|
McMahan to be next commissioners’ chairman
By Lynn Hotaling
The only announced candidate for Jackson County commissioners’ chairman was the only nominee and was elected to the post Tuesday (March 22) by acclamation.
Brian McMahan, who until minutes after his election was commissioner from District 2, was scheduled to be sworn in during a special noon commissioners’ meeting Wednesday (March 23).
Immediately after his unanimous selection by 47 of 51 members of the county’s Democratic Executive Committee, McMahan moved to amend the agenda to allow his successor to be named as well. When that suggestion was approved, McMahan read a brief letter of resignation and then the DEC unanimously chose former county Commissioner Conrad Burrell as McMahan’s District 2 replacement.
“I’m honored to be here and honored you put your trust in me,” McMahan told his fellow Democrats.
While he had thought of himself as a Democrat during his school days because it was his parents’ and grandparents’ party, his reasoning had changed by the time he could register to vote, he said.
“I registered as a Democrat not because of my family but because through all my studies and research, I realized it was the Democrats who reached out a hand to the helpless, who reached out to the working man and stood up for minorities,” McMahan said. “As chairman, I will continue to fight for those causes.”
McMahan will replace Stacy Buchanan, who unexpectedly announced Feb. 28 that he would step down effective June 30 to devote more time to his family and his career as a teacher and assistant head football coach at Smoky Mountain High. However, Buchanan made his resignation immediate one week later.
It fell to local Democrats to choose Buchanan’s successor because state statutes give political parties authority to choose replacements for public officials who leave office before their term is up if an official was elected as a nominee of that political party.
A relative newcomer to political office, McMahan has held only one elected post. He was elected to the county Board of Commissioners in November 2002.
Burrell, who will replace him as District 2’s commissioner, held that post for four years, from 1998 until 2002 and was Jackson County’s Register of Deeds for 24 years prior to his stint as commissioner. He is also the Division 14 representative on the state transportation board and a member of the Southwestern Community College Board of Trustees.
Burrell, who is on a fishing trip to Florida, was not present for Tuesday’s meeting and was not available for comment.
|
