Fluvanna County Administrator G. Cabell Lawton IV was named today as New Kent County's new administrator, effective Feb. 16.

Ray Davis, chairman of the New Kent Board of Supervisors, said in a statement that he was impressed with the work Lawton, 41, had done in budgeting and planning in a community that experienced similar residential growth as New Kent over the last decade.

"We feel that Cabell can continue the strong, professional management that we have had in New Kent and look forward to working with him," Davis said. "We know that the New Kent community will welcome Cabell and his family to our county."

Lawton will earn $105,000 as county administrator.

Lawton has served as Fluvanna's administrator since 2003. Before then, he served as Fluvanna's assistant administrator from 2000 to 2003 and was the county's planning director before taking the assistant administrator's job. He is a graduate of East Carolina University.

Lawton succeeds John A. Budesky, who resigned in August to become executive director of Virginia's Worker's Compensation Commission. Assistant Administrator Bill Whitley has served as interim county administrator since Budesky's departure.