Mooneyham Named As Interim Commish

One local law enforcement officer was appointed to replace another on the Cannon County Commission when it met for its first quarterly meeting of the year Saturday at the Cannon County Courthouse.

Woodbury Police Officer Kevin Mooneyham was selected to fill the vacancy left by Cannon County Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Hall when Hall resigned his 5th District seat in December because he had moved from the district.

Mooneyham will hold the seat on an interim basis, as all 10 county commission seats are up for election in August.

He was nominated to fill the vacancy by current 5th District Commissioner Bob Stoetzel, who said Mooneyham was the most worthy person to fill the post as he came in third in the voting in the last election.

There were no other persons nominated for the seat.

Each of Cannon County’s five districts has two commissioners. Mooneyham has already picked up qualifying petitions papers to run for a 5th District Commission seat in the Aug. 5 General Election, as have Gregory Fauls, James Jones, and Paul Nickerson.

Stoetzel has not as yet determined whether he will run again.

Commissioners also filled another vacant position in county government Saturday when they selected Lynn Foster as interim Circuit Court Clerk. Foster has worked in that office for over 31 years, and is the sister of Robert “Hoppy” Davenport, who resigned from the position effective last Friday.

Foster indicated she intends to run for election to the position this year. Donnie Morris is also a prospective candidate.

One other vacancy, that of 2nd District Constable, was not filled as commissioners voted 6-4 against naming Tom Ganoe to the post. Ganoe indicted he intends to run for election to it in August.

• In other business Saturday, commissioners tabled two amendments to the budget.

One involved the transfer of $660 by the Cannon County Election Office from the category of Election Workers to that of Clerical Personnel.

“We do not change salaries in the middle of the budget year,” 1st District Commissioner Mark Barker said.

Administrator of Elections Stan Dobson said the increase was justified because his clerical assistant, Dorinda Mankin, was working 30 hours per week, while the previous secretary worked 20.

The commission also refused to give its OK to the budget amendments submitted by the REACH Afterschool Program, including taking $41,000 from Education Assistants and moving it into other budget categories, including the salary for “Supervisor/Director” and “Other Contracted Services.”

REACH Director Angela King was not present at the meeting.

“I want to know what her (King’s) salary was last year,” 4th District Commissioner Rebekah Parton said. “I want an audit of REACH.”

An audit by the State Comptroller’s Office of the REACH program last year found many discrepanies in its accounting practices. County Executive Mike Gannon has said steps have been put in place to fix the problems identified by the audit.

• Commissioners also approved giving $2,000 to help fund the Cannon County S.A.V.E. domestic violence prevention and intervention program. S.A.V.E. Director Lisa Baird said the funding was needed to sustain the office until money from federal grants she is applying for became available this Spring.

The commissioners also:

• Approved Wanda J. Parker, Kathy L. Jordan, Nathan Nichols, William H. Bryson, Peggy Y, Miller, Sandra H. Walker, Dorindra B. Mankin and Joyce Taylor as Notaries.

• Named the bridge on Hill Creek Road the “Claude Mayo Memorial Bridge.”

• Approved the County Road Map, which had no changes from last year.