In a 6-5 vote Thursday, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners reelected Ken Smith, R-Hixson, as chair for a second one-year term.
The vote was split among party lines, with Katherlyn Geter, a Democrat from the Talley Center neighborhood, finishing second.
This comes a week after an initial meeting to elect new board leadership ended in a tied vote and no final decision being made for the next chair or vice chair. With only 10 members in attendance last week — Commissioner Jeff Eversole, R-Ooltewah, was absent — each of the attempts to elect new leadership ended in deadlocked 5-5 votes, divided down partisan lines. Commission rules require six votes to win leadership positions.
Smith was first elected chair in September of last year, replacing Eversole, who had previously held the position for two years. Before that, Smith served on the Chattanooga City Council for 12 years.
“This means a lot,” Smith said. “You do good enough work to lead a body like this, and it is recognized by putting you in leadership, and it definitely means a lot.”
Ken Smith reelected Hamilton County Commission chair
Smith was nominated at Thursday’s meeting by Commissioner Gene-o Shipley, R-Soddy Daisy, and Geter was nominated by David Sharpe, D-Red Bank. Eversole was also nominated by Warren Mackey, D- Bluff View, but Eversole declined the nomination, saying he did not feel he had the capacity at the moment to fulfill the chair’s regular responsibilities.
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“In the future, I’d like to be considered for a leadership role in this position, but I cannot fulfill that at this point,” Eversole said. “That may be an avenue down the road, but currently, right now, I don’t think I’m available.”
Republicans Eversole, Shipley, Smith, Chip Baker of Signal Mountain, Lee Helton of East Brainerd and Steve Highlander of Harrison voting for Smith. Democrats Sharpe, Geter, Mackey, Montrell Besley of Alton Park and Joshua Wichman of East Ridge voted for Geter.
It’s this kind of diversity of opinion that’s important for a strong board that represents a diversity of interests across the county, Smith said.
“I don’t want to work on a board where everybody agrees with each other. That is not what we’re up here to do,” he said. “Each of our districts is a little different. I expect people to have different thoughts, different personalities, different initiatives, different things that they’re working toward.”
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In another partisan 6-5 split, Highlander narrowly defeated Sharpe for the position of vice chair.
Both Smith and Highlander will serve a one-year term. Smith’s duties will include running the regular commission meeting, making committee assignments and helping guide the board’s agenda. Should Smith be unable to fulfill those roles at any given meeting, Highlander will act in his stead.
“The No. 1 job of the chair … is to run a neutral meaning, and to treat everybody fair and equally, and I will do that,” Smith said.
Contact staff writer John P. Boan at jboan@timesfreepress.com.