He may not be back to his old fighting form. But John Paisley, Jr. was back all the same on Monday as he resumed his duties as the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners after an interstice of a month and a half.
Due to his frail health, the wheelchair-bound 76-year-old had missed both of the meetings which the board of commissioners had convened in August, and he “attended” remotely when his colleagues held their latest regularly scheduled confab on September 2.
This spate of absences ultimately prompted fellow commissioner Pam Thompson to urge Paisley, who has been chairman for the past 2 1/2 years, to temporarily give up the gavel. Paisley flatly dismissed the idea when he tuned in to the proceedings on September 2 from home.
Yet, his determination to persist in this role became much clearer on Monday when he showed up at the board’s meeting chambers well ahead of the 6:30 p.m. start time in order to attend to his usual duties in person.
Due to his limited mobility, Paisley oversaw the meeting from a wheelchair-accessible table next to the dais. He also relied on the ministrations of his daughter Janet to juggle his agenda materials and gavel the meeting to order. Paisley nevertheless framed these peculiarities as features, rather than flaws, of his resolve to put the county’s taxpayers first.
“As you can see, I’m bound to a wheelchair now,” the board’s chairman acknowledged at the end of that evening’s gathering. “As chairman, I could have designated changes to this dais and the seating arrangement. But, it is much easier and cheaper for you taxpayers to have me sit over here to the side…It was a personal decision…because I am trying to save you dollars.”
