GREENSBORO, N.C. — The vacant seat on the Guilford County Board of Education was filled, but not after an eventful day at the board meeting on Tuesday.
William (Bill) J. Goebel was voted by board members to be the new District 3 representative for the Guilford County Board of Education.
Last year, Republican Pat Tillman left the board after he was elected to the county commission.
The county’s Republican party nominated Michael Logan to fill the seat, but the Democrat-controlled board repeatedly rejected his nomination.
Republican state lawmakers decided they were going to intervene.
Guilford County Representative Jon Hardister filed a house bill in the general assembly that would change the way the board filled vacancies.
"The amended law states that if the vacating board member was elected as the nominee of a political party, the county political party executive committee shall provide the name of an individual in writing within 30 days of the occurrence of the vacancy,' according to Guilford County Schools.
In short, the political party of the outgoing member was able to put someone on the board without a vote.
On Tuesday, the school board again rejected Logan, saying the Republican Party didn’t properly nominate him as the new law required.
Due to this, the school's district attorney said that Logan was no longer a valid nominee.
Logan was upset and spoke out during the meeting and said the district was not conducting business.
"I did not have any expectation of this. I was led to believe that we were going to be doing the swearing in," Logan said. "So mislead again. Well, I won't say again because they have stood against me each and everytime"
After finding out he was not sworn in as a member for the fifth time, it caused an uproar and Logan was escorted from the board meeting by Sheriff's deputies.
Since Logan wasn't nominated correctly and it was past 30 days, the board said the new law gave them the ability to choose a candidate.
They selected and voted Goebel into the seat with a 6-2 vote with the two Republican seat holders voting against him.
Logan said board members never expressed concerns about seating him and he said although he's frustrated he's not giving up.
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