The Southern Pines Town Council voted unanimously Wednesday to give Town Manager Reagan Parsons a raise.

The council held a closed session during its agenda meeting to evaluate Parsons' job performance.

"It went really well," Mayor Mike Haney said. "We're happy with Reagan."

Parsons said that working for Southern Pines has been good.

"I love living here," he said. "I still enjoy working here. We've got a great staff of wonderful, dedicated employees."

After speaking with Parsons for about an hour, the council sent him home and voted to give him a 4.5 percent raise. That brings his annual salary to more than $115,000, according to Council-woman Abigail Dowd.

Haney called it a "superlative" review.

"We wanted to make sure we sent the message to Reagan that we're very pleased," Haney said, "and be responsible with the taxpayers' money. Especially in these economic times."

Parsons, 38, has been manager of Southern Pines for four years. He has helped guide the town through some difficult issues during the last year, including the battle over creating the Planning Unit Development (PUD) zoning district, the request by the developers of the proposed Pine Needles Village to rezone the property to PUD (which was defeated last December), the enactment of a moratorium, and the start of a long-range planning process.

"We had a lot of things happen the last year," Parsons said.

Nothing was off limits during the closed session discussion, Haney said.

"We talked about the good, the bad and the ugly," Haney said. "It was a very good, productive dialogue."

Parsons came to Southern Pines after being manager of Pataskala, Ohio. During Parsons' tenure, the town has had better communication with its neighbors, Haney said.

"I think the town benefits greatly, as does the whole area," Haney said. "He's worked hard to build good, strong, collegial relations with his colleagues at other towns."

Contact Matthew Moriarty at 693-2479 or by e-mail at moriarty@thepilot.com.