Pete Allen Sets His Sights on Carteret County Board
By Jannette Pippin, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.
Feb. 15–BEAUFORT — When Pat McElraft decided to run for state House this year, it left an opening on the Carteret County Board of Commissioners.
Tuesday, Emerald Isle town commissioner Pete Allen announced his hopes to fill it.
Allen filed Tuesday as a candidate for the District 1 seat on the county board, the slot now held by McElraft who is running as a Republican for state House District 13.
Allen, also a Republican, has held several roles in local government, including stints as Emerald Isle’s mayor and town manager, Carteret County manager and Atlantic Beach town manager. He’s served as an Emerald Isle commissioner since January 2005.
By coincidence, he was appointed at that time to fill a vacancy left by McElraft’s move to the county Board of Commissioners.
“It’s an opportunity to serve the whole county again,” Allen said.
Allen was joined by McElraft at the elections office on the second day of elections filing for 2006 races.
“I’m excited,” said McElraft, a Republican from Emerald Isle who announced last week her intent to run for the House spot vacated by Jean Preston. “When you finally come in and file, you’ve stepped over that line. There’s no turning back.”
Also on Tuesday, two incumbents on the Board of Commissioners filed for re-election.
Commissioner Ray Muns, who is seeking a return to the District 2 seat, arrived at the elections office with a group of supporters and announced his interest in continuing to serve the citizens of the county.
Muns said development of the county’s Downeast communities, the upcoming property revaluation and the school construction projects are major issues ahead. He vowed to work to improve the lives of the county’s elderly and handicapped citizens.
“I’m Republican through and through, and I believe in lower taxes and smaller government,” he said.
Commissioner Lynda Clay, also a Republican, is seeking a second term on the District 3 Morehead City seat. She hopes to continue work on projects already underway and seeing other ones through.
“There are still many issues I’d like to work toward being completed,” she said.
Clay said she would like to see a new emergency operations center for the county. And with last month’s approval of a $50 million school bond referendum, she is pushing for county oversight in the school construction and renovation projects now being planned. She also wants to remain involved in transportation projects for the county.
The race for Carteret County Board of Education also gained another candidate.
The board’s current chairman, Cathy Neagle of Morehead City, has filed for re-election to her District 3 seat.
In other local election activity, Beaufort resident Carl L. Tilghman filed at the state Board of Elections office in Raleigh for a judicial seat. He is running for a Superior Court Judge seat for District 3B, which includes Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties.
Tilghman, a former special superior court judge, is currently working as Carteret County’s tax administrator.
Contact Jannette Pippin at jpippin@freedomenc.com or by calling (252) 808-2275.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.
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