From Staff Reports 

HENDERSONVILLE —  The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 2 elected Bill Lapsley as chair and Michael Edney as vice chair.

The vote followed the swearing-in of two new commissioners, Jay Egolf and Sheila Franklin. 

In the Republican primary in March, Egolf beat incumbent commissioner David Hill — and then faced no opposition in the general election on Nov. 5.

Meanwhile, Franklin defeated incumbent commissioner Daniel Andreotta in the GOP primary — and then topped Democrat Erik Weber of Fletcher, an environmental scientist, in the general election.

Lapsley served as the commissioners’ chair from 2020 to 2022, preceding the most current chair, Rebecca McCall, who led by the board of the past two years.

A retired civil engineer, Lapsley, who has been active in community service since the 1970s (including as a commissioner since 2014), thanked his fellow board members “for this most important leadership position... I promise to give you the best that I have to offer and I’m confident you’ll do the same during the coming year.”

Meanwhile, McCall thanked her fellow commissioners, the county staff and public for their support during her tenure as board chair. “I couldn’t have done the job without the support of everyone,” she said.