Gibsonville aldermen agreed last week with a recommendation from the town’s ABC board to begin paying board members $200 for each monthly meeting they attend.
Paul Koonts, chairman of the ABC Board, approached the aldermen about instituting a per-meeting payment of $200; heretofore, the board members had been unpaid volunteer. Koonts said he had been told by state ABC officials that the town’s ABC Board is one of the few in the state that doesn’t pay its board members anything.
Koonts also pointed out that the board is short a third member, with only he and Caryn Richmond currently filling two of the board’s three seats.
Koonts asked the aldermen to solicit community input in hopes of getting applications for a third member. The aldermen are responsible to appoint the board members.
Aldermen ultimately voted 5-0 in favor of the payment for board members.
Koonts also told the aldermen that the board is considering whether to open a second store in the town. Gibsonville is rather unique across in the state in operating a single ABC store and having its own board. The Gibsonville ABC store is at 112 Piedmont Avenue, on the Guilford County side of the town that straddles the Alamance-Guilford County line.
In some areas, such as Alamance County, ABC stores are operated by a county-wide governing board, while in other areas, such as Guilford County, there are individual municipal ABC boards.
The Alamance Municipal ABC Board with five members oversees five stores in Burlington (2), Graham (2), and Mebane (1).
In Guilford County, there are separate boards for Greensboro, which has 17 ABC store locations, and High Point, which has seven.
According to the state ABC website, Greensboro board members are not paid.
State law sets the maximum pay for ABC board members as $150 per member per meeting, unless the local appointing authority sets a higher amount. Koonts did not offer an explanation to the board of aldermen for establishing an amount, $200, which exceeds the state law maximum of $150.
Read other Gibsonville news in this week’s edition:
- Demolition contract approved to begin clearing part of old Dixie Belle textile mill now owned by the town: https://alamancenews.com/gibsonville-will-pay-77600-to-demolish-part-of-mill-building-it-now-owns/
- Christmas Parade for 2025 will start at 4:00 in the afternoon, rather than traditional 2:00 p.m. start time: https://alamancenews.com/gibsonville-will-experiment-with-saturday-400-p-m-start-time-for-2025-christmas-parade/
- Aldermen give mid-year raise to town’s 75 employees that will cost its taxpayers $331,000 annually: https://alamancenews.com/aldermen-ok-331k-in-raises-for-towns-75-employees/
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