The year that just ended was particularly eventful for Alamance County’s government, which turned the page on several long-running ventures by the time that it swapped out the old calendar on Wednesday.
Some of the county’s most notable milestones from 2024 have involved the facilities that it’s obligated to provide on behalf of the local courts system.
For starters, the past year saw the county complete the conversion of a former law office along Maple Street to serve as the professional digs for the county’s new public defender’s office. In the meantime, the county has reorganized some of its existing facilities to create more courtroom space in preparation for the addition of a fifth district court judge – a position that former clerk of court Meredith Edwards ultimately sewed up during November’s general election.
In order to provide a more permanent solution to the local court system’s space needs, the county’s board of commissioners has also signed off on a $37 million plan to renovate and expand the Judge J.B. Allen, Jr. Court House in Graham. A majority of the commissioners gave their formal approval to this endeavor in August – and they tentatively agreed to fund it with a 1 cent property tax increase that won’t actually take effect until 2026.
In addition to these court-related projects, the county has officially inaugurated a new behavioral health center in Burlington to treat people whose mental health issues might otherwise land them in the emergency room or in the county jail. Although this multi-million dollar facility held its grand opening over the summer, it was, at last check, still waiting on the state’s blessing for a 16-bed in-patient wing that had been one of this project’s chief selling points with the board of commissioners.
These brick-and-mortar developments have occurred in the midst of some other, memorable changes among the people who make Alamance County tick.
In August, for instance, the county bid farewell to its tax administrator, Jeremy Akins, who abruptly gave up his post after two of his subordinates were sacked for tinkering with the assessed values of property that they, or their relatives, had on the tax rolls.
The county also let down the gangplank to admit more than a dozen new jailers and deputies who’ve enlisted since the commissioners approved signing bonuses worth up to $10,000 over 22 months to rectify a persistent manpower shortage at the local sheriff’s department.
In the meantime, the county’s governing board has welcomed a couple of newcomers into its own ranks as a result of developments that occurred during November’s general election.
These freshly-inaugurated members include Ed Priola, who won one of the board’s three available seats when area voters went to the polls – the other two having been clinched by incumbent county commissioners Pam Thompson and John Paisley. Priola effectively wound up with a slot that had belonged to former commissioner Bill Lashley, who opted not to seek reelection this year and ultimately stepped down from the dais mere moments before Priola took his oath of office on December 2.
Sworn in alongside Paisley, Priola, and Thompson was former Haw River mayor Kelly Allen, who had been tapped by the local Republican Party to take over a seat previously held by former commissioner Craig Turner. Turner had resigned from the county’s governing board in November after he was elected to a district court judgeship during that month’s general election.
