The pre-brokered plans to appoint an election commissioner for Simpson County have apparently been foiled based on objections of conflict of interest.
Following the recent appointment of former State Representative Andy Gipson to Agriculture Commissioner, the dominoes started falling, creating vacancies in Simpson County politics.
Governor Bryant issued an order last week calling for a special election to fill the vacancy created by Gipson’s new appointment. That election is set for July 10 with a qualifying date of May 21.
Last week’s edition of this publication announced that Price Wallace of Mendenhall would be running for Gipson’s vacated seat as representative of District 77. Wallace currently chairs the Simpson County Election Commission.
Wallace announced to the Board of Supervisors that he would be stepping down as chairman of the Election Commission.
The board discussed appointing Allen Floyd to the vacancy on the Election Commission until an election could be held for a replacement. Floyd is also the chairman of the county’s Republican Committee.
George Jackson, chairman of the county’s Democratic Committee, asserted that Floyd’s appointment was a conflict of interest. Floyd said he had an e-mail from the Secretary of State’s office saying that his appointment was not a conflict.
The Board of Supervisors voted to approve Floyd. Jackson again objected.
The board reconsidered and agreed to approve the decision based on their independent efforts to get approval from the Secretary of State’s office.
Monday afternoon the board learned that Jackson was correct in his assessment. Floyd was then given the opportunity to step down as chairman of the local Republican Party to become the county Election Commissioner, but he opted not to do so.
The board has set a special called meeting for this Thursday at 8 a.m. The appointment of a new election commissioner, along with other issues, will be on the agenda.
The board heard from State Representative Hank Zuber, who is soliciting the county to join in a lawsuit against the manufacturers of opioids for what he termed as “a discounted rate of 25 percent of the settlement costs.” He told the board they stood to collect nothing if they were not a party to the claim. The board did not act on his request.
The board then heard a request from the Sheriff’s Department to purchase new cameras which offer audio as well as video. The department’s existing cameras do not have cloud storage. The department contends there is not enough time on a 64 meg card to record all the way through a shift. However, the internet said that a 64 card should do two days of recording. Larger cards are available, however. The 13 cameras come with a price tag of $40,000, which includes the cloud storage fee.
The board approved hiring Joey Burns as a part-time deputy and approved sending John Kilpatrick to the prosecutors convention at the Imperial Palace Casino.
