Incumbents lead Monday filings

Jul. 11—Following Friday's afternoon filing to kick off the 2023 municipal election season, Monday's first full day of filing saw two Clinton City Council incumbents announce their intentions to seek reelection, while Salemburg's mayor is similarly hoping to retain his seat.

Councilman Neal Strickland, who has represented Clinton's District 2 for more than 20 years, is hoping to lengthen his tenure on the board. He was accompanied by wife, Jonelle, as he signed on the line Monday. Also at the Sampson County Board of Elections to file on Tuesday were Salemburg Mayor Joe Warren and City Councilman Holden DuBose, who represents District 4 (see story in Wednesday's edition).

Every edition during the filing period, including today's (look inside), The Sampson Independent will publish a list of open candidate posts that is updated as of press times with filings from both incumbents and challengers for those open mayoral and board posts. The two-week filing period will extend until noon Friday, July 21.

Strickland has been on the Clinton City Council since 2002, taking over as an appointee to fill the post that was held by Albert Kaleel before later being elected. He has been unopposed in the last two elections, in 2015 and 2019, and is seeking his sixth elected term on the board. This year, there will be at least one challenger, with Jess Bashlor announcing her candidacy for District 2 last week.

"We've still got a lot of work; we're not perfect, but we're close," Strickland told The Independent after filing Monday. "We all love the city and we all want the city to grow. We want new industry to come to town. We all want a better place for our children. Luckily for us, our daughter after college, was able to come back home and work and we'd love for all young people to feel comfortable that they can come back to Clinton and have a job and be successful. We also want to try to find some stuff for our young people to do in town."

Born and raised in Sampson County, Strickland has been a resident of Clinton for more than 30 years.

He attended the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, and after graduating, was hired as a right of way agent trainee with the North Carolina Department of Transportation in the Fayetteville field office. He worked his way up the ranks over his career and retired last year as a trusted and valued leader of the agency's right of way team, charged with the coordination of right of way negotiation and acquisition activities for highway projects across the entire state.

During that time, he cherished the direct face-to-face interaction with the citizens of North Carolina and became a point of contact for solving problems for the right of way unit when those issues arose with citizens or public officials.

He has attempted to approach his role as a Councilman with the same tenacity and resolve.

Strickland has served on the All-America City nomination committee for Clinton over the years. Clinton was named an All-America City winner in 2007 and received runner-up recognition during his time on the committees. He has also served as a board member of the Sampson Community College Foundation and was the co-chair of the SCC Foundation Invitational Golf Tournament, which raised money to fund scholarships and make capital improvements to the campus.

"We have a great community," Strickland attested. "Downtown is lovely; we spend a lot of energy and efforts downtown. My wife has friends that come several times a year from Raleigh just to shop in downtown (Clinton). We've tried to promote it and visit downtown as much as we can. There's no agencies on the Council. We all strive to make it a better place for our community."

The 2023 municipal election sees 27 local seats up for grabs, including mayoral posts in seven of the county's towns. There are multiple town board seats vacating in each of the county's municipalities — 20 in total.

Mayoral posts are up in Autryville, Clinton, Garland, Newton Grove, Roseboro, Salemburg and Turkey — all of the county towns that do, in fact, hold mayoral elections. The mayor is not decided by the people in Harrells. Aldermen are elected and they are responsible for choosing who among them will be mayor, however the current sitting mayor is also seeing his term expire.

There are multiple board seats opening on each of Sampson's municipal boards. That includes three board seats in Autryville; two seats on the Clinton City Council (Districts 2 and 4); two in Garland; three in Harrells; two in Newton Grove; three in Roseboro; three in Salemburg; and two in Turkey.

In Autryville, Mayor Grayson B. Spell is seeing his first full term come to its conclusion this year. On the board, three commissioners are seeing their terms expire, including Mickie Spell and Kim Baker, as well as Thomas Honeycutt, who was just appointed to the board in December.

In Garland, Austin Brown is up for reelection. Two commissioners' seats in Garland will be up for election this year with the terms of Carolyn R Melvin and Barbara A. Peterson expiring.

In Harrells, there are three alderman seats vacating this year, currently occupied by James C. Moore, Katie Greer and Ray Powell. Moore has served as mayor for the past two decades. That top position is not elected by the populous, but rather is appointed by the town board once each newly-elected board meets. Newcomer Tony Arce has filed for election to the Harrells board.

In Newton Grove, Gerald W. Darden will again be faced with the prospect of seeking another term, and it is uncertain whether he will. Darden has served as mayor for 18 years over the past 22. Newton Grove Commissioner Craig Warren has filed to seek the mayoral post (see full story this week in The Sampson Independent and at clintonnc.com). Warren's commissioner term does not expire until 2025.

Two seats on the Newton Grove board will be up for grabs in the upcoming election. They are currently occupied by Cody Smith and board appointee Bartley Warren, who both filed Friday to retain their seats.

In Roseboro, Mayor Alice Butler is seeing her second term reach its end this year. Three town commissioners are seeing their terms end this year, including Richard Barefoot, Ray Clark Fisher and Mark Gupton.

Joe Warren and Max Pope are the current mayors of Salemburg and Turkey, respectively. Both have now filed for reelection, with Warren filing early Monday following Pope's filing first thing Friday.

In Salemburg, there are three commissioners seats opening, with Juanita Faircloth, Grady Collier and Michelle Hill seeing their terms come to an end. In Turkey, two commissioner seats are vacating, with terms for Tracie Pryor and Mike Smith coming to a conclusion.

All town board members across Sampson, including the Clinton City Council, are elected to four-year terms. Mayoral terms are two years in Autryville, Clinton, Garland and Newton Grove, and four years in Roseboro, Salemburg and Turkey.

Editor Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 2587.