VICE CHAIRMANFor Chester Bankston: Greg Beck, Tim Boyd, Warren Mackey, Chester BankstonFor Jim Fields: Joe Graham, Fred Skillern, Larry Henry, Jim FieldsMAYOR(first four times)For Mike Carter: Greg Beck, Tim Boyd, Warren Mackey, Chester BankstonFor Jim Coppinger: Joe Graham, Fred Skillern, Larry Henry, Jim FieldsSource: Hamilton County CommissionDISTRICT 3 VACANCYCandidates for the District 3 seat on the Hamilton County Commission may apply through 4 p.m. Jan. 21. Applicants must be at least 18, qualified voters and residents of District 3.The Hamilton County Republican Women will sponsor a candidate forum at 7 p.m. at Hixson Middle School.The commission plans to vote to fill the vacancy Jan. 27.
Commissioners insisted Thursday that they aren’t picking teams, but the votes for commission vice chairman lined up exactly as they did in the first four votes for county mayor.
They deadlocked 4-4 Thursday between commissioners Chester Bankston and Jim Fields. They need to choose a vice chairman to replace Larry Henry, who became chairman when Jim Coppinger was named county mayor on Monday.
The vice chairman serves when the chairman is absent. County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said there won’t be a long-term tie over the post because commissioners plan on filling a vacant ninth seat.
“By the end of the month there’ll be another commissioner, so you won’t have a deadlock,” Taylor said.
The commission plans to fill Coppinger’s District 3 seat Jan. 27.
Henry said voters shouldn’t read too much into the votes for vice chairman lining up the way they did when commissioners could not decide on a mayor.
“I think we’ve just got some preferences,” Henry said. “I got to know Fields. I like his temperament.”
Commissioners Warren Mackey and Fred Skillern also said it’s a coincidence the commission split in the same manner as it did when picking the mayor.
Fields also said he does not see votes on vice chairman and mayor as signs of a division among commissioners.
“They voted the way they wanted to,” Fields said.
Bankston did not return a message seeking comment.
According to the University of Tennessee’s County Technical Assistance Service, if the chairman and vice chairman are absent, the county clerk, Bill Knowles, will call the meeting to order. Commissioners will elect a temporary vice chairman to preside over the meeting.
Commissioners have predicted there won’t be another vote on a vice chairman until they have filled the District 3 seat.
Asked what would happen if the commission deadlocks on appointing the District 3 commissioner, Henry did not have an answer.
“I’m going to cross that bridge when I come to it,” he said.
Two candidates already have said they will apply: Middle Valley Church of God pastor Mitch McClure and George Patten, of Hixson.