ALBEMARLE — The Stanly County Board of Commissioners met for their annual organizational meeting on Monday night and had several items of business beyond the selection of board leadership.
Prior to the evening meeting, which saw the swearing in of five of the board’s seven commissioners, the outgoing slate of commissioners met on Monday morning at a specially called meeting to approve the insurance bond for the new sheriff. Jeff Crisco took office several hours before the new board was constituted and able to approve his bond.
County Manager Andy Lucas called the regular meeting to order with the first action on the agenda the oaths of office for commissioners Zach Almond, Mike Barbee, Lane Furr, Tommy Jordan and Bill Lawhon.
Superior Court Judge Jeff Carpenter administered the oath of office with Almond, Barbee, Furr and Jordan taking office as new members and Lawhon being seated for another term on the county’s top governing board.
Matthew Swain was unanimously elected as chairman of the board. Ashley Morgan was elected as vice chairman without opposition.
Following the selection of the board’s leaders, the commissioners approved bonds for the tax administrator, finance officer and register of deeds.
The board then passed a motion to appoint various commissioners to board and commissions. The motion, made by Commissioner Morgan and approved unanimously, made the following appointments:
Economic Development Board — Lawhon and Swain; Consolidated Health and Human Services — Jordan and Barbee; Library Board of Trustees — Almond; Airport Authority — Morgan, Almond (alternate); Fire District Commission — Furr; Senior Services Board — Barbee; Rural Transportation Planning Organization — Jordan, Swain (alternate); Water & Sewer Authority — Morgan, Furr (alternate); Centralina Council of Governments — Almond, Barbee (alternate); Cardinal Innovations Board — Lawhon.
The commissioners then established the meeting dates for the next year. Swain said that the board would keep the same schedule for the new term as in the following term. The board will continue to meet twice per month on the first and third Mondays of the month with the exception of the summer months when they will meet monthly. The board will also move their second meeting on Jan. 21, 2019, to Jan. 22 due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The board also approved the 2019 holiday schedule before adjourning the reorganization meeting and moved into the regular business meeting.
After hearing a presentation of the 2017-18 audit, which saw no significant audit findings, the board moved to the most significant vote of the evening. The commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to levy a quarter-cent sales tax which was authorized by the vote of the citizens of the county in the 2018 election. The resolution authorized the N.C. Department of Revenue to begin levying the additional tax in Stanly County on April 1, 2019.
New Sheriff Jeff Crisco was in attendance as well as Rep.-Elect Wayne Sasser.
The board adjourned its open meeting to enter into a closed session to discuss personnel and economic development.
The board will meet next on Jan. 7, 2019.
