Historic session brings honors for Chatham's Cross, full General Assembly

By Todd McGee
Communications Director

Picking a “Friend of the Counties” award winner this year proved very difficult for NCACC President Terry Garrison. Given the General Assembly’s overwhelming, bipartisan support for removing the Medicaid burden from counties, trying to single out any specific legislator was near impossible. So in the end, the Vance County commissioner decided to honor all members of the House and Senate for helping remove the Medicaid burden from counties.

Chatham County Commissioner Mike Cross was named an honorary member of the Association’s advocacy team. (Photo by Jason King)

“There is no adequate way we can express our gratitude to the General Assembly this year for the hard work they put in to coming up with a solution to our Medicaid issue,” Garrison said Aug. 18 during the annual business session. “For an entire month, the legislators grappled with this issue, sometimes meeting several times daily to hash out a compromise.

“At various times during this session, virtually every legislator spoke in favor of Medicaid relief. As a result, we wanted to figure out a way to honor all of them. So this year, we are presenting our Friend of the Counties award to all the legislators.”

In addition, the Board of Directors approved during its Aug. 15 meeting a resolution of appreciation for relieving counties of Medicaid to the General Assembly and to Gov. Mike Easley and his staff. The resolution was forwarded to the membership and approved during the annual business session Aug. 18.

The Association unanimously adopted the resolutions, and framed copies were presented to Sen. Tony Rand (Cumberland), Rep. Bill Owens (Pasquotank) and Lisa Nolen, the governor’s deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, during the President’s Banquet that evening.

The Association’s advocacy team also honored Chatham County Commissioner Mike Cross for his tireless efforts in support of a land transfer tax option for counties. Cross constantly lobbied Speaker of the House Joe Hackney on the need for the additional revenue options for counties, and he also spent countless hours educating commissioners from across the state about the issue.

“We would not have been successful in getting the option for a land transfer tax except for some of the hard work that Commissioner Cross put in this year,” said NCACC Executive Director David F. Thompson. “He was very much a part of the advocacy team and very much a part of the success we had.”