By Jesse Wood
Amidst a relatively light agenda on Monday morning, the elected commissioners for Watauga County were sworn-in by District Court Judge Hal Harrison.
Incumbent Commissioners John Welch, a Democrat, and Perry Yates, a Republican, and newly-elected Commissioner Larry Turnbow, a Democrat, took the oath of office on Monday before settling into their seats on the board.
With Turnbow’s defeat of former Commissioner David Blust, a Republican, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners now features a Democrat majority. The previous board featured Commissioner Jimmy Hodges, a Republican, as chair of the board, and attorneys from the Eggers Law Firm, primarily Four Eggers, acting as county attorney. That is no longer the case.
In the spirit of bi-partisanship, Commissioner Yates nominated Commissioner Welch as board chair.
“For the past two elections, you’ve gotten the popular vote and it’s been a pleasure serving with you,” Commissioner Yates said. “I pledged when we ran that we would walk in unison, do some things and be civil to each other. I respect you and I think you’ve done a good job in the county. I’ll support you as the chairman as the majority party.”
Commissioner Billy Kennedy, a Democrat who wasn’t up for re-election this past election cycle, will serve as vice chair.
The Democrats also selected Di Santi, Watson, Capua, Wilson and Garrett to represent the county.
See photos of the swearing-in process below.
Also on Monday, Watauga County Register of Deeds Amy Shook was sworn into office as well. See a couple photos from Monday morning.
You must be logged in to post a comment.