On Thursday, Dec. 7, when the Guilford County Board of Commissioners reelects Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston to that top leadership position, the commissioners will also reelect the board’s Vice Chair Carlvena Foster to that role for another 12 months.

The board, which consists of seven Democrats and two Republicans, is expected to produce a unanimous vote in both instances. That unanimous vote could have been in jeopardy if former Republican Commissioner James Upchurch were still on the board. However, Upchurch left for greener pastures in Georgia earlier this year.

The two Republicans who remain on the board – Commissioners Alan Perdue and Pat Tillman – are expected to go along with the vote despite the fact that they would no doubt prefer a Republican chair and vice-chair.  The Republican’s usually see no point in voting no in a lost cause on this matter, and all the commissioners like to start off the New Year with a show of unity – even if political differences rear their ugly heads later.

Also, it’s Christmastime and the county’s top leaders like to get along as much as possible once county staff have brought in the poinsettias to decorate the commissioners’ meeting room.

 The disagreements will start up fresh in January.

High Point residents – who often feel like they don’t get a fair shake from the Guilford County Board of Commissioners – like to have one of their commissioners in board leadership, and  Foster is always a strong advocate for that city, where she resides and serves on more than 20 boards and commissions.

Foster, who has served as a Guilford County Commissioner since 2014, was a Guilford County Board of Education member before that. In addition to fighting for High Point when it comes time to decide issues and funding for county projects, she is also strong advocate for Guilford County Schools.

The board’s vice chair helps set the agenda for meetings and runs those meetings when the chair isn’t present or has to recuse himself or herself from a discussion due to a conflict of interest.

When the Guilford County Board of Commissioners held a meeting in High Point early last year, Foster ran the meeting even though Alston was sitting right there next to her.  Alston said at that time that he wanted her to take charge since that meeting was on her home turf.

Foster, who has won multiple civic awards, is a member of the High Point Economic Development Board, Communities in Schools and the High Point Downtown Catalyst Project Executive Board and sits on the board of many other service organizations.

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