The Chatham County Democratic Party’s executive committee “overwhelmingly selected” former CCS Superintendent Robert Logan on Thursday as the party’s recommended candidate to replace former Commissioner Jim Crawford following his Dec. 31 resignation, according to committee members.
There were three candidates who addressed the committee at a Zoom meeting, committee member Randy Voller told the News + Record, but the committee ultimately voted for Logan.
“Logan was the candidate whom Commissioner Crawford recommended to the County Board of Commissioners on December 20th,” Voller said in an email. “Logan was also supported by County BOC Chair Karen Howard, Pittsboro Mayor-Pro Tem Pamela Baldwin, Pittsboro Commissioner John Bonitz, Chatham County School Board member Del Turner and many others.”
Crawford, who confirmed his intended resignation to the News + Record on Dec. 3, stepped away from the Dist. 4 seat he held since 2014 due to health reasons. He recommended Logan as a replacement to other board members at his last commissioners meeting on Dec. 20.
“I felt one of my responsibilities was to find someone to fill the gap that’d I’d be leaving,” Crawford said then.
“I feel I can share that person’s name right now just as a general offer to show that we have responsible people willing to serve, and it is Robert Logan, the former superintendent of Chatham County Public Schools,” he told the board. “You don’t necessarily have to follow that, but it seems somebody is there, so hopefully it won’t take you 60 days for you to settle on him. ... He can hit the ground running and is somebody familiar with the gears of the county, having had to work with them for many years, and is known to the public and vice versa.”
Logan was CCS Superintendent from 2008-2013.
Under state law, the board will appoint a new commissioner to fill out the remaining year of the term, and can take or reject the recommendation of the Chatham County Democratic Party. The person must be a registered voter in the same party as the resigning commissioner, and must reside in Dist. 4 — a fact Crawford and some others in the county weren’t previously aware of. Logan does live in Dist. 4.
The Dist. 4 seat must be filled by an appointed replacement prior to the 2022 election — for which three new candidates already filed earlier this month, before the filing period was halted and primary delayed until May 17.
The board couldn’t fill the vacancy until it actually occurred — so after Dec. 31 — and has 60 days to do so after that point. If the board doesn’t appoint someone in that time period, state law moves appointment authority to the clerk of court, who will have 10 days to fill the vacancy.
Commissioners previously expressed the desire to appoint a replacement not planning to run for the 2022 seat.
After Crawford made his Dec. 20 recommendation of Logan, Commissioners Diana Hales and Karen Howard both thanked Crawford for the recommendation but said they’d like to also consider the candidates suggested by the Chatham Democratic party.
“We have an opportunity for a commissioner to just simply name his replacement,” Dasher said of Logan at the time. “It’s somebody we all know, that we all know that’s more than skilled and capable and it’s for a period of 10 months in an election year we already know several candidates have filed for it.”
Though Howard said she knew Logan well and would be happy if the board landed on him as a replacement, she said she didn’t “want to subvert this process.”
After some back and forth discussion, commissioners agreed at the time to consider names from the Chatham Democratic party at its Jan. 18 meeting — later pushed back. It isn’t clear if commissioners will move forward with the party’s recommendation or continue considering all potential replacements who have expressed interest.
No official timeline was set for when the board will hold a vote to make an appointment, but under state law, a vote must happen by March 2 or it will move to the clerk of court’s discretion. The board’s next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 7.