Former commissioner Gary Stamper, center, sits in the back row of the public gallery with county engineer Tim Fife, left, and Public Health director Danette York, right. Stamper attended Monday's commission meeting as a citizen after resigning the last month of his term so he can collect his school pension. He will return to the commission when his next term begins in January.
With commissioner Gary Stamper stepping down until his next term begins in January, Lewis County will make do without a replacement for the little legislative business remaining this year.
“By the time this (appointment) gets done, there’s not going to be a whole lot of importance (remaining on the legislative calendar),” said deputy prosecuting attorney Eric Eisenberg.
Ultimately, the decision came down to the Lewis County Republican Party Central Committee, which procedurally is charged with providing commissioners with a list of three names to replace the outgoing official (Stamper is a Republican). Lewis County GOP Chair Olga Miller said the party’s bylaws require it to give a 10-day notice of meetings to its precinct committee officers, adding that the earliest a new commissioner could be seated is Dec. 20. The commission’s final legislative board meeting of the year is Dec. 17, meaning any stand-in commissioner would have nothing left to vote on.
“By the time we got everything done, then you’re into the holidays and then by that time commissioner Stamper would be starting his new term,” Miller said.
The GOP Central Committee’s executive board voted Monday night to forgo compiling a list of candidates, leaving the seat unfilled.
The Dec. 17 commission meeting will include votes on an amendment to the county’s budget and a hearing on using eminent domain to acquire right of way for a realignment project on North Fork Road — which is in the district of the vacant commission seat.
Miller said the GOP would have had no trouble producing a list of candidates, but agreed with the determination of county commissioners that it would not have been worthwhile to put forward possible replacements.
“The timing is just telling us (no),” said commissioner Edna Fund.
State law says only that the party of the outgoing official is charged with providing three possible replacements within 60 days. Since Stamper will be sworn in for his second term by then, the requirement will be moot.
The vacancy came about because Stamper needed a 30-day period of unemployment to begin collecting the pension he had earned from his previous career as an educator. Realizing his successful reelection precluded him from having that time off for another four years, he decided to end his first time early.
“It’s a lot different,” Stamper said, attending Monday’s commission meeting and budget hearing as a member of the public. “It was good though. I felt an obligation, because I helped develop that budget. I felt it was important to be here.”
Though he’s excited to return to work in January, Stamper said his absence won’t prevent the county from doing its work.
“We’ve got two able commissioners up there,” he said. “I feel very confident that they will handle decisions just fine.”
The budget vote was by far the biggest decision remaining before the commission this year, and though the vote was taken without Stamper, he spoke during the public comment portion of the hearing to talk about his role in crafting it and to praise the work of all who helped create it.
Prior to the hearing, commissioner Bobby Jackson said the budget was the commission’s last remaining major hurdle.
“That probably is the one major decision we’ll make,” he said. “Everything else, quite frankly — there are other items, but they can wait until commissioner Stamper gets back.”
County manager Erik Martin noted the upcoming budget amendment and North Fork Road project as items that may be controversial in the public eye, though they were unlikely to cause a split vote among the two remaining commissioners.
Fund noted that even seating a fill-in commissioner in time for a vote wouldn’t give them a strong background on the issues.
“You need studying to really get a grasp of what you’re working on,” Fund said.
