The monthly meeting of the County Commission meeting saw two new Commissioners and a new road commissioner be appointed to serve until the 2018 election, and a new Chairman and Chairman Pro Tem elected. Jimmy Williams was nominated and unanimously approved to fill the seat of Road Commissioner in District 3. The Commissioner who served in district 3, James Hancock, passed away recently.
Kristie Nokes was elected as the second district commissioner filling the seat of Todd Hollandsworth who resigned before the November meeting. Nokes was nominated by Karen Ashford. Others nominated were James Adkins who was nominated by Jim Bush. Bush stated that due to the turmoil of the ambulance department, he felt it would be a conflict of interest to elect Nokes as her husband is an employee of the Cannon County ambulance service. Brent Bush nominated Corey Davenport. The first round of voting had commissioners Mark Barker, Karen Ashford, Glenn Steakley and Adam Melton voting for Nokes. Jim Bush, Russell Reed, and Richie Hunter voted for Adkins and Brent Bush gave Corey Davenport his only vote in the process. With the nomination needing five votes to fill the position another round of voting took place with Brent Bush voting for Adkins. With the vote tied at 4-4, the Commission chairman Mike Gannon broke the tie by voting for Nokes.
Next up was the third district commissioner spot vacated by the resignation of Jamie Holloway. Greg Mitchell was nominated by Mark Barker with Jim Bush nominating Curtis George. Mitchell won by a 5-4 vote with Barker, Kristie Nokes, Karen Ashford, Richie Hunter and Adam Melton all voting for Mitchell. Jim Bush, Brent Bush, Russell Reed, and Glenn Steakley all voted for Curtis George.
The next item on the agenda was the election of the chairman. When the agenda first came out, the agenda had it first on the items to be handled. However Commissioner Russell Reed was able to get the order changed earlier this week in anticipation that the two new commissioners would be able to vote.
The last two months the Commission has deadlocked a 4-4 tie in electing a chairman nominating Gannon and Brent Bush. Gannon stated earlier this week when the item comes up during the meeting, he’s pulling his name out of the running. When the item did come up, the Commissioners turned to two new names. Karen Ashford and Mark Barker. Barker became the new chairman via a 8-2 vote. Barker himself, Russell Reed, Karen Ashford, Kristie Nokes, Greg Mitchell, Glenn Steakley, Richie Hunter and Adam Melton all voted for Barker. Jim Bush and Brent Bush voted for Ashford.
The Chairman Pro-Tem is Karen Ashford. Ashford received 9 out of the 10 commissioner votes. The only one that didn’t vote for Ashford was Jim Bush who nominated and voted for Kristie Nokes who he said earlier that he felt voting for her as a commissioner would be a conflict of interest.
