ALBEMARLE — At Monday night’s Stanly County Board of Commissioners meeting, six members were named to the Stanly County Economic Development Commission.
EDC Director Candice Lowder opened up item four of the board’s meeting agenda by addressing the five EDC board terms expiring on Sept. 4, 2020, and a partial term expiring on Aug. 12, 2021.
“I come before you tonight on behalf of the Economic Development Commission to request the appointment of five members — one for each district — to terms that will expire on May 31, 2022,” Lowder said.
Because of the absence of Chairman Matthew Swain, who was unanimously excused from the meeting, a motion to table the nominations to the next board meeting was made by Commissioner Bill Lawhon; that request was seconded by Commissioner Tommy Jordan.
“All appointments are very important but economic development is super important and I think all commissioners should vote to have people put on those boards,” Lawhon said.
Vice Chairman Ashley Morgan, Commissioner Mike Barbee, and Commissioner Lane Furr voted against the motion, which failed 3-2.
Citing advice from a county attorney, Commissioner Zack Almond asked and was granted a request to be recused from the votes on Districts 2 and 3 due to a conflict of interest.
Furr, Almond, Jordan and Lawhon each voted for Larry Baucom for District 1, who was thereby renamed to the board with a 4-2 vote. Max Fesperman, nominated by Barbee, received votes from Morgan and Barbee.
For District 2, James “Cecil” Curlee Jr., a consultant for Preformed Line Products, and local bail bondsman Phillip Burr were nominated by Lawhon and Barbee, respectively. With a 3-2 vote, Burr was given the appointment — Furr, Morgan and Barbee voted for him, while Lawhon and Jordan voted for Curlee.
Former Stanly commissioner Joseph Burleson won the District 3 seat with votes by Morgan, Furr and Barbee. Eddie Wall, an executive at First Bank Insurance Services, received votes from Jordan and Lawhon.
Attorney Charles Brown was nominated by Almond and unanimously voted to District 4, while Cindy Beane was unanimously renamed to District 5.
Local certified public accountant Wil Huneycutt was nominated by Lawhon and unanimously named to the partial District 5 term that was vacated by former Stanly County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff James.
“He [Huneycutt] will serve us well if you all decide to put him in a position,” Lawhon said. “He’s currently the treasurer of the Stanly County Chamber of Commerce, and he does not serve on a Stanly County Board. He is one fine young man.”