The Hamilton County Commission focused on the future at Wednesday's agenda meeting, discussing an upcoming vote on meeting time legislation and Mayor Jim Coppinger's possible bid for re-election.
District 5 Commissioner Katherlyn Geter's August proposal for more Hamilton County Commission meetings to accommodate those who are unavailable during the commission's regular Wednesday morning meetings, which was tabled until the county's legal committee could study the impact of evening meetings, will likely make it back to the commission well before the Nov. 30 deadline.
Wednesday, District 3 Commissioner Greg Martin asked County Attorney Rheubin Taylor to address email correspondence between him and District 8 Commissioner Tim Boyd regarding the legal committee's recent deliberation on a resolution to change meeting time policy.
The issue was sent to and discussed by the three-person committee in August, but failed to get a motion and a second to come back to the commission.
Wednesday, Taylor advised the commissioners that the issue could come back to them if no action has been taken once 30 days had passed since they first received it, according to a commission rule.
While the committee was originally given until Nov. 30 to complete discussion, the commission, including recently-appointed legal committee chairman David Sharpe (District 6), seemed to favor allowing the issue to leave committee ahead of schedule for voting.
Geter asked that the committee members answer questions she had submitted to them before the issue comes back to the commission as a whole.
Staff file photo - District 4 Hamilton County Commissioner Warren Mackey comments during an August 2017 commission meeting.During announcements, District 4 Commissioner Warren Mackey came out in support of the county mayor's potential re-election campaign, praising their shared vision of the county's future.
"Especially in this latest term as mayor, you have shown a great amount of courage and leadership," Mackey said to Coppinger. "I'm all in with you."
Coppinger said he may run at the end of his term, because of a love for his job, but said he does not want any future campaign to cloud his current work.
"It's kind of interesting that we're three years out from another election and we're already talking about what's going to happen," Coppinger jeered. "Good government is being comfortable where you are and serving in that capacity. ... I hope we can all settle down from all the political rhetoric and do our jobs, the jobs we're in right now, and focus on what we're currently doing."
Contact Sarah Grace Taylor at staylor@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416. Follow her on Twitter @sarahgtaylor.