Heated discussions Monday night as the Fentress County Commission passed a resolution opposing the installation of primary election for county positions.
The local Republican Party called for a primary election as part of a statewide effort. Though the Commissioners’ resolution will not change that, Commissioner Benny Hughes questioned why newcomers want to change the county’s politics.
“We’ve been here over 150 years,” Hughes said. “We’ve not just lived with the people and toiled with the people, we’ve died with the people. Now, back to you carpetbaggers, if you know what the definiton of that is.”
Hughes retracted that name, but he and other commissioners said the state of federal and Nashville politics shows the gridlock that comes with getting parties involved. Most who spoke said they are Republican, but said the county needs to be governed by a focus on what’s best for Fentress County.
“You know, we are bringing that division into our county,” Commissioner Ben Cooper said. “Not only is it just destroyed our government, but then we are trying to bring it back into our county.”
Republican Party Secretary David Melcher said the party called for a primary election to reduce the candidates and then a candidate would need more than 30 percent of votes to be elected. Commissioner Justin Miller said he commends the local Republican Party for calling for a primary election.
“I may get laughed at, I may get hate mail letter, I don’t care, I have wanted a primary in this county even before I got to politically involved in everything,” Miller said. “I think it’s a good thing I think it’s a step in the right direction that maybe, you know, maybe the Democrat Party didn’t do it this time. Maybe this will be a step in the right direction to where we could get like we were talking about earlier more than somebody winning more than 30 percent of the vote.”
Commissioner Larry Cooper said he does not buy that as a viable reason since candidates could still appear on the ballot as an independent.
“I assure you, if we have eight on the ballot they are not going to get 30 percent of the votes,” Cooper said. “So I can’t say that we can use that we are trying to get more votes because you can only have, especially with the commission when there is two elected form each district, it still stands the reason that we are going to elect someone with 15-20 percent for the vote.”
Commissioner Kim Davidson reiterrated that the resolution would not prevent the primary election, but also said residents of the county can let the local Republican Party know how they feel.
“They do have the opportunity, they can withdraw by November the 21st,” Davidson said. “So that being said, you know, if people in the county, if you do have concerns I mean, you can speak to those people on this Republican Party for Fentress County and let them know your concerns because the group of 30 or 40 made this decision for everybody.”
In other business, the commission approved a memorandum of understanding to allow the county’s Solid Waste Department to use one of the Highway Department’s radio frequency channels.
The commission appointed Jimmy Smith to fill a vacated spot on the E911 Board. The commission also appointed James Bilbrey and James Strong to the board.
The commission approved Jonathan McCoy to serve on the planning commission. McCoy will replace Harvey Stowers.
The commission approved a bid of an estimated $72,000 for home rehabilitation project as part of the THDA Home Rehabilitation Grant Program. The commission approved to renew a license agreement with the state of Tennessee for drivers license kiosk.
The commisison approved committee assignemnts for the Ambulance Committee, building Committee, fire committee, and jail committee. The committees will met the second Monday night of each month at 5:30pm.