Jim FieldsIN OTHER BUSINESSAfter the chairmanship vote, commissioners:• Agreed to pay Mid-West Printing Company $46,146 on behalf of the election commission for ballots used in the Aug. 7 election.• Passed a resolution to buy two cardiac monitor/defibrillators for county emergency medical services for $66,016.• Voted to accept a $16,900 bid from Competition Athletic Surfaces to resurface four tennis courts at Standifer Gap Park. The money is coming from District 7 discretionary funds.• Approved a $725,872 bid from Custom Truck and Body Works for four new ambulances for county emergency medical services. The new ambulances will replace four going out of service.
Hamilton County residents can rest easy. No backroom deal was cut to decide the new County Commission chairmanship. In fact, there was almost no deal at all.
Commissioners voted eight times and took two five-minute breaks before making a decision -- after one commissioner suggested the body put it off until next week.
But ultimately second-term District 2 Commissioner Jim Fields won out over District 3 Commissioner Marty Haynes, who just won his first full term in office, and Commissioner Greg Beck, the longest-serving commissioner who has represented District 5 for nearly 10 years.
Despite his seniority, Beck was bumped out of the running after the first vote. Only Commissioner Warren Mackey and Beck himself voted for Beck. They are the commission's only Democrats.
After that, Beck and Mackey passed on the next six votes as the remaining commissioners were locked between Haynes and Fields, with neither able to garner the five votes needed on the nine-member panel.
Haynes voted for himself and had support from new Commissioners Randy Fairbanks and Sabrena Turner-Smedley. Fields had the remaining four votes.
Commissioner Joe Graham, who supported Fields, said after six identical rounds of voting that the commission needed to come to a decision.
"We can vote like this all day long and all this is doing is showing no leadership from all of us," Graham said.
Mackey countered by saying Beck was the obvious choice. Beck was first appointed to his seat in 2005 and won his third re-election in August.
"I look at the man who has spent 10 years studying and establishing a record of leadership, and that's why I put that name out there," Mackey said.
But Graham said the vote was between Haynes and Fields. He said Beck and Mackey should get on board.
"With all due respect, a pass is not a vote. A pass is passing off your responsibility to other commissioners," Graham said.
Beck said a pass vote was a vote and one he made with much contemplation.
After the seventh vote, Beck made a motion to recess the meeting until next week, leaving the agenda unapproved. By law, the new commission can't get to work until the chairman is selected.
That brought a quick response from Graham.
"If we can't come together today like grown adults and make a decision, what happens to the items on the agenda? Are we shutting down the county government for a week? So that makes us the United States Congress?" he said.
At that, Haynes said he appreciated the nomination and support from Turner-Smedley and Fairbanks, but he would withdraw his nomination.
Fields was then unanimously voted in, with support from Mackey and Beck as well.
There was no such drama with the vice chairman's post. Chester Bankston was the only commissioner nominated and won unanimous support.
Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com, at @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.