With able County Mayor Claude Ramsey leaving office Tuesday to become chief of staff for new Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, Hamilton County commissioners have been having a hard time choosing between two candidates to serve as county mayor.
That’s because both candidates — Mike Carter and Jim Coppinger — are competent and admirable. However the contest ends, the people of Hamilton County “can’t lose.” But one of the candidates surely will be disappointed.
Coppinger is currently a county commissioner, so the eight other commissioners will make the choice. Four of them favor Coppinger and four of them favor Carter, who has been serving as special assistant to Ramsey.
With votes having been taken four times, there have been four 4-4 ties. Coppinger will become interim mayor if the tie holds when the commissioners vote again on Monday.
But the issue will still have to be resolved eventually. The commission must pick a permanent mayor by April 9. No one, however, has yet indicated that he may change his vote.