Alamance-Burlington school board members have appointed Ken Walker of Mebane, who owns a real estate firm in Mebane, to a four-year term on Alamance Community College’s board of trustees.
Walker was the only person who submitted a letter of interest for the vacancy on ACC’s board, ABSS officials confirmed Monday afternoon for The Alamance News.
As such, the vote to appoint Walker to the community college board was unanimous, 6-0.
Walker replaces longtime ACC trustee Carl Steinbicker, who had served on ACC’s board since 2007 and recently announced that he would not seek reappointment prior to the expiration of his term on June 30. Steinbicker has since been appointed as a trustee emeritus for ACC.
In addition to owning the real estate firm at 202 South Fifth Street in Mebane, Walker was also a part-owner in JDK Enterprises, a discount apparel store that had operated in Mebane years ago, according to the interest letter he submitted to ABSS in mid-April.
In the letter of interest he submitted to ABSS for the upcoming vacancy on ACC’s board, Walker noted, “My entrepreneurial business background has allowed me to develop many management and decision-making skills that would be valuable in strategic planning [and] budget management.”
Walker has also served on a committee that created a long-range development plan for the city of Mebane; as chairman of Alamance County’s planning board; and as a deacon at his church, which he didn’t identify by name in the letter of interest he submitted to the school board.
In keeping with ACC’s customary practice, Walker will be sworn into office at the trustees’ next regularly-scheduled meeting in August. His term is scheduled to run through June 30, 2027.
Meanwhile, retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Blake Williams – who currently serves as the trustees’ chairman – was recently reappointed by Alamance County’s commissioners to a third, four-year term, which also runs through June 30, 2027.
The office of gubernatorial appointments has not yet announced whether ACC trustee Pete Glidewell, who was appointed in 2019 by Gov. Roy Cooper, has been reappointed to a second term. Glidewell’s current term is scheduled to expire tomorrow, June 30.
Under a current state law, appointments to the 58 community college trustee boards are divided equally among the local board of county commissioners, school board, and the governor, which are each responsible for appointing four trustees.
However, a bill that state senator Amy Scott Galey, a Republican who represents Alamance County and part of Randolph County in the General Assembly, co-sponsored earlier this year would strip the governor and local school boards of their authority to appoint community college trustees.
Instead, the commissioners would continue to appoint four members, while the General Assembly would be responsible for appointing eight members to each community college trustee board.
The bill, titled “Community College Governance,” was forwarded to a House rules committee early last month, where it remains, according to the General Assembly website.
