Questions about the county’s authority with the Heart of North Carolina MegaPark briefly prefaced an appointment to the industrial park board at a December meeting of the Moore County Board of Commissioners.

The board resolved the issue with a report from County Manager Cary McSwain, who said the park board bylaws call for one commissioner from each county to serve on that panel.

Board members then voted unanimously to reappoint fellow Commis-sioner Tim Lea to the MegaPark board.

Commissioner Craig Kennedy, who voted in favor of the appointment, had earlier proposed that the MegaPark be removed from the long list of official bodies to which individual commissioners are appointed. Kennedy said the industrial park is being developed by a private foundation and thus the board of commissioners has no official status.

MEGAPARK — The industrial park is being developed on acreage spanning the Moore-Montgomery County lines.

Although it was initiated through private enterprise, the proposal has received the blessing of the boards of commissioners from both counties. Partners in Progress, the community’s nonprofit economic development agency, has also endorsed the initiative.

It may be years before the park is fully developed, but supporters expect it to become a major industrial attraction in the future. The goal is a substantial boost in the economy, especially in the northern part of the county.

APPOINTED — In addition to the MegaPark appointment, the commissioners appointed Chairman Larry Caddell to the Partners in Progress Executive Board.

Lea was also reappointed as the county’s delegate to the Triangle J Board of Delegates and Caddell was named as the alternate.

Warren McSweeney was appointed to fill the unexpired term of District Attorney Maureen Krueger on the Criminal Justice Partnership Advisory Board.

STEEN — State Rep. Jamie Boles, of Moore County, is among the Republicans who have endorsed fellow lawmaker Fred Steen as a candidate for the GOP nomination for the 8th Congressional District seat.

Steen represents the 76th District, encompassing most of Rowan County.

Incumbent Congressman Larry Kissell of Montgomery County, a Democrat, is serving his first term and is regarded as vulnerable in the 2012 election. His wife is on the staff of the Moore County Schools.

In a news release Steen said he had won endorsements from 20 local officials, including nine state representatives and three state senators.

BLAKE — Delays in the state’s Medicaid claims processing system sparked sharp questions from a state legislative oversight committee earlier this month.

“We have had this same issue for eight years and we never get it done,” complained state Sen. Harris Blake, of Moore County, during the committee meeting. “If we can’t do better than that, then we should get out of this project.”

Blake was quoted in an Associated Press news article covering the issue.

Legislative complaints are directed toward a delay of almost two years in actually initiating the system. State auditors have reported that the holdup means a doubling of the estimated cost.

Computer Sciences Corp. has a contract to overhaul and operate the new processing system.

Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler reported that 8 million Medicaid claims involving more than 70,000 providers are processed monthly.