THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408230376
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
The number of candidates for a vacant seat on the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners has grown to five, and includes a former mayor of the municipality.
Joe Deneke, who in 1992 was appointed mayor to serve the remainder of the unexpired term of the late Clyde Bounds, joins Bill Stover, Bill Morris, Steve Sawin and Neil White in the race to fill the seat left vacant by the unexpected death earlier this summer of Mayor Pro Tem Lacy McNeill.
The Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners set Sept. 12 as the date it will fill the vacancy.
Stover, Morris and White were among a field of possible appointees for a seat left vacant last winter when Terry Gray was elected mayor. Lurana Cowan was appointed to serve the remainder of Gray's commission term, which expires in December 1995.
Cowan lost in last November's election to current Commissioner E.M. ``Coy'' Harbeson 378 to 366. She was the next highest vote getter in the balloting, but town officials said that was not the only criteria used in selecting a replacement.
``I can't speak for the other commissioners,''Gray said following the last commission meeting. ``But I supported Mrs. Cowan because I felt she would give the best service to the town.''
Two individuals with ties to the Kill Devil Hills Taxpayers Association have submitted applications for appointment to McNeill's seat.
Sawin, a past president of the association, and White, a member of the organization's board of directors, have each qualified for review by the commission, as has Morris, a Dare County sheriff's deputy.
Former Dare County Information Officer Gwen White also sought the vacancy that was filled by Cowan. She said late Monday she had not reached a decision on applying for the vacancy left by McNeill.
``I'm considering it,'' she said. ``But I haven't made a decision.''
Candidates are advised to file by Sept. 2, and no later than Sept. 9.
Commissioners will review resumes submitted by the candidates, and have the option of interviewing individual candidates on their own.
The process has drawn the criticism of at least one member of the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners.
Harbeson called the selection method ``a hodgepodge affair,'' and suggested the commission as a whole interview each candidate. However, a majority of the commission supported the selection method. by CNB