KEVIN HALPERN, Courier Co-Editor
Thursday, March 22, 2012 1:14 pm

Cannon County Executive Mike Gannon is no longer a candidate for the position of executive director of the Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency.

Gannon’s decision to no longer seek the job comes following an opinion issued by the Tennessee Attorney General earlier this week that persons seeking the position, who currently serve on the agency’s board of directors, must resign their current position.

As county executive, Gannon automatically holds a seat on the UCHRA board.

In his opinion, Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr., wrote, “Once a board member of a human resource agency decides to pursue appointment as the executive director of the agency, the member must not only resign from the board but also must resign from his or her elected office, given that one of the elected official’s nondelegable statutory responsibilities is to serve on the board.”

Gannon said today he had no intention of leaving his current position to run for the UCHRA vacancy.

“I applied in the first place because, as I said before, I was asked by a number of people who I have worked with at UCRHA headquarters in Cookeville to do so,” Gannon said. “To tell you the truth I am relieved it is no longer something to consider. I have enough on my plate as it is.”

Gannon had been one of five finalists for the job. The process of selecting a new UCRHA executive director will now start over. The agency will again advertise for candidates. Gannon said as a board member he will play an active role in finding the best person for the job.

“I am going to be an advocate for the employees of the agency and work as hard as I can to help UCHRA fulfill its mission of helping the poor and needy in our community. It is an agency that helps a lot of people, but it has been lacking effective leadership for the past few years,” Gannon said.

Gannon also said he has important work to do as county executive.

“I look forward to continuing to do the work the citizens of Cannon County elected me to do, which is to run the day-to-day operations of the county and to work with the county commission to make our community a better place to live.”