4 GOP Hopefuls in Runoff for 2 County Seats: Board Will Set Stage for Long-Term Union Growth

By Mike Donila, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

May 28–For those wanting to help run the county, Tuesday is the big day.

Barring a November write-in candidate, voters will decide the make-up of the next Union County Board of Commissioners.

Since no Democrats filed to run, the five-member board will again be made up strictly of Republicans.

Ten candidates vied for three open seats on the board during the May 2 primary elections. Only candidate Allan Baucom garnered the mandatory 40 percent to avoid a runoff.

The next top four vote-getters — Lanny Openshaw, Parker Mills, Richard Stone and Stony Rushing — will face off for the remaining two open seats.

This will be the board that sets the stage for the county’s long-term growth.

It will be the board that determines whether a much-discussed adequate public facilities ordinance that ties residential development approval to available classroom space goes forward.

It will also be the board that comes up with ways to handle the overburdening of the county’s schools.

The final four candidates have generally been placed into two segments.

The political buzz has usually grouped Openshaw and Stone in an “anti-developer” group and labeled Rushing and Mills as “pro-developer.”

The candidates, though, have often tried to distance themselves from the labels, saying they want to represent all residents.

Depending on the outcome, the election could mean a shift in philosophy on the board.

Right now, three of the five sitting commissioners support the current residential moratorium and a public facilities ordinance.

But the commissioner who spearheaded these initiatives, Hughie Sexton, was defeated in the May 2 election.

Commissioner Stone, who is in the runoff, and Openshaw openly support the ordinance.

Incumbent Rushing doesn’t, and Mills, a former commissioner, says the proposed ordinance raises many questions — like how to account for affordable housing — that have yet to be answered.

Meanwhile, incoming commissioner Allan Baucom says he supports the ordinance “in theory,” but does not support the one that county and municipal leaders have spent the past year developing.

The ordinance is expected to be approved before the new commissioners are sworn in during the first meeting in December. But depending on the runoff’s outcome, a majority of the board could overturn the decision.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

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