There will be some new faces on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners in December – but the person occupying the center seat on the dais will be very familiar.
Chairman Skip Alston will once again be elected to lead the board for another year.
And this time, the board won’t merely have a solid Democratic majority. It’ll be solid Democrats.
Alston has informed the Rhino Times that he intends to seek that office again and that is the exact same thing as saying he will be elected again to the seat. When it comes to power in Guilford County government, Alston holds a whole lot of the cards.
Following the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election losses of Republican Commissioners Alan Perdue and Pat Tillman, all nine commissioners will be Democrats when the new board takes office in December. That’ll be the first entirely Democratic Guilford County Board of Commissioners this century.
Alston has already served as chairman 11 times, and his selection in early December will make it an even dozen – extending a record that already puts him well ahead of anyone else who’s held the job in Guilford County.
As the Rhino Times reported last year, former Chairmen Wally Harrelson and Bob Landreth each served four terms. Alston’s next term will bring his total to three times theirs.
The Rhino Times has referred to Alston as “Chairman for Life,” and the annual December leadership election hasn’t done much lately to undermine that description.
The commissioners elect a chairman and vice chairman each December to serve during the coming year. It’s a separate decision from the voters’ selection of commissioners, though, these days, there’s considerably more suspense in the public elections than in the board’s choice of a chairman.
That wasn’t always the case.
In earlier years, the chairmanship could produce some real political intrigue, with commissioners crossing party lines, forming alliances and trying to round up enough votes to put their preferred candidate in the center seat.
In recent years, however, the process has become much more predictable: If Alston wants the job, he gets it.
The chairmanship gives him more than a different place to sit: The chairman helps shape the agenda, works closely with county staff, presides over meetings and plays a major role in determining the board’s direction. Your title may say, “one commissioner,” but holding the gavel carries considerably more influence than simply occupying one of the other eight seats.
This year’s election will change several of those other seats.
Democrat Scott Jones defeated Perdue in District 2, while Democrat Derek Mobley defeated Tillman in District 3. They were both excellent and knowledgeable commissioners and there’s talk that the new board may give Alston more aggravation than the board’s with the current two Republicans do. The current board is extremely civil.
Greg Drumwright won the at-large seat being vacated by Kay Cashion, and Lisa McMillan ran unopposed for the District 7 seat that Frankie Jones is leaving. Jones told the rhino that he knew he would have his hands full with a newborn baby. Democratic Vice Chair Carlvena Foster also ran unopposed for another term. All county election results remain unofficial pending certification.
So, Alston will be leading a board with four incoming commissioners – and no Republican members to even complain about spending.
Perdue took it all in stride. “I started working for the county at 16 as a volunteer,” said the former fire fighter and former Emergency Services Director. I’ve been with the county for 50 years.”
Democrats already had seven votes on the nine-member board – more than enough to pass budgets, set the property tax rate and approve spending over Republican objections. Going forward, any disagreement over those decisions among commissioners will have to come from within the Democratic Party.
Perdue and Tillman cast the only two votes against the county’s budget in June, which included a 5.9-cent property tax rate increase. When the next budget reaches the board, neither will be there to cast a no vote.
