Aurora town clerk resigns

Published 8:01 pm Tuesday, May 24, 2016

AURORA — Aurora’s town clerk resigned last week after what town officials describe as dissent within the Board of Commissioners.

“It’s just time for me to move on to some other goals,” former town clerk Judi Lannon said. “It’s been my honor to serve the citizens of the Town of Aurora and the Richland Township district. This is a positive move for me, and I hope it will be for the town.”

According to Town Commissioner W.C. Boyd Jr., there was a discrepancy regarding the minutes of the board of commissioner’s May 20 meeting — a discrepancy related to whether the board passed a resolution to appoint a task force for the North Carolina Department of Commerce economic plan for the town.

Boyd said there were some communication issues related to whether the commissioners had approved the task force in the meeting.

“We had our last meeting and there were some communication issues as far as how the last meeting went, and we didn’t approve the minutes,” Boyd said. “But hopefully, we’ll approve them in the next meeting. I would say the wording (of the minutes) wasn’t to the majority of our board’s liking. It wasn’t a motion made. A question came up whether we wanted to move forward with the task force. The way the minutes read, it looked like the majority of the board agreed to go with it.”

Boyd said he was not present at the May 20 meeting but heard from other town officials that a motion was not made to move forward with the task force steering the economic plan through the Department of Commerce.

Aurora Mayor Clif Williams said the town partnered with the Department of Commerce in 2008 to come up with a plan, but it was not executed fully. The town board later requested the Department of Commerce partner with the town to do another plan.

According to Williams, Department of Commerce representatives suggested the town build on the 2008 plan, which would save time and money. The board agreed to build on the previous plan, but based on the discrepancy in the minutes, board members decided not to move forward with the appointed task force steering the economic plan, Williams said.

“The board basically called (Judi) a liar,” Williams said. “The Department of Commerce came in and told the board they’d be glad to work with Aurora to further the existing plan, but there is not really money available to start a project like this all over again. We voted and approved it, and the board doesn’t remember any of it. The Department of Commerce said they would come back and explain it to (the board) one more time. (The board) basically called Judi and our town attorney liars, like they falsified information. (Judi) handed in her resignation right then and there.”

Charles Halsall, economic development planner with the Department of Commerce, said representatives of the commerce department are scheduled to meet with town officials June 6 to figure out how to get the plan started, but could not comment on the board members’ disagreement about how to approach implementation of the plan.

Lannon said she would be continuing her service as town clerk until Aug. 15 to make sure the town’s fiscal budget is set up and approved and the audit process is secure for the fiscal year, ending June 30.