News

Messer loses election to lead N.C. county commissioners

By Bill Moss, Published: August 26, 2015

Henderson County Commissioner Charlie Messer lost his bid on Saturday to become president of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.
Messer was running for second vice president, a position that would have put him in line to serve as president starting in 2018. Larry Phillips, a Surry County commissioner elected in 2012, defeated Messer and J.M. “Marty” Cooke, who has been a Brunswick County commissioner since 2008.
Glen Webb, chairman of the Pitt County Board of Commissioners, was sworn in as president on Saturday at the association’s annual meeting in Greenville.
“It’s hard to get people from the west to vote,” Messer said. “Buncombe County was there and they left (before the vote) and Haywood County was there and they left. But I don’t have any excuse other than it was a close vote.”
Messer, who owns Charlie’s on the Creek in Hoopers Creek, has served on the NCACC board for 10 years and has been a county commissioner for 15.
“The trip to Raleigh is four hours if you don’t run into any traffic. I’m just going to take some time off,” he said. Here at home, commissioners have “two hot potatoes” on their plate in the Duke Energy transmission line and a proposed shooting range in Green River. “I’m just going to spend more time in Henderson County,” he said.