ALBEMARLE — At the Stanly County Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday night, the board unanimously approved a pair of appointments that were presented to them.
Following two 7-0 votes, Jeremy Almond is now the newest member of the Consolidated Human Services Board, while Annie Brown is the latest addition to the Stanly County Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors.
Dolly Clayton, the county’s health and human services director, requested the appointment of Almond to fill the four-year term of the vacant registered nurse position on the Consolidated Human Services Board.
Almond initially applied back for the board in July 2023 at a time where there were no vacancies; the nursing position opened up in December and he has remained as the only applicant for their position.
On Oct. 3, he attended the human services board’s recent meeting and expressed a continued interest in serving as the board’s registered nurse.
“Just as an aside, Mr. Almond is the husband of one of the health employees, and she serves as the medical office assistant laboratory tech,” Clayton said. “However, the human services board did not feel that there was any perceived conflict of interest that would disallow him to serve in the role. By the legal statute, there is no conflict of interest. However, there could potentially be a perceived conflict of interest, and so you need to be aware of that in making your decision tonight.”
Commissioner Peter Asciutto made the motion to approve Almond and stated that he supported the human services board’s recommendation: “I would trust that if there were a perceived conflict to arise in this, it would probably be something specific and I’m sure he would recuse himself.”
After the commissioners’ unanimous approval, Stanly Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Kasey Brooks approached the board with the bureau’s recommendation for Brown’s appointment.
With Amanda Rowland leaving her position with the Stanly County Agri-Civic Center and resigning from the bureau’s Board of Directors, Brown — currently the event facilities coordinator at the Agri-Civic Center — was proposed as a potential replacement who could serve the remainder of Rowland’s three-year term.
“We’re now needing to appoint someone to fill that role on our board,” Brooks said. “We meet once a month on the second Wednesday morning of the month, and our proposal would be Annie Brown to fulfill that three-year term. With Annie’s experience with the bureau, she was an intern for many years and has a pretty vast amount of knowledge. I think she would be a huge asset for us.”
Following Brook’s presentation, the commissioners subsequently voted 7-0 to approve Brown as a new member of the Stanly County Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors.
“Just get us more heads in beds — that’s what we need,” Chairman Bill Lawhon said.
The Stanly County Board of Commissioners is set to hold its next regular meeting on Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. inside the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at Stanly County Commons.