Gail McCowan Appointed to Overton Commission

Overton County Commissioners have appointed Gail McCowan to fill the vacant District 3 seat.

County Executive Ben Danner said McCowan will be replacing her husband Harley, who passed away late last year.

“Gail was the closest we could get. The voters elected Harley and she was out with Harley all during the election,” Danner says. “She was part of Harley and I think that’s as close as we could get to having Harley still on the commission. She knew what all Harley was looking to try and do on the commission, so that’s what the commission was looking at and trying to appoint somebody that could do what Harley had set out to do.”

Danner says McCowan was a major asset to her husband’s election campaign for the county commission seat.

“She got out when he was out campaigning and helped him and went all over the county,” Danner says. “She agreed to serve the rest of his term and if all goes well it goes through the end of August 2020 then someone will have to run for a two-year election then. But the commission appointed her and it was unanimous to make her the new commissioner.”

Harley McCowan was elected to the Overton County Commission in August but passed away in November after a battle with cancer.

Commissioners appointed Gail to the vacant seat during Monday’s county commission meeting.