Board Honors Morgan for Service

As of Friday, November 19, 2010

Friends and colleagues bade a tearful but accolade-showered goodbye to County Commissioner Cindy Morgan Tuesday night.

Morgan received a certificate of appreciation by fellow members of the Moore County Board of Commissioners, the Distinguished Public Service Award and an arrangement of red roses.

Board Chairman Tim Lea made the presentations, which ended with a standing ovation for Morgan, who was attending her final regular meeting of the commissioners.

Lea then called a five-minute recess to give friends and well-wishers an opportunity to greet the honoree.

Perhaps the warmest praise came from a commissioner whose views have often been at odds with Morgan's during her term in office.

"I appreciate her honesty and candor," said Commissioner Larry Caddell, adding that he had enjoyed sitting beside her. "Although we have disagreed on some things, she always treated me with respect, and I appreciate that."

Lea was joined by the other commissioners, Jimmy Melton and Nick Picerno, in praising her service and wishing her well.

"She has truly been an asset to this board," Melton said.

Staff members also offered their praise, starting with County Manager Cary McSwain and County Attorney Misty Leland. Social Services Director John Benton added his praise and thanks for her service as a member and chairperson of the social services board.

"Anytime she promised to do something, she did it," Lea said. "She never wavered - not once. She is an example of how a public servant should act."

Morgan responded with some humor.

"I want to make sure Richard knows they're talking about me," she said to the gathering in the historic courthouse in Carthage.

She was referring to her husband, a former co-speaker of the state House of Representatives, who was present for the meeting.

Then she turned serious by admitting that the commissioners have not always seen eye to eye on issues.

"It certainly hasn't been a bed of roses," she said of her term as a commissioner. "But the county is in sound fiscal condition. There have been no tax increases in my four years on the board, and I'm proud of that."

In a statement read to the gathering, Morgan warned the board to avoid cronyism, especially in the awarding of contracts and other practices.

Morgan, who has served as vice chairwoman for the past year, chaired the social services board until her term expired last summer. In addition to her regular duties on the board, she was an active member of the Emergency Services Advisory Committee, Nursing and Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee, and Drug Free Moore Committee.

Morgan also served on the Sandhills Center (mental health) Area Board and the Board of Health. Among her accomplishments were reinstatement of the Human Resources Board and recommendation and implementation of the County Government Efficiency Advisory Board.

In her capacity as commissioner liaison, she was instrumental in the merger of fire departments and rescue squads serving the Vass and Cameron communities. The result was formation of the Cypress Pointe Fire and Rescue Department.

Her recognition for the Distinguished Public Service Award noted that her "experience, research skills and attention to detail in tackling complex and highly publicized public policy issues have served the county well." She was also honored for never backing down "on issues that she felt passionately about because she was always fighting for what she believed to be in the best interest of Moore County citizens."

Morgan, who is completing her first term as a commissioner, lost to Craig Kennedy in the Republican primary election in May. Kennedy will be sworn in at the first meeting in December.

A native of northern Moore County, she is a registered nurse, with a master's degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has worked in recent years in nursing care administration. She is also a former trustee of Sandhills Community College.

Contact Florence Gilkeson at florence@thepilot.com.

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TooHot 2 years, 6 months ago

OK - now she can go get a real job.

Rights4All 2 years, 6 months ago

I want to personally thank Cindy Morgan for all her hard work. Being an informed member of any Board is time consuming, but on this Board with all the issues must have exceedingly so. Thank You Cindy

None 2 years, 6 months ago

Thank you very much Cindy - for taking a stance and holding your ground against others who were motivated by personal gain, greed and a total lack of concern and response to the people’s concerns here Moore County.

Your loss in the election is TPo3's gain.

This is what the future holds for the people of Poorer County and TPo3: Kennedy has already been exposed to the underbelly of the GOP Political Machine: Little and Company when Larry Caddell paid the $100.00's to be Caddell's guest at the Red, White, and Blue gala event.

If in fact GOP George and Caddell have already purchased Kennedy's future votes, then Picerno and Caddell can in fact recuse themselves from voting on their company sales for service and hardware in the future, like the Municipal Financial Software for Moore County Utilities that wasn’t set out for bid.

Here's how it will go => Caddell and Picerno to save face with voters and taxpayers will recuse themselves => Melton and Kennedy will vote in their stead leaving an opposition vote for the people with Tim Lea. So on business issues concerning Southern Software, Inc. (Picerno and Caddells' Company) the vote will be 2-1 and Picerno and Caddell can then claim that they had nothing to do with the vote. Keep in mind that Harris Blake who voted against SB 460 (puppy mill operations) will soon age out and have to retire, leaving the way open for Picerno or Caddell. Should Caddell run unopposed then Lisa Caddell could move right into Larry’s seat, while Joe G moves into Father in Laws seat keeping an iron hand on Poorer Count Politics for decades to come, and Washington style Liberal Spending when actually there will be a 3 billion dollar shortfall next year. Prisoners in Poorer County can live in luxury at the Gold Bar Hilton while teachers stand in line at the unemployment office. Our county government at work!

I bet those two laugh all the way to the bank at how "ignorant" the taxpayers and voters are here in Poorer County. The word “ignorant” has been used by the GOP publicist for C & P and secretary in opening comments in another post.

None 2 years, 6 months ago

One other impression to share with conservative voters...be ever vigilant to the efforts by GOP George and his “crony crew” to begin in earnest to promote unaffiliated and former Chief of Police - Gerald Galloway as their opposition candidate for Tim Lea's seat. Then GOP George and his cronies will have a free ticket to spend us into oblivion. Remember T. Cary McSwain’s goal is to spend at least $300,000,000.00 and as one poster (sp1) concludes, the accounting in Carthage is questionable at best and we shouldn’t really consider what is being provided as fact by staff, as being numbers with purpose.

Ken711 2 years, 6 months ago

Toda, catch a breath and relax :)

Bflat 2 years, 6 months ago

No time to relax around here when there is big spending and a tax increase on the horizon in an downward spiraling economy with the worst yet to come. Cindy did a good job trying to deal with a 3 ring circus. What an experience that must have been.

None 2 years, 6 months ago

Ken711 ~ perhaps if you were to review the economic/state revenue reports and forecasts Terry Naegelen,Vice President, Operations, Research Triangle Regional Partnership, PO Box 80756,RDU Airport, NC 27623 has issued on the state of North Carolina's economic projections for the next fisical year, you might see the alarm bells going off with red lights flashing. Hope you're not an educator or you don't have children in school!

Very grim outlook for students but not prisoners - at least in this county.

Want to see a copy? toda1@mindspring.com

Read and weep! Facts replace bs coming from TPo3....

xemrac 2 years, 6 months ago

Toda- Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).[1]

Even if you disagree with others views...walk carefully.