Phillips returns to Brunswick County board, with Willams and Sykes

Scott Phillips won 61 percent of the vote to rejoin commissioners Phil Norris and Marty Cooke on the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners.

He defeated Brenda Faye McMillian with 32,442 votes to her 21,153 votes to reclaim his District 4 seat Tuesday night.

Phillips was elected to his second term on the county board. He ran on a platform of improving Brunswick County roads and supporting senior citizens and improving the county for his and the residents’ children.

While three seats on the county board will remain unchanged, two new officials will join the board—but only one seat was undetermined before the polls closed.

Frank Williams gathered 62 percent of the vote, with a total of 33,299 votes, to beat Michael Ballard for the District 5 seat of current Chairman Bill Sue, who decided not to run again.

Ballard received 20,361 votes,

Williams, owner of Pioneer Strategies, served as chairman of the N.C. 7th Congressional District Republican Party from mid-2009 until early 2012, before making his first run for public office.

Pat Sykes received 39,688 votes running unopposed in the general election after defeating incumbent county commissioner Charles Warren, Dosher Trustee Joe Agovino and former Southport Alderman Jwantana Frink in the May primary race.

Sykes served on the Brunswick County Department of Social Services board with then-chairman Warren. Sykes and Warren often sparred, with Warren removing Sykes from a DSS board meeting in December 2011.

After winning the May 8 primary election for county commissioner, Sykes resigned from the DSS board, an election promise she kept to prevent any potential conflict of interest and in keeping with the county’s code of ethics that prevents commissioners from serving on other appointed boards.

Brian Slattery is a staff writer for The Brunswick Beacon. Reach him at 754-6890 or bslattery@brunswickbeacon.com.