SILER CITY — After winning election in November, Donald Matthews was sworn in as the new mayor of Siler City in a ceremony officiated by District Court Judge Cheri Siler Mack on Monday, Dec. 4. Alongside Matthews, several other elected officials took the oath of office, marking the beginning of their terms in the municipal government.
The newly inducted members include Norma Boone as District 2 Commissioner, Curtis Brown for District 3, Alec Hauser representing District 4, and Travis Patterson as the At-Large Commissioner. Boone and Brown won re-election in November while Hauser and Patterson defeated incumbents to earn their seats on the board.
Following the swearing in ceremony, the newly constituted Board of Commissioners elected Commissioner Lewis Fadely as the mayor pro tempore. This role, as outlined in Section 160A-70 of the North Carolina General Statutes, serves at the pleasure of the council, with the ability to assume mayoral duties during the mayor's absence or incapacitation.
Following the swearing-in ceremony and Fadely's appointment, the board made other organizational decisions related to the work they will undertake next year. They adopted a holiday calendar for the upcoming year and established a regular business meeting schedule for 2024. According to the schedule, the Board of Commissioners is set to meet twice a month throughout most of the year, with the exception of July and December, during which they will convene only once.
In addition to these administrative tasks, the board announced appointments to several key organizations for 2024. These include the Chatham Chamber of Commerce, the Chatham County Affordable Housing Committee, the Chatham County Climate Change Committee, the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division 8 Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization’s Transportation Advisory Committee, the Siler City Development Organization, the Central Pines Regional Council, and the Chatham Transportation Advisory Committee, where Siler City holds a non-voting membership.