Councilman Vic Koos’ resignation from the Foxfire Village Council leaves the Council with the task of filing his seat on an interim basis — and the Board of Elections with the task of seeking another Village Council candidate for elections in November.
The State Board of Elections has declared a Special Filing Period from Noon on Wednesday July 20 to Noon on Tuesday, July 26, during which prospective candidates may file their intention to run for the two years left in Koos’ term of office. Those who wish to file must do so in person at the Moore County Board of Elections office at 700 Pinehurst Avenue in Carthage. The filing fee is $5.00.
There are already three Village Candidates on the ballot in November. Mayor George Erickson, whose four-year term on the council is expiring, has filed to stand for re-election. Ed Lauer will be leaving the Council; Woodland Circle resident Steven Durham has filed with the Board of Elections to run for that seat.
John Eltschlager, who was appointed to the Council in August 2010, after the resignation of Page Coker, will seek re-election for the two years left in that term of office.
That leaves no candidate seeking to serve out the two years left in Koos’ term of office.
Moore County Elections Director Glenda Clendenin explained that the Foxfire Village Charter requires the Council to fill a vacant seat with thirty days of a vacancy, but that appointment is good only until the next regularly-scheduled municipal election, when the voters are asked to fill the seat.
What if no one files to run for Koos seat by noon on Tuesday?
“Then we will facilitate a write-in space on the ballot,” Clendenin told The Times.
Durham ready to serve
The new name already on the ballot, running for the seat currently held by Ed Lauer, is Steven Durham, a retired public schools superintendent from Connecticut, who moved to Foxfire in June of 2007.
Durham told The Times that he and his wife purchased their lot on Woodland Circle in 2001, having made frequent visits to friends who had already settled in the Village.
“We got to know the area and liked it, and liked the Foxfire golf courses Durham told The Times.
Asked why he had chosen to run for Council, Durham said he had spent his career in public service and had a “vested interest in the future of Foxfire Village.”
He has served on the Long Range Planning Committee for the past two years, which has made him “familiar with the nuances of the challenges and opportunities facing the VIllage,” Durham told The Times. “I think I have some sense for what the Village may need to continue to prosper going forward.”
Durham noted that one key to Foxfire’s future prosperity is likely to be getting more Village citizens involved in Village affairs.
