LAURINBURG — The Scotland County Board of Commissioner are seeing a change in vice-chair, but not for chairman.
During Monday night’s monthly meeting, Carol McCall nominated Whit Gibson for the chair position, while Clarence McPhatter nominated Tim Ivey.
Gibson claimed the chair position over Ivey in a 4-3 vote. Gibson has been serving as the chairman for the board in July of this year after McCall decided to step down due to health issues.
“I appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve as chairman having been appointed in the middle of 2021 to finish Commissioner McCall’s term as chairman,” Gibson said. “I think it’s a great responsibility and I think we have a good board that’s diverse and while we have challenges we try and meet them in a reasonable manner. Hopefully, we can work together for the betterment of the citizens of this county from economic development to providing services to the citizens.”
For vice-chair, Tim Ivey nominated Darrel “B.J.” Gibson and Betty Blue Gholston nominated John Alford. Alford won the vice-chair seat 4-3 and it’s the first time in the 17 years he’s been on the board he’s filled the position.
Back in October Alford submitted his resignation from the board but in late November announced he was resending that decision and would serve his remaining three years.
“I withdrew my resignation because I appreciate serving and the people who have supported me over these past 17 years,” Alford said. “It was just hard for me to walk away … I’m looking forward to filling in when the chairman is not here and becoming responsible for our board appointments. I’ve been on numerous boards in all my 17 years, one of them is the Work Force Development board which I have served on that board for 30 years, prior to becoming a commissioner I was on that board.”
Chairman Gibson added he was glad Alford agreed to step up and take the position and that he’s looking forward to continuing to work with him.
COVID-19 update
Health Director Eli Caldwell gave an update on the COVID-19 numbers in the state and in the county, which are some of the lowest trends in the state.
Despite this Caldwell encouraged the commissioner to continue the mask mandate due to the upcoming holiday and potential spikes that could come with it.
The commissioners were in agreement to revisit the mandate at the January meeting and voted 6-1 to continue the mandate with Tim Ivey casting the lone no vote.
Katelin Gandee can be reached at [email protected].
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