A scheduled meeting of the Pender County Board of Commissioners ended without any action on Sept. 21 after two commissioners did not show up. With one seat vacant, that left the board without enough members to vote on any action. At least three commissioners must be present to make a quorum.
Chairman Randy Burton and Commissioner Jerry Groves were the two not in attendance.
County Manager Colby Sawyer stated he was not aware that a quorum would not be present until around 15 minutes prior to the meeting, which started at 6 p.m.
The absence of a quorum meant several agenda items were left unattended. Perhaps most notable among them, the appointment of a commissioner to the vacant seat.
Beth Burns was chosen to fill the vacancy by the Pender County
Republican Party Executive Board in August. Her official appointment had been delayed by a challenge made by Burton to the North Carolina Republican Party.
The morning of Sept. 21, the Pender County Republican Party announced on Facebook that the NCGOP had issued a final opinion that the recommendation to appoint Burns to the vacant seat was upheld.
“Our hope is that the Pender County Commissioners would suspend the rules and add the appointment of Beth Burns to the Board of Commissioners, representing District 1,” the Facebook post read.
Commissioner Jimmy Tate, in attendance along with Vice Chairman Brent Springer, called the situation “disgraceful.”
“I believe this is intentional,” Tate said. “We have no representation in the biggest district in the county because of politics in the last five weeks.”
When reached for comment, Burton said he had a scheduling conflict and had made Sawyer and Springer aware of his absence.
Groves told the StarNews that he chose not to attend the meeting and sent an email “a little after 5 p.m.” He stated that the reason was for his own safety.
“The totality of some posts on local media platforms have surely made me aware of my personal safety.,” Groves stated.
After a recess where legal counsel deliberated the available options, Springer announced that no further business would be conducted and the board would go into recess until a date to be announced.
"The Pender County Republican Party expected to have Mrs. Burns appointed tonight to the vacant District 1 county commissioner's seat, per the recommendation of the Pender County GOP’s Executive Committee," said Joshua Smith, chairman of the Pender County Republican Party. "We are disappointed that this did not occur tonight and that we were unable to return representation to the Board for our District 1 residents."
Charlie Kingree is the Pender County and trending topics reporter for the StarNews. He can be reached at ckingree@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Safety fears leave Pender board without quorum, vacancy unresolved
