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11/13/02

Swanger, Noland vie for board chairmanship

By Scott McLeod
Incoming commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick right now appears to be holding the swing vote in determining who will be the next Haywood County Board chairman.

Mark Swanger and incumbent Bill Noland both want the chairmanship, and both right now seem to have two votes.

Swanger says his commanding victory in the recent county board election, along with his experience as school board chairman, make him the right commissioner to serve as chairman.

“I believe that my experience on the school board provides me with insight and some skills to do the job,” said Swanger. “Additionally, experience in restructuring a board’s decision-making process is something I’ve been through before.”

Swanger also said that his major campaign theme was fixing what he describes as a dysfunctional decision-making process on the board, and that his high vote total is a mandate from citizens to lead the commissioners through the process.

“The message I heard all through the campaign was that the process has to be changed,” said Swanger.

Kevin Ensley, a Republican who won a seat on the board in his third attempt, offered Swanger his support on election night. He said Swanger deserves the post.

“I support Mark because he got the highest number of votes and because of his being chairman of the school board,” said Ensley. “I think the school board made a lot of progress since he became chairman.”

Although Noland did not say during an interview that he was seeking the chairmanship, incumbent Carlyle Ferguson said both Swanger and Noland have sought his support.

“I’ve not talked to any of the candidates since the election,” said Noland. “We’ll discuss that at the right time. I’ve formed no strong feelings one way or another yet.”

Ferguson, however, refuted that four days after the Noland interview. Ferguson said he is “90 percent leaning toward Noland,” but that he has not sealed his decision.

“I’m leaning toward Bill. He has been asking me for my support for a long time,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson said he did not have any problem with Swanger, and that he wanted to avoid having the new board get off on the wrong foot. He said a battle for the chairmanship between current chairman Jim Stevens and Commissioner Mary Ann Enloe (who lost in the Nov. 5 election) may have contributed to some of the divisiveness on the current board. Ferguson was often the swing vote on the board, a situation he hopes won’t happen as often in the future.

“I just think we’re better off when we are united, not that there’s anything wrong with having split votes and having different views,” said Ferguson.

Kirkpatrick said he is thinking about who to support but has not made a decision.

“I won’t make a decision about it until we meet and discuss it,” said Kirkpatrick.

Swanger, who last week resigned his school board seat, said he hoped to discuss the chairmanship issue individually with some of the other candidates prior to the first meeting where the decision will be made by the board. The chairman gets no special voting role but does control the agenda and decides when an issue will come to a vote. He is also the de facto county leader in terms of signing legal documents and representing the county in various capacities.


Justice Center

Commissioners seem to be in some agreement that the justice center project should be looked at and a decision made on how to proceed within 90 days.

“I want to review it and move forward. If construction has begun and stopping or changing would incur significant damages and costs, we probably shouldn’t stop,” said Swanger.

“It may be too late to review the parking deck. We will have to be responsible, you can’t just slash and burn if it is going to cost the taxpayers.”

Noland said giving the incoming commissioners the opportunity for a review period with architects and others is a good idea.

“We will do a presentation, make sure they know everything that’s gone on in the last four years,” said Noland. “Nothing was done behind closed doors. I hope they will support this because it is badly needed and we need to move forward.”

Ferguson also wants to continue with the project, but that he is willing to look for savings in individual parts of the larger plan.

Kirkpatrick has supported a “limited review” of the project, but he said after the election he will not support changing the outside or the size. He will support scaling the plan back or perhaps altering the interior design.

“I’m trying to meet with architects and others to get more information on all of this,” said Kirkpatrick. “I don’t plan on making any changes that will cost the county money.”

Ensley said he would like to downsize the project, but he conceded that he did not believe the votes would be there to do that.

“But people have been talking about a review, and I would at least like to do that,” said Ensley.