Glen Alpine Alderman Jim Frady resigned from the board Monday, less than a month before municipal election filing starts.
Frady sent a letter of resignation to the mayor and other board members Monday afternoon.
Frady cited lack of direction of the board, in-fighting of the board and lack of leadership and vision as his reasons for resigning.
“The overall distrust of the entirety of town employees, the personal high-school-like squabbles, the failure to maintain common decorum and failure to understand that, as a council, we serve as support and direction for our departments, provide services to our citizenry and represent our community as an inviting place to raise a family and work; these should be our primarily goals, but sadly they have taken a backseat to agenda, and personally, alongside the aforementioned reasons, are the proverbial straw and ultimate withdrawal for my voice,” Frady said in his resignation letter.
People are also reading…
Frady was appointed around this time last year to fill an empty council seat left vacant after Michelle Lewis was appointed mayor. She replaced Mayor Bob Benfield, who stepped down from the position early last year.
On Tuesday, Frady said he expects the board will be dramatically restructured after the election. He said he knows there are others who won’t seek reelection.
“I pray that a lot of good, commonsense-minded people, I don’t care what side of the fence they fall on, but as long as common sense and, you know, transparency is their motto, then I have a feeling that they’ll be successful,” he said.
Glen Alpine Town Hall
Frady said he is a big believer the county should be the governing board for Glen Alpine and let it be similar to Salem, where he grew up.
He said he doesn’t believe a governing board should be involved in Glen Alpine, and that Burke County government could do more for the town and its residents.
“My hope is that the board will finally take their roles as elected individuals seriously, or finally turn it over to a governing body that sees the potential and is willing and able to invest the efforts into finally making Glen Alpine a destination, and not just a zip code,” Frady said in his letter.
The board of alderman seat is up for election this year, said Kenny Rhyne, director of elections for Burke County.
The mayor’s seat, Frady’s seat and two other seats, currently held by Jason Miller and Sheila Perkins, are up for election this year. The filing fee for both mayor and alderman seats is $5.
Municipal election filing in Burke County starts at 8 a.m. on Monday, July 7. Filing ends at noon on Friday, July 18.
