Politics

Lapsley to seek re-election

County Commission Chairman Bill Lapsley speaks at a Partnership for Economic Development event.

By Lightning Reports, Published: November 15, 2021

Bill Lapsley, the current chair of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, announced Sunday that he will seek re-election to the District 3 seat next year.

A retired civil engineer who served in numerous nonprofit and advisory boards before his election to the board in 2018, Lapsley pointed to industrial recruitment and major construction projects as achievements during his seven years on the board. Among the major projects completed or under way during his tenure include the Innovative High School, Emergency Services headquarters, Edneyville Elementary School, Hendersonville High School and Blue Ridge Community College classroom building. Major manufacturing plants recruited during his service include Raumedic, G.F. Linamar and Jabil Health, which is located on an industrial park the county, city of Hendersonville and Partnership for Economic Development formed at the old Garrison tract on Upward Road at I-26.

He defeated the incumbent, the late Larry Young, in a Republican primary in 2014 and won re-election in 2018 without opposition.

A founding organizer of the original Committee of 100 — the forerunner of the Partnership for Economic Development — chaired the Pardee Hospital Board of Directors and has served on the UNC Health Board of Directors, Henderson County Board of Social Services, Board of Health and on a statewide task force that recommended funding strategies for transportation.