ALBEMARLE — At the Stanly County Board of Commissioners meeting on Feb. 3, county commissioners were presented with two pending appointments delegated to board approval.
Elizabeth Underwood, Stanly County’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) director, approached the commissioners requesting the appointment of a private sector representative for the county on the Centralina Workforce Development Board (WDB).
In a letter written to the county by Centralina WDB Executive Director David Hollars, Carmen Davenport — a development partner for human resources at Norwood’s Michelin USA — was formally recommended for the position.
“The previous board member, Darryl Smith, has vacated his position,” Underwood said. “His term was supposed to end on June 30, 2026, and I’m here to request that Carmen Davenport be his replacement and appointed as a private sector representative on the board until June 30, 2026.”
Commissioner Scott Efird made the motion for Davenport’s appointment, which was seconded by Commissioner Billy Mills and confirmed with a unanimous 7-0 vote.
Stanly County has three members on the twenty-member Centralina WDB nominated by the county commissioners and appointed by the Centralina Job Training Consortium to serve two-year terms.
Stanly Community College representative Candice Moffitt and Charlotte Pipe and Foundry representative Brett Barbee will serve as the county’s other two members until their current terms expire on June 30.
Following Davenport’s appointment to the Centralina WDB, Stanly County Manager Andy Lucas notified the county commissioners that an email had been sent to the county office seeking a public representative for the Gaston Community Action Board of Directors.
The board specifically requested a public official from Stanly County who can serve a three-year term expiring on Feb. 2, 2028. Dr. Kim Scott and Clair Watkins are currently the only representatives on the board for the county.
Gaston Community Action, Inc. is a private non-profit corporation first chartered by North Carolina in 1964 to operate an anti-poverty program for families and individuals in Gaston, Cleveland, Lincoln and Stanly counties.
The Gaston Community Action Board of Directors meets in Gastonia on the first Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. with a virtual option offered as well for attendees.
Lucas provided some additional context for the position, adding that the non-profit pulls down community service block grant funding from the federal government to perform tasks such as weatherization of low-income homes, handicap ramps, and window installations.
“They’re missing somebody who is a public official from Stanly County,” Lucas said. “A lot of times, the federal government pushes these boards to have a mix of representation, so then they ask us to find somebody to be on them. If you know somebody who’s interested in serving in this capacity, then let us know and we’ll get it before you again. I don’t know if we’ve gotten any applications, so maybe you all can think of somebody and then we can take action on this at some point in the future.”
The Stanly County Board of Commissioners is set to hold its next regular meeting on Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. inside the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at Stanly County Commons.