Durham Mayor Bill Bell plans to appoint Lea D. Henry to the Workforce Development Board, resolving for practical purposes a dispute among the Durham County commissioners.

"I haven't met the lady, but it seems like she's qualified," Bell said this morning.

The commissioners have twice postponed voting on the county's appointment to the workforce board, which oversees how federal and state job-training money is used. They have been divided on the propriety of a recommendation for Henry's appointment by the workforce board's executive committee.

Donald A. Hughes, currently a candidate for the Durham Public Schools Board, has also applied for the workforce position. Henry has served for two years on the workforce board's youth council.

If Bell, who as mayor also has a workforce board seat to fill, does appoint Henry, it would make her candidacy for the county appointment a moot issue, according to County Manager Mike Ruffin. Unless the commissioners decide to re-open applications for the seat, it would also give Hughes the appointment by default.