CLEVELAND, Tenn. – On Sept. 1, five of Bradley County’s 14 commissioners will be new.
So on Saturday, the new commissioners plus most of the others re-elected Aug. 5 met in an 1800s-era stagecoach cabin on Bendabout Farm to learn more about the issues they face and talk about plans for the future.
Matt Bentley, Bendabout Farm manager, welcomed them to the 4,000-acre farm in McDonald, an area that’s expecting residential and commercial growth.
“It’s extremely important to us to maintain a rural setting,” Bentley said, but he knows the southern Bradley community probably won’t remain that way.
His feelings pretty much summed up the future facing Bradley County as a whole, said consultant Greg Dale, whose firm, Dale, McBride, Clarion, is guiding the community through strategic planning for the next 25 years.
“We need to preserve the community’s character while we know we are facing progress, too,” Dale said.
On Saturday, county Schools Director Johnny McDaniel acknowledged many of the new commissioners are educators, too.
“I hope you always see yourselves as educators,” McDaniel told them.
Allison Pierce, of Resource Development Systems Inc., led the commissioners through a priority-setting session that included discussions on education, economic development, quality of life issues and public safety.
A Sept. 1 swearing-in ceremony is planned at the county courthouse for all newly elected and re-elected incumbents.
Two county offices – a school board seat and a constable’s position – are still undecided.
County Elections Administrator Fran Green said there will be a special election on Nov. 2 to fill the vacancy created by the death of county school board member Terry McGuire.
“The law provides that the position be filled at the next closest election date,” Green said.
Rodney Dillard, a district manager for Bi-Lo and member of the Lake Forest Middle School PTO, and Jerry Johnson, a veteran county emergency worker now with the 911 Center, qualified for the seat Thursday. They may withdraw by Aug. 26 if they change their minds.
Some county school board vacancies have been filled by County Commission appointments in the past. But those appointments were made only to fill a short-term vacancy until an election, County Mayor D. Gary Davis said.
Another loose end from the August election is the District 7 constable seat.
Charlie McKenzie ran for re-election and also campaigned for a vacant seat on the Cleveland City Council. He won both.
McKenzie said he will resign as constable. But because city candidates are sworn in on Sept. 13, his resignation will come after the deadline for a replacement constable candidate to qualify for the Nov. 2 election.
The constable job may be filled by the County Commission until an election can be held, Green said.