Duncan Set to Replace Shupe on Lansing Board

By Joel Frady

Shane Duncan sat in the back of Lansing Town Hall on Monday, June 8, ready to take his oath of office as the newest member of the Lansing Board of Aldermen. He was scheduled to take his oath once the 7 p.m. meeting began hearing new business, but due to the lack of a quorum – only one active Lansing alderman, Israel Church, was present at the meeting – and at 7:20 p.m. Lansing Mayor Jason Ring called the meeting off.

Former senior alderman Dot Shupe, who announced her resignation from the board on May 11, citing health issues, nominated Duncan for the seat.

“Shane Duncan has expressed a lot of interest in helping the town of Lansing,” Shupe wrote in her resignation letter. “He is young, intelligent and eager to help the town.

“I feel it is very important to have younger people on the board to steer the town as we grow,” she continued. She noted that Duncan has her vote, but that she would continue to serve as an alderman via telephone conference call is needed.

The Board approved Duncan’s nomination, and Ring also liked the youth that the 38-year-old Duncan, who has lived in Lansing for approximately two-and-a-half years, will bring to the board.

“He’s young and he’s going to bring a measure of youth,” said Ring, who added that there are “very few young people in town that are willing to serve today. He is going to bring a level of honesty and a quality of mind that we are looking very much to having with us here in town.

“Hopefully, he’ll draw some more young people into the town board with us because, if you look around, we’re getting to be a bunch of white-headed people and we need a bunch of brown-headed people to do these things today,” Ring continued. “I don’t think any of us would mind stepping down, at all, as younger people come on willing to take the job.”

Duncan said that he likes the people and the community and feels he could bring a “fresh look” to the board.

“Everybody new has something different,” said Duncan.

Ring also said that the board was losing a valued member in Shupe, who has been on the board for more than a decade.

“She’s been one of our guiding lights for a number of years,” he said. “She was instrumental in helping us get the pavement done and the sidewalks in here. She was a strong board member. She was pretty much our watchdog financially.

“She brought a great amount of expertise to the town,” he continued, noting that she made contact with a number of people “and helped us in so many ways to guide people to help us that had expertise in just about everything. She was very, very valuable to the town.”

All other business – such as recognizing the historic Lansing School being named to the National Registrar and donations from the town to the Lansing Fire Department and a proposed medical clinic – will be discussed at the board’s July meeting.

The Lansing Board of Aldermen will hold their next meeting on Monday, July 13, at 7 p.m. at Lansing Town Hall. To find out more, call (336) 384-1490 or click to www.lansingnc.com to find out more.