Today is the day when eight members of the Hamilton County Commission are expected to vote on choosing a county mayor to succeed Mayor Claude Ramsey, who will be leaving office Jan. 11 to serve as chief of staff in the administration of newly elected Gov. Bill Haslam.
But will a majority of the commissioners be able to agree on a new county mayor?
Ramsey has been an excellent leader. Fortunately, both candidates to succeed him – Mike Carter, currently special assistant to Ramsey, and Jim Coppinger, a member of the County Commission – are good candidates to serve as county mayor.
The problem in choosing the new mayor is that four of the commission candidates favor Carter and four favor Coppinger. The ninth commissioner is Coppinger, who cannot vote and therefore cannot break the tie.
So who or what will change to result in a majority decision one way or the other?
While Hamilton Countians are likely to “win” with whoever becomes the new county mayor, we regret that one of the good candidates will be disappointed.
We are grateful, though, that we have a good county mayor now, and will have a good new county mayor, however the final choice turns out.