Overton Taking Applications For Commissioner

Overton County is taking applications for the District One Commission seat left vacant after Lee Richards retired.

County Executive Steven Barlow said they will be taking applications through November and interviewing candidates in December. Richards stepped down in September. Barlow said any current commissioner can nominate someone for the position and the commission will eventually vote to choose a candidate.

“We all kind of need to be one mindset of what a commissioner is supposed to be,” Barlow said. “To listen to their constituents and to try to make a difference for their community and to, most importantly, work with us.”

Barlow said the final decision will be up to the commission but he will be involved in the interview process. Barlow said he believes this is the first time the commission has conducted a proper interviewing process to fill a vacant county seat.

“What they had done is kind of have people show up to the meeting and then they would nominate somebody in the meeting and they would go from there, whoever had the most votes,” Barlow said. “But this way they get to review the applications and look for qualifications of who they would like to take the open seat.”

Barlow said they already have a couple applications but they hope to get at least a few more before the end of November.

“Don’t just sit there and think about it, come on in and grab an application if you think that you’re being led to do something like this,” Barlow said. “Come in if you want to talk about it. If you want a description of what all they do we’d be happy to talk to you. You can call your other county commissioners in the county and talk to them about what the job responsibilities are.”

Barlow said anyone interested in the position can get an application from his office at the County Services Building.