As county mourns, board must begin process of replacing chairman

As friends, family and the community mourn the death of Iredell County Board of Commissioners Chairman Godfrey Williams, Iredell's leaders are determined to make sure the seat of the county's top elected official is not vacant longer than it needs to be.

Williams, 66, who died early Saturday morning after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer, was in the middle of a four-year term on the board.

His life was celebrated Tuesday afternoon during a memorial service at Fairview Baptist Church in Statesville. Burial followed at Friendship United Methodist Church cemetery.

Williams was elected to the board of commissioners three times. His first two elections resulted in two-year terms. But in 2008, he earned a four-year term as one of the top vote-getters.

It wasn't long after his last election, however, that Williams began to notice a "nagging pain" in his abdomen. He first believed he had pulled a stomach muscle doing work around the house, then he thought it was trouble with his appendix.

During a break at the March 2009 board of commissioners planning retreat, Williams sat alone with a grimace of discomfort on his face.

When asked if he was feeling ill, Williams confided that he was more disturbed by the inability of medical professionals to give him a definitive reason for the lingering pain.

The following week, he was given the diagnosis of Stage VI pancreatic cancer and the grim prognosis that he likely had less than six months to live. A few days later, he publicly vowed to fight the disease with his full resolve.

Two weeks before Williams died, his conditioned worsened to the point of hospitalization.

During that time, his wife Patsy said her husband's organs had stopped functioning and that he was in near constant pain.

"People didn't realize how sick he had gotten this last time," Patsy said Saturday. "We knew that this time, he wasn't going to come out of it."

During his last year, Williams refused to allow the disease or its nearly debilitating treatment regimen from totally impacting his job – he owned Acme Metals -- or his duties as board of commissioners chairman.

While he did miss some board meetings during the most crucial times of the treatment and the disease, the dedication he demonstrated impressed most who witnessed it.

Speaking confidentially, several Iredell leaders said they would probably have resigned both their professional and governmental responsibilities if they had been diagnosed with such a deadly illness.

And it is that kind of dedication Williams' four colleagues on the board will be looking for when they look to fill the former chairman's seat.

County Manager Joel Mashburn said Iredell is one of about 20 counties that have specific ordinances in place regarding the filling of a vacant board seat.

There will likely be two different components to the process.

The first part will involve the commissioners appointing a replacement to fill in the period until the November election. Mashburn said the commissioners will seek nominations from the county's Republican Party, of which Williams was a member.

"They don't have to use those suggestions," Mashburn said. "They can choose whomever they want."
Because there are more than two years remaining on Williams' term, the second part of the process will likely involve an election in November.

Iredell Board of Elections Director Becky Galliher said she has not yet worked out the details of how such an election would proceed.

More definitive information on the matter is expected by the end of the week.

Mashburn, who has served in various positions in different county governments for 35 years, said he has never experienced the death of a sitting commissioner.