Vance County Schools Closed Monday For Students; Optional Workday Begins At 10 A.M.

-from Aarika Sandlin, Vance County Schools Chief Officer of Communication & Innovative Support

Vance County Schools are closed for students Monday, and staff will have an optional workday beginning at 10 a.m.

The area is under a winter weather advisory and the forecast is calling for below-freezing conditions and frozen precipitation, so school officials made the call to close school for students. Essential personnel will report to their locations at 9:30 a.m.

 

Area Christians Together in Service (ACTS) is closed Monday, January 6, 2025

Area Christians Together in Service (ACTS) is closed Monday, January 6, 2025

Vance County Government Offices 2-Hour Delay 1-6-25

Vance County offices will operate on a two-hour delay Monday, January 6 and offices will open at 10:30 a.m., according to County Manager Renee Perry.

City of Henderson Government Offices Will Open at 10 a.m. on 1-6-25

Due to inclement weather, all City of Henderson Government offices will open at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, January 6, 2025.

Granville Health System Physician Practices Will Open At 12 Noon Monday, Jan. 6

– information from Lauren B. Roberson, Granville Health System
The Granville Health System’s physician practices will delay opening until 12 noon on Monday, Jan. 6.
The physician practices include the following:
Granville Primary Care & OB/GYN
Granville Primary Care Butner-Creedmoor
Express Care
Granville Gastroenterology Associates
Granville Urology Associates
Granville ENT
Granville Surgical Associates
Granville Medical Rehabilitation
Granville Heart & Vascular
Granville Behavioral Health

Franklin County Government Offices Will Operate on a 2-hour Delay 1-6-25

Franklin County government offices will operate on a two-hour delay and open at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, January 6, 2025 due to inclement weather.

Vance County Commissioners Meeting 1-6-25 Includes 24-25 Budget Public Hearing

Update 1-5-25:

Straight from the Vance County Commissioners meeting 1-6-25 agenda, the meeting will include within the first few items a fiscal year 2025-2026 pre-budget public hearing.

The public notice says, “The Vance County Board of Commissioners will conduct a FY 2025-26 Pre-Budget Public Hearing at 6:00 p.m., or shortly thereafter, on January 6, 2025 in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room at 122 Young Street, Henderson, NC.”

Before the Board of Commissioners begins work on next year’s budget, the board “is interested in receiving suggestions and priorities from residents to help them in the development of the budget.”

This is one of two required public hearings that will be held on the budget.

“The county manager will submit a recommended budget in May and a second public hearing will be held on the proposed budget on June 2, 2025,” the notice within the agenda states.

The budget is supposed to be adopted before July 1, 2024.

The agenda says, “This notice was published on December 24, 2024,” which in North Carolina means it was published in the newspaper.

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Vance County Logo

County Commissioners Called To Special Meeting Monday, Dec. 30

Update December 30, 2024 at 12:30 p.m.

Vance County Board of Commissioners Chair Sean A. Alston, Sr. is resigning to become a magistrate in Warren County.

County Manager C. Renee Perry said last week that Alston had called for a special called meeting for 10 a.m. today with the purpose stated as reorganization. No details were given when the meeting was announced.

Alston said he will step away from the commission tomorrow and will be sworn in as a magistrate on Wednesday, Jan. 1.

“It was a pleasure to be on this board for two years – I don’t want to go,” he said during the meeting. In an interview after the meeting, Alston told WIZS News that he had applied for a job as a magistrate before he became a county commissioner; as someone who has been self-employed, he said the opportunity to have state benefits and retirement was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.

He said he had “to disconnect” himself from politics before taking the magistrate position.

The board nominated Commissioner Carolyn Faines to be the new board chair, and in her first act as chair she asked to table the election of a vice chair until the regular board meeting on Jan. 6.

Commissioner Tommy Hester, however, asked to make a nomination during the special called meeting. Hester nominated Leo Kelly to be vice-chair. Although properly moved and seconded, the full board couldn’t agree when to elect the vice chair. That’s when county attorney Jonathan Care said the two motions on the floor needed to be acted upon. Although not unanimous, the board voted to table the election of the vice chair until its Jan. 6 meeting by approving the second motion on the table.

The next step is to appoint a qualified individual to assume Alston’s seat on the commission. The new commissioner should be from the same political and the same district as Alston.

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Update December 27, 2024 at 3:45 p.m.

Sean A. Alston, Sr., chair of the Vance County board of commissioners, has scheduled a special called meeting of the board for Monday, Dec. 30 at 10 a.m.

According to information from Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry, the purpose of the meeting is for a reorganization of the board and other items as needed.

The meeting will be held in the commissioners’ conference room in the Vance County Administration Building, 122 Young St.

Perry said the commissioners are meeting to address some recent changes.

TownTalk: Apollo Style Talent Show From Connie Ragland Productions

When the lights go down inside McGregor Hall Saturday afternoon, all the hard work of the musicians and other performers will be put to the test – it’s showtime.

Connie Ragland Productions and Reclaiming Our Youth presents “Showtime at McGregor Hall,” a talent show modeled after Showtime at the Apollo in New York’s Harlem Theater. The curtain rises at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14 on what Connie Ragland bills as a showcase of creativity, communication and celebration.

Tickets are on sale at etix.com and at the McGregor Hall box office – get them early, because the price goes up on the day of the show. Youth tickets are $15 and adult tickets are $20.

As Jayden Watkins puts it in a video he produced to promote the show, the audience will experience an “unforgettable night of talent and inspiration.”

Ragland said 10 acts will take the stage during the show. Auditions were held a month or so ago, at which time the performers were selected to compete. Four youth and six adults are included in the competition. Each act will have five minutes to perform and the audience will vote on each category with applause. A cash prize will be awarded to the winning youth and adult performer.

“There are many, many talents that are being displayed,” Ragland said on Wednesday’s TownTalk.

A DJ will keep the audience engaged between acts during the 2-hour show, making them “feel good and get them in the right spirit for Christmas,” Ragland said.

The show is for the whole community, she said, adding that she strives to represent all ages, cultures and backgrounds. “It’s for everyone,” she said. She would like to dispel the misconception that the show is just for one race or one generation.

“Entertainment is entertainment,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who’s providing the entertainment. We’re talking about building a better community, we’re trying to make Henderson better…we need to just start coming together and not being so separate with everything.”

To learn more, contact Ragland at 252.590.0303. or email her at connierag@gmail.com.

Purchase tickets at the McGregor Hall website, www.mcgregorhall.org, and click on Buy Tickets on the right side of the page.

CLICK PLAY!

Sossamon Requests Hand-To-Eye Recount In District 32 Contest

From the N.C. State Board of Elections

After the initial machine recount, Republican candidate Frank Sossamon trails Democratic candidate Bryan Cohn by 228 votes, 21,215 to 20,987. State law permits a candidate to request a sample hand-to-eye recount within 24 hours after the initial recount. Sossamon requested the recount.

The State Board conducted a random drawing at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2 to determine the Election Day precincts or early voting sites that will be recounted by hand in Granville and Vance counties.

The Vance County Board of Elections will conduct its hand recount starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3 at the Henry A. Dennis Building, 300 S. Garnett St.

The Granville County Board of Elections will conduct its hand recount in the sample of precincts starting at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the Granville County Board of Elections, 208 Wall St., Oxford.