County’s chairman could get vote

By Brennan Leathers (Contact) | Post-Searchlight

Published Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Decatur County Board of Commissioners has taken the official step of asking for state lawmakers to allow changes related to the positions of the board’s chairman and vice-chairman.

All six commissioners voted to approve sending proposed legislation containing the changes to Georgia House Rep. Gene Maddox, who is expected to introduce the legislation during the current term of the Georgia Legislature. Although current board Chairman Earl Perry is normally unable to vote due to a restriction in the board’s bylaws, the proposed legislation called for the unanimous support of the commissioners it would affect, according to County Attorney Brown Moseley.

Perhaps the most important change in the legislation would be restoring the chairman’s ability to vote on business before the board. The chairman had a vote in the past, however, a previous board voted to eliminate his vote in 2005 due to concern about the dilemma of 3-3 tie votes on disputed matters.

The other major change would be to set up a system by which the role of chairman and vice-chairman would rotate among the six commissioners. Currently, commissioners vote on who will fill each position at their first meeting of each year.

Under the new system, which would take effect in January 2011 if the Legislature approves the changes, the previous year’s vice-chairman would be next in line to be chairman. The vice-chairman would be filled by “the board member who has the greatest length of service on the board and has not previously served a full term as chairperson, unless all other members of the board have served a full term as vice-chairman.”

The legislation outlines conditions by which the chairman or vice-chairman could be removed from their roles. If either chairman or vice-chairman were to be physically absent for four consecutive regular board meetings, they would lose their roles to the next person in line under the rotation.

Current chairman Earl Perry previously indicated that, as commissioners were generally in agreement concerning the rotation of chairman at their Jan. 12 meeting, he would consider 2010 the unofficial start of the rotation if it passes. That means current Vice-Chairman Butch Mosely would become chairman in 2011 and Commissioner Gary Phillips would become vice-chairman at that time.