Gurley officially files for seat on board
By From staff reports
Published in News on June 2, 2014 1:46 PM
Joe Gurley
Joe Gurley, retired director of the Wayne County Office of Emergency Services, Monday morning filed for the District 4 seat on the Wayne County Board of Commissioners. He is a Republican.
No Democratic candidate has announced an intention to file for the special race, which is to be part of the Nov. 4 mid-term election.
The office became open in late April when Republican Steve Keen resigned to take a position in Gov. Pat McCrory's administration.
The seat had to be filled through a recommendation by the Wayne County Republican Party Executive Committee since Keen is a Republican.
The GOP's recommendation that Gurley be appointed was unanimously approved by commissioners in May.
The full term does not expire until December 2016, but Gurley's appointment is only through early December.
Since the vacancy occurred within the first two years of a four-year term, the final two years have to be decided by an election.
There is no specific deadline for the Republicans, Democrats and even the Libertarians to appoint someone to run in November. However, it takes several weeks to prepare ballots, and absentee ballots must go out by Sept. 5.
There are two deadlines for the November ballot -- June 27 at noon is the deadline to file as an unaffiliated candidate, and Aug. 6 at noon is the deadline to file as a write-in candidate.
Gurley retired at the end of May and originally was to have been sworn in on June 1. However, the date was delayed until July 1 to avoid a potential conflict with the state retirement system.
The ceremony will be held at 8 a.m. that day in Superior Courtroom No. 1 in the Wayne County Courthouse.