A Chatham County commissioner is calling for two planning board members to resign because the chairman of the county commissioners co-signed their personal loans.

Commissioner Patrick Barnes said Clyde Harris and Martin Mason cannot serve impartially if they might owe money to Bunkey Morgan, one of the commissioners whom the planning board advises on development issues.

"It may not be illegal, but to me, it would be highly unethical," Barnes said Wednesday.

Morgan said the loans are a private matter among him and his friends, Harris and Mason.

He did confirm that he helped the men obtain bank loans last fall. He said he accepted promissory notes for $4,500 from Harris and $12,000 from Mason.

As Morgan's collateral, Harris and Mason put up separate pieces of property, Morgan said. The deal is recorded at the county's register of deeds.

Harris and Mason could not be reached Wednesday.

Morgan said that Harris used his loan to pay his son's college tuition, but Morgan did not know where he went to school.

"[Harris] came to me and asked if I knew anyone who could possibly help," Morgan said. He added that he has helped other friends pay for their children's education.

Mason, whom Morgan nominated to the planning board, used his $12,000 loan to expand a child-care business he owns in Siler City, Morgan said.

According to Fleming Bell, a UNC-Chapel Hill law professor who specializes in ethics of public officials, a financial deal between a county commissioner and a planning board member is not illegal.

But Bell said officials do need to consider residents' perceptions.

"From an ethics point of view, if I was the planning board member, I would make it very clear that the money would not influence my vote on development issues," he said.

Chatham County Planning Director Keith Megginson, who works with the planning board, said he did not know about the financial deals that Harris and Mason had with Morgan.

But Megginson said he did not think they were unethical because Morgan has no development requests before the board, and the planning board serves only an advisory role to the commissioners.

Planning board Chairman Charles Eliason said he also did not see an issue with the loans.

"It's just personal business between them," he said.

He added that he supports Mason and Harris. "I do not think they should resign," he said.

But planning board member Chris Walker said Wednesday he thinks the loans are a problem. "[Loans] are being made by board members to other board members, and I don't think that's right for public officials," Walker said.

Also Wednesday, Barnes said he might call for the resignation of planning board member Jennifer Andrews, an attorney who prepared the men's promissory notes to Morgan, according to county documents.

Last summer, Morgan asked the commissioners to pay Andrews $10,000 for legal work she did as a member of the county's Economic Development Corp. Andrews previously had agreed to do the work for free. Barnes voted against paying her, but it passed in a 3-to-2 vote, and she was paid.

"This is just insult to injury," Barnes said.

Morgan said he sees nothing wrong with using Andrews for his personal legal work. He has hired her before in matters, including a real estate deal, he said.

Andrews did not return a phone call Wednesday.

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