was a seasonal forest ranger and fire crew leader for the North Carolina Forest Service. He was also a corporal and field training officer with the Tryon (N.C.) Police Department and a firefighter with the Asheville (N.C.) Fire Department.
“He is an intriguing candidate for those reasons,” Marshall said of Sauve’s diverse experience, education and talents. “He brings a lot of professional expertise with him so he’ll be able to bring that to work right away.”
Marshall and Sauve still need to discuss specific responsibilities more in depth, Marshall said, but generally speaking he’ll be assisting with policies and programs that Marshall has been unable to give his full attention to.
“He’ll help us run a little bit faster than we’re running,” Marshall said.
Sauve, who will earn $130,000 annually, says he’s giving up his responsibilities tied to his law practice in order to take the full-time Beaufort job although he one day hopes to take the South Carolina bar exam.
Sauve says he and his wife, Nicole, who is in real estate, have spent a lot of time in the Lowcountry. Nicole once worked as a horse trainer and equine professional in Bluffton where they lived for a year. The couple has two children.
Working in city and county management has been a career goal.
“I’m very excited to be transitioning down to the Beaufort community,” Sauve told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet Monday.
He loves the city’s historic downtown area and the community pride of residents who have “some very strong opinions for sure.”
“I come from a small community up here where there is a lot of community pride,” Sauve said.
Sauve earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2021, and his law degree from the Charlotte School of Law in 2017. He earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and criminal justice from Waldorf University.
Sauve is the second key position the city has filled since in the last four months.
In August, the city named Benjamin T. Coppage of Coppage Law Firm, LLC, as city attorney.
Coppage replaced long-time Bill Harvey, who resigned without explanation seven months before his term was set to expire in May.
