Board chairman, who missed previous two meetings, attended remotely from home Tuesday
“I think maybe it might be better right now if you temporarily step down as chairman [she said to paisley, who attended the meeting online]. and when you get back on your feet. . . you come right back.”
– County commissioner Pam Thompson
A bid to get the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners to give up the gavel on account of his health was effectively dead on arrival when it came before the board of commissioners earlier this week.
John Paisley, Jr. ultimately retained the chairmanship on Tuesday despite the fact that his ill health prevented him from meeting with his fellow commissioners in person that morning.
Paisley nevertheless assured the rest of the board that he isn’t down for the count when he tuned in to Tuesday’s proceedings remotely.
“I have had some health issues,” he told the rest of the board. “But I’m working with Duke University and they’re hoping to continue to improve my health status.”
The wellbeing of chairman John Paisley, Jr. had been a matter of much speculation long before the commissioners convened their latest semimonthly meeting on Tuesday.
Since the start of the current calendar year, the 76-year-old attorney has been bound to a wheelchair, and his limited mobility eventually prompted the county’s administrators to relocate his seat from the dais to a more accessible spot in the board’s meeting chamber. Until earlier this summer, Paisley was able to attend all of the board’s regularly-scheduled meetings thanks to the indefatigable assistance of his wife, Joyce. The chairman’s growing infirmity has nevertheless caused regular delays in his arrival, while an apparent loss of strength in his arm has compelled him to have the board’s vice chairman Steve Carter gavel the meetings to order.
Anxieties about Paisley’s health were recently heightened when the chairman was uncharacteristically absent from both of the board’s regularly-scheduled meetings in August. Although Paisley’s physical absence continued on Tuesday, he was able to participate in the meeting remotely using the Microsoft Teams platform.
The chairman’s return to active duty – albeit remotely – didn’t do much to salve the concerns of commissioner Pam Thompson.
A one-time Republican who now identifies as an unaffiliated voter, Thompson has butted heads with the Republican chairman on several occasions since they both joined the county’s governing board in 2020. On Tuesday, however, Thompson took a decidedly cordial tone as she suggested that the board’s chairman may want to take a step back from his leadership role.
“John, I’ve known you for 35 years,” she declared. “I call you my friend and I respect you. But I’m concerned about your health, and this is the third meeting you’ve been unable to attend.”
Thompson went on to propose that, for the good of the board, Paisley should take a momentary time out from his responsibilities as chairman.
“I think maybe it might be better right now if you temporarily step down as chairman,” she added, “and when you get back on your feet…you come right back.”
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This recommendation drew a forceful rebuke from fellow commissioner Ed Priola, who pointed out that Thompson had broken ranks with her colleagues when they selected Paisley for his current one-year term as the board’s chairman.
“Particularly coming from a commissioner who did not vote for chairman Paisley, I don’t find it to be appropriate for her to make these sort of comments. The fact of the matter is that we should not be pressuring the acting chairman because he was elected by the voters of Alamance County. There’s no secret that he’s had some health challenges. . . But he’s quite able to exercise his mental faculties appropriate to the job. . . and I think we should let him decide what his future with this board would be.”
– County commissioner Ed Priola
“Particularly coming from a commissioner who did not vote for chairman Paisley, I don’t find it to be appropriate for her to make these sort of comments,” Priola asserted. “The fact of the matter is that we should not be pressuring the acting chairman because he was elected by the voters of Alamance County,” the first-term Republican went on to add. “There’s no secret that he’s had some health challenges…But he’s quite able to exercise his mental faculties appropriate to the job…and I think we should let him decide what his future with this board would be.”
In her own defense, Thompson insisted that she had objected to Paisley’s current assignment as chairman not from personal enmity but because he had already held the position for two years in a row.
Meanwhile, Paisley was adamant that he continued to attend to his obligations as chairman notwithstanding his health problems.
“I’ve spoken to most of the commissioners regarding this entire agenda prior to the meeting,” he recalled as he weighed in on the discussion from home, “and we’ve discussed all the issues in detail.”
Paisley went on to commend Steve Carter for overseeing the board’s most recent meetings in his capacity as vice chairman. He insisted, however, that he has no intention of ceding the chairman’s position.
“Thanks so much,” he perorated, “and other than that, I have no further comments.”
