The Chatham County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 30 approved appointments and reappointments to 15 state and regional boards, confirming several delegates and alternates and directing staff to record the changes.

The appointments maintain county representation on regional planning and health bodies and reassign seats left open after former Commissioner Mike Dasher's term. The board identified specific delegates and alternates including Katie Kenlin for CAMPO with Commissioner Karen Howard as alternate; Karen Howard for the Central Carolina Community College Board of Trustees; Franklin Gomez Flores as a delegate to the Research Triangle Regional Partnership; and Karen Howard and Jenny Christiansen as delegates to the VIA Health regional board. The Board also noted several Central Pines Council of Governments seats (including the Aging and Adult Care/Nursing Home Committee) and Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization (TARPO) appointments, with David Delaney confirmed as an alternate for TARPO.

The board discussed whether the Central Pines Council of Governments Smart Growth Committee remains active; staff reported the committee's website shows its last recorded meeting about nine years ago. Commissioners agreed to remove or mark that committee as inactive pending confirmation. The board also discussed the Board of Health appointment process: county staff said that when a commissioner-designated board member's term expires, that seat is typically handled through the Board of Health's internal process and communicated through the department; the county will follow that practice rather than make a separate appointment at this meeting.

After the list of appointments was reviewed, a motion "to approve the appointments as amended" was made and seconded; the board approved the motion by voice vote and no roll-call tally was recorded. The board chair said the motion "carries." The packet and staff memo referenced in the meeting will be used to update official records and notify the regional bodies of the confirmed delegates and alternates.

Commissioners noted the need to avoid overloading a small number of members with multiple external assignments and agreed to monitor representation and workload when making future appointments.