August 27, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Ten members of the county commission will be attending their last meeting Monday night, August 27. Their terms expire Friday, August 31.
Five of them were defeated for re-election in the Democratic Primary in May and two others lost their re-election bids in the August County General Election. The other three members chose not to seek re-election this year.
County Mayor Tim Stribling will be recognizing and presenting plaques to the outgoing members during Monday night’s monthly county commission meeting.
The longest serving members leaving the commission are Larry Summers and Wayne Cantrell. Summers, a Democrat, lost his re-election bid in the August General Election. Summers has served for a total of 38 years from the seventh district including three terms from 1978 to 1990. Summers returned to the commission in 1992. He was appointed to fill an unexpired term and then was elected to six more terms from 1994 to 2018.
Cantrell, a Democrat, has served the fourth district since 1994. He is wrapping up 24 years and six terms on the commission. Cantrell was defeated in the May primary.
In the first district Mason Carter, a Republican, served 12 years and three terms. Carter did not seek re-election.
Second district members Joe Johnson, a Democrat, and Jimmy Midgett, an Independent, will be leaving the commission after 4 years and one term. Midgett did not seek re-election while Johnson lost his re-election bid in the May primary. Johnson previously served on the commission from the third district during the 1980’s. He was appointed to fill an unexpired term and then was elected to one term in 1986. Altogether, Johnson has put in 11 years on the commission.
In the third district, Bradley Hendrix and Jack Barton, both Democrats, will be stepping down. Hendrix, who did not seek re-election to the commission, is completing 8 years and two terms.
Barton, who was defeated for re-election in the May primary, has put in a total of almost eleven and a half years on the commission. He was elected from the second district in 2006 and 2010 but he resigned in January, 2014 after moving his residence outside the district. Barton was elected to the commission from the third district in August 2014
In addition to Cantrell, another fourth district member, Jonathan Norris, a Democrat, will be leaving the commission after 4 years and one term. He was defeated in the May primary.
Along with Summers, Kevin Robinson from the seventh district is stepping down. Robinson, a Democrat, served 4 years and one term. Robinson was defeated in the May primary.
Sixth district member Betty Atnip, a Democrat, will be stepping aside after 4 years and one term on the commission. She lost her re-election bid in the August General Election.
Four members of the commission will be returning September 1.
Julie Williams Young, a Democrat will be starting her first full 4 year term on the commission from the first district. She has been on the commission since September 1, 2016 after being elected to fill the remaining 2 year unexpired term of her predecessor Elmer Ellis, Jr. who resigned earlier that year.
Fifth District members Anita Puckett, a Democrat, and Jerry Adcock, a Republican were re-elected on August 2. Adcock will be starting his third term and Puckett her second.
Sixth district member Jeff Barnes has been on the commission for 16 years and will be starting his fifth term.