The Buchanan County Industrial Development Authority has selected new leadership following recent changes to its board, electing Pete Stiltner as chairman and Wade McGeorge as vice chairman during its July 20 meeting inside the IDA’s office in the Richardson Building.
The elections come less than a month after the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors voted to remove former IDA Chairman Tim O’Quinn from the authority’s board.
The meeting began with nominations for chairman. McGeorge was initially nominated for the position but declined, citing concerns that scheduling conflicts with other board commitments could occasionally prevent him from attending meetings.
“I really would like to decline being chairman,” McGeorge told fellow board members. “My concern is … I would hate to be chair and then have other conflicts with other meetings.”
Board member Brenda Ward encouraged McGeorge to reconsider, noting the authority could adjust meeting dates if necessary.
“We can change the date, Wade,” Ward said.
McGeorge, however, continued to decline the nomination.
Ward also declined to be considered for the position, saying she did not feel she had enough experience with some of the authority’s land-related matters to serve as chair.
“I don’t always understand … when we’re doing land things and stuff like that,” Ward said. “I feel like the chair needs to be more knowledgeable than I am.”
Attention then turned to Stiltner, who accepted the nomination after acknowledging he would likely need assistance in the role.
“I’ll probably need a lot of help,” Stiltner said.
“We’ll help,” several members responded before voting unanimously to elect him chairman.
Following the election, Stiltner immediately presided over the remainder of the meeting.
The board then unanimously elected McGeorge to serve as vice chairman after he was nominated by board member Alicia O’Quin and the nomination received a second from Danny Bailey.
In other business, the authority unanimously approved adding the chairman and vice chairman as authorized signers on the IDA’s Legacy Bank accounts, joining the secretary as authorized signers.
Board members also approved the minutes from the previous meeting. McGeorge abstained from that vote because he was absent from the June meeting while attending a conference.
