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.
Sean Alston while doing an interview at WIZS in 2020.
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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