Hamilton County Commissioner Marty Haynes will leave an open seat when he assumes his new role as the county assessor of property on Sept. 1.
Haynes, a Republican, defeated Democrat Mark Siedlecki in the August general election. Commission Chairman Chester Bankston said the commission will not appoint someone to the seat but will wait for voters to decide in November.
Haynes has represented District 3, which encompasses Hixson and Middle Valley, since he won a special election in 2012 to serve the remaining two years of a four-year term won by Jim Coppinger, who became mayor in January 2011. In 2014, Haynes ran unopposed.
While all of Haynes' colleagues congratulated him on his election victory during a recent meeting, only two spoke openly about the possibility of appointing someone to represent the district until a winner emerges from a special election in November.
"I know that District 3 shouldn't be unrepresented, but I, me personally, would prefer us to not get involved in the District 3 race by appointing somebody that might be running," Commissioner Joe Graham said to Bankston. "I would very much like to see us go ahead and take applications and appoint a conservator to that seat. I'm just throwing that out there since we need to discuss it publicly."
Commissioner Greg Beck said he agreed with Graham.
"It's really past practice to put somebody in place," Beck said, but also noting that "it has gone both ways."
When Coppinger became mayor in 2011, commissioners appointed pastor Mitch McClure in a 7-1 vote to replace him. McClure campaigned for the office in the 2012 Republican primary, but lost to Haynes.
Beck complimented Bankston for the "process you already put in place," but did not elaborate.
Bankston said nothing on the matter during the commission meeting, the first since the Aug. 4 elections. Afterward he said the process called for the district's Republican and Democratic caucuses to each put forth a nominee in the Nov. 8 election.
Republican Greg Martin, the District 3 representative on the Hamilton County Board of Education, announced his candidacy for the seat on Aug. 8.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.