Commissioners argue about new board member
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The Economic Development Committee, chaired by David Vandagriff, had voted earlier in the night to appoint Levoy Knowles to the position. But other commissioners made it known they wanted to wait until the September commission meeting to make a decision.
The controversy surfaced when County Executive Carol Hamblen asked if there were any amendments to the docket and Commissioner Gary Prater voiced his opinion.
“I’d like to make a motion to amend the docket, deleting item number five [the appointment of Knowles], and postponing it until next month’s meeting,” Prater said.
This didn’t sit well with Vandagriff, whose committee had just agreed on Knowles.
“The committee just voted on this, to put him on there,” said Vandagriff. “I don’t think the whole commission understands what we’re voting on here.”
Vandagriff then asked for a ruling from County Attorney Larry Stanley, who indicated the County Commission would have to vote on whether to delete item number five.
Prater then addressed the commission again and explained the reason for his motion.
“All I want to do is put this off until next month where our new county executive [Kenneth Rogers] can have an input in this,” said Prater.
After some further discussion, the commissioners then voted 12-10 to postpone the appointment of a fifth county Industrial Development Board member until the next meeting in September with a new commission and county executive.