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Del Arrendale

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Woody Washam

By DAVID BORAKS

This fall’s Cornelius Town Board election is now at least a six-way race for five seats, after filings Tuesday by Woody Washam and Del Arrendale.

As usual, all five Cornelius commissioner seats are up for grabs this November. One seat has been vacant since Lynette Rinker was appointed mayor, and another will not have an incumbent, with Commissioner Chuck Travis’s decision to run for mayor.

Incumbents John Bradford and Dave Gilroy have filed to run for re-election. So have challengers Jim Duke and William Sykes. Commissioner Jeff Hare had not filed as of 5pm Tuesday.

DEL ARRANDALE

Arrendale is the current chair of the Cornelius Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture Commission and a Peninsula resident. He has a long history of community service, from coaching youth baseball to working on Cornelius’s Comprehensive Master Plan and other Town Hall projects. He also served on the town’s Transportation Advisory Board from 2008 to 2012.

He and his wife, Judy, own Arrendale Associates on Chartwell Center Drive, which provides software and technology to the health care industry. He is a director on the board of Southlake Christian Academy, a director of the Charlotte Matters Foundation, and a ruling elder at South Lake Presbyterian Church.

“There are two open seats on the Town Board of Commissioners,” Arrendale notes. “My concern is that people may be elected that do not have the experience to make good decisions. With the I-77 HOT lane controversy still brewing, bond issues coming up for referendum, and a Comprehensive Master Plan to implement, the next board will make decisions that will impact our community for the next 50 years. With my experience, I can make a real difference for our town,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

WOODY WASHAM

Washam, a longtime local banker who lives on Chapel Point Lane off Bethel Church Road, has had a similarly long career in community service.

He’s a lifelong a lifelong Cornelius resident (he grew up on Church Street in a home he still owns) and says it’s time for him “to give back to the community as a commissioner. ”

“Growing up in Cornelius is an experience that remains in your heart for a lifetime,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “I am ever so hopeful that I can help bring to future generations to same quality live experiences that I was so fortunate to have.”

As a native, he attended Cornelius Elementary School, J.M Alexander Middle School, and North Mecklenburg High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Catawba College and has worked 41 years as a banker, following his mother into the field. He is currently Market President of Alliance Bank and Trust, which plans an office on West Catawba Avenue.

He has served as chairman of both the Mooresville-South Iredell and the Lake Norman chambers of commerce, and served on the boards of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, the United Way of Central Carolinas, and Mooresville/Lake Norman Board of United Way.

Washam has chaired and is current vice chair of the Visit Lake Norman board, and is a past chair and current vice chair of the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp. He also has served on the board of the Lake Norman Regional Economic Development Corp. He was president of the South Iredell Community Development Corp. and is a past chair of the Cornelius Transportation Advisory Board.

He’s board vice president of Little Smiles of NC, and also a member of the North Meck Rotary. And he has served in various roles since 1966 at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, where he is a lifelong member and where his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were members.

Washam is married to Sharon Hobson Washam, and they have two grown children – Bryan Washam and Kristin Washam Lachapelle – and four granddaughters.

FILING ENDS FRIDAY

Filings for this November’s town and Mecklenburg County elections, including school board, continue through noon Friday, July 19.

See a list of all the candidates who have filed so far at MeckBOE.org ^[3].

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Woody Washam (left) and Del Arrendale went to the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections Tuesday to file as candidates for Cornelius Town Board.