SALISBURY — The voters of Rowan County showed their faith in the current composition of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners by reelecting commissioners Mike Caskey and Craig Pierce.

With their reelections, the county will see a run of at least 12 years being represented by the same five commissioners, barring any unforeseen extreme changes.

Pierce was sworn in by Superior Court Judge Michael Adkins on Monday. After being sworn in, Chairman Greg Edds asked Pierce if he had anything he wanted to say, to which Pierce said only that he “wished Commissioner Caskey was here with us.”

Caskey is currently serving in Kuwait with the National Guard and so was unavailable to be sworn in. 

“He is in Kuwait right now and we are in contact with him each week and still enjoy talking and texting with him. So please keep Mike and his safety and especially his family in your prayers,” said Edds.

Caskey officially had his military leave of absence included in and approved with the consent agenda on Monday. He has also previously asked for and received approval to have his salary from the county be donated to the Rowan County Honor Guard while he was unable to serve on the board.

Both Pierce and Caskey will be serving their fourth terms in office.

The commissioners also chose consistency during the meeting by voting both Greg Edds and Jim Greene into leadership positions. Both were unanimously chosen, with Edds being named the chairman of the board and Greene the vice-chairman.

The chairman holds extra powers above that of the other commissioners, including the ability to set the agenda for all regular, special and emergency meetings; to call special meetings; and to preside over all meetings. The chairman is still allowed to make motions and vote on motions.

The vice-chairman performs the chairman’s duties if, for any reason, the chairman cannot do so.

Both Edds and Greene have served in the positions of chairman and vice-chairman for 10 years, with both being chosen during their first commissioner meetings in 2014, although it was not unanimous, with Pierce voting for Greene instead of Edds for chairman. Every year since, however, the two have been reelected to their positions unanimously. Pierce abstained from the votes for chairman and vice-chairman in 2017, but because commissioners are required to vote abstention are officially counted as yes votes.

That 10-year milestone represents something of a rarity for the county government. If Edds finishes out his next term as chairman of the board, he will have officially surpassed long-time commissioner Eugene McCombs for years served in the position of chairman. Edds will have done it slightly faster, also, with McCombs taking 12 years on the board to rack up his 10.

The commissioners have repeatedly said that they enjoy working with one another, that they believe they each fill different and symbiotic niches and that they view the board’s consistency as a method of measuring the community’s trust in them.

“I think we’ve really kind of settled into our areas of expertise and focus and I think we’ve really come to trust each other,” said Commissioner Judy Klusman after she, Greene and Edds were elected to their third terms in 2020.