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Murphy – The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners was a fairly cohesive unit on Monday night, voting unanimously on almost every item on the agenda.
Increase Cherokee County Schoolss budget by $162,284 to keep pace with state-required pay increases, approve $1.18 million to pay for a new roof for Andrews Middle School, approve $88,852 for various sheriff’s office expenditures – all those and more passed unanimously.
Where the board found difficulty reaching unanimity was picking its own leaders going into 2024.
Commissioner Randy Phillips was picked to be chairman, replacing Cal Stiles following his one-year term chairing the board. Commissioner Dan Eichenbaum was picked to be vice chairman. That’s the abbreviated version, and the process went fairly quickly.
But Phillips and Eichenbaum were not the only nominees for the positions. Commissioner Jan Griggs was expecting the three votes necessary to become chairman and Ben Adams was expecting the three votes necessary to become vice chairman. According to Griggs, the two allied themselves with Stiles a year ago to put him in as chair and expected to have his support this time.
But Griggs and Stiles have had a parting of ways during the past year. He backed Phillips and Eichenbaum. Adams stuck with Griggs, but two votes weren’t enough.
Here’s how it played out.
Adams nominated Griggs for chairman, with Griggs seconding the nomination. Then Stiles nominated Phillips, with Eichenbaum seconding the nomination. Griggs lost on a 2-3 vote, with Phillips winning on a 4-1 vote, with Griggs casting the lone no vote.
Phillips then nominated Eichenbaum for vice chair, with Stiles seconding it. Griggs nominated Adams for vice chair, which Adams seconded.
The vote for Eichenbaum went 3-2, and since he won, a vote on whether Adams should be vice chairman was moot.
Phillips had no comment about his new role following the meeting. He had a career in law enforcement but has put
that on hold while he deals with health issues. He has two Facebook pages, but one was hacked and, ironically considering his opposition to crypto mines in the county, is used by hackers to market crypto-currency.
Eichenbaum is a medical doctor and ophthalmology specialist.