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Citing ‘personal reasons,’ Anne Cabe exits Sylva board
By Justin Goble
Also see Anne Cabe’s resignation muddies Sylva election waters
 Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver announced last week (Oct. 20) that board member Ann Cabe had resigned.
The announcement came at the town’s third-Thursday regular meeting.
Oliver said that Cabe had resigned due to “personal reasons” and would not be seeking re-election.
Though many attempts were made to contact her, Cabe was unavailable for comment.
According to the Jackson County Board of Elections, Cabe’s name will remain on the Nov. 8 ballot since her resignation came too late to remove it. Lisa Lehman, director of the Board of Elections, said that if the board receives a written notification by Nov. 7 that Cabe does not wish to be re-elected, votes for her will not be counted. (See related story on page 10A.)
If election officials do not receive such notification, and Cabe garners a winning number of votes, she would have to resign a second time or resume her post.
Cabe was appointed to the board after her husband, Eldon Cabe, died in office in 2003. She ran unopposed in that fall’s election to fill the remainder of his term.
The main concern that officials face with Cabe’s resignation is the length of time the board is allowed to operate without a fifth member. Town Manager Jay Denton said statutes state that a board can operate without a member for “a reasonable amount of time.”
With elections only a few weeks away and a new board sworn in at the beginning of December, the consensus opinion was that the period the current board has left is considered reasonable and decided to proceed with four people.
“We have a six-week period before the new board is sworn in,” Oliver said. “The time to educate a new member would be longer than that six weeks.”
If Cabe notifies election officials of her wish to withdraw, candidates Stacy Knotts and Harold Hensley are assured seats on the board, barring a successful write-in campaign.
In other business Oct. 20:
– Town officials tabled a nomination for a representative to the county’s Economic Development Commission.
The need for the nomination arose when John Faulk, the commission’s previous Sylva representative, resigned.
Faulk is seeking a seat on Dillsboro’s town board in the upcoming election.
In September, challenge to his residency in the town was filed by Dillsboro resident John Miele. Election officials decided Faulk was considered a Dillsboro resident and cleared him to run at a meeting held Oct. 11.
Sylva board member Ray Lewis suggested that the nomination be tabled due to the lack of nominees at the time of the meeting.
– The board held a discussion of a mixed-drink referendum.
Members were concerned with how much a referendum would cost to hold since it is too late to place the question on the upcoming ballot.
According to Denton, holding a special referendum would cost the town between $3,500 and $4,000.
While board member Maurice Moody said that he would rather wait until November of 2006 and get the referendum on a regular ballot than spend the money on a special ballot, Lewis argued that the increased tax revenues would help defray the costs.
Denton said that, pending approval from election officials, the referendum could be put on the primary ballots in May of next year, allowing it to be voted on before November at no cost to the town..
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