Former Montreat town manager charged with DWI

Jason Burrell arrested by BMPD following termination in neighboring town

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
May 8, 2023

The former manager of Montreat was arrested, May 4, by the Black Mountain Police Department ad charged with DWI. Photo by Fred McCormick

The former town manager of Montreat was arrested, May 4, and charged with driving while intoxicated, following a traffic stop in neighboring Black Mountain. 

Jason Burrell, hired as Montreat’s first town manager in March, was taken into custody by Black Mountain Police, who assisted the Montreat Police Department on the scene, according to a BMPD report. 

Burrell, the document reads, was no longer employed by the town when the MPD initiated a traffic stop on his vehicle around 6 p.m., near the 200 block of N.C. 9. Officers from BMPD arrived and administered a preliminary breath test and standardized field sobriety test, according to the narrative of a responding officer. Burrell was subsequently charged with one count of DWI and transported to the Buncombe County Detention Facility, the report continued.

The Town of Montreat adopted a council-manager form of government in 2022, replacing its previous mayor-council system. The position of town administrator, and later town manager, was filled by an interim official until Burrell stepped into the permanent role, on March 27. 

Prior to his employment with Montreat, Burrell held the same position in the Town of Canton, where he was suspended without pay in April of 2021. He resigned from that role the following May. 

Montreat announced Burrell’s departure, May 5, in a brief statement on the “Montreat Minute” newsletter, featured weekly on its website. 

“Yesterday, the Mayor informed the Town Council that we are searching for a new Town Manager,” the statement reads. “Things did not work out with Jason Burrell.”