Faith aldermen approve four-year terms
Published 12:05 am Friday, February 14, 2025
FAITH — The Faith Board of Aldermen voted on Tuesday to officially approve four-year terms for the aldermen, ending a lengthy process that the aldermen have been working on for over a year.
The aldermen began the conversation around increasing their terms back in 2023, with several members of the board stating that two years was not enough time for a member of the board to learn the rules surrounding the role and fulfill any goals.
“Two years, to a new person, doesn’t give you much time to learn within those two years. Four years, you’re informed and now you have settled in or whatever it is. It seems like two years comes so fast,” said Mayor Randall Barger during the original discussion in July of 2023.
The change does not affect the sitting members’ terms, as the current terms will still be up for reelection in 2025.
The board members and town staff looked into extending the aldermen’s terms before the 2023 election cycle, but Fink advised them at the time that it was not possible for any changes to be effected before that election, so they decided to postpone any discussions until after that election.
However, the aldermen have also asked Representative Harry Warren to file a bill changing their elections from odd years to even years, with Barger saying Warren expects to introduce the bill in the coming week. If that bill is passed, the current members of the board would have their terms extended through 2026, with the aldermen elected that year serving the town’s first four-year terms.
Changing the town’s elections from odd to even years requires the change to come from the legislature, said Town Clerk Karen Fink. The aldermen could not make the change on their own.
The aldermen have previously expressed their desire to move to even-year elections, which they hope would both increase turnout as well as save the town money, with Town Attorney John Hudson, who also serves as the chair of the Rowan County Board of Elections, providing the members of the board with a rough estimate of $3,500 every election cycle.
