Masters, Street file for seats on board of commissioners
After several divided votes, the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners elected incumbent Jeff Harding to serve another year as board chairman last week.
Initially, the board struggled to reach a firm majority on the question of the 2026 chair. Commissioner Harley Masters nominated Commissioner Dale Blevins to serve as chair, while Blevins himself nominated Harding to retain the office.
Nominating Blevins
Masters opened her nomination statement by explaining the role of chairman for the audience. Masters has served as chair herself, before Harding was selected for the role in a late 2024 vote.
“Electing the chairman, for anybody in the audience that doesn’t know, you don’t have any more power than any other commissioner because we still make decisions as a whole as the board, but an effective chairman has very good communication skills, and so, over the past year, the person that I would like to nominate, I think has worked his tail end off,” Masters said. “He’s worked harder than any other commissioner I’ve seen in my time.”
Masters’ praised Blevins for his professionalism on the board.
“Whether we agree or whether we have disagreed, he has always been respectful and allowed there to be communication and with my nomination, I would like to nominate Dale Blevins because first and foremost, if Jeff, Steve, and I don’t go back onto the board, this gives you a year to really get things under your hat, but I would love to see you as the chairman because I think that you are fair and equal with this entire board and you always communicate and I think you represent Mitchell County,” she said.
Two election announcements
Although Masters has suggested in the past that she might not run for county commissioner again, later in the week she issued a public statement announcing that she has filed to run for re-election.
In another twist in Mitchell County affairs, Sheriff Donald Street also announced last week that he has filed to run for county commissioner. Street had already announced that he would not be running for sheriff again.
Blevins’ doubts
Blevins, who was elected last year, expressed doubt that he has enough experience in local government to be ready to serve as chair.
“I don’t know if I’m mature enough,” he said.
“If Jeff (Harding), Steve (Pitman) and I don’t go on, you and Lee (Ellis) will be the most seasoned,” Masters replied.
Three votes
In the first vote on 2026 chair, Masters and Harding voted for Blevins. Blevins and Commissioner Lee Ellis voted for Harding. Commissioner Steve Pitman was not present for the meeting.
“I voted for Jeff purely because Dale told me he’d kill me if I voted for him,” Ellis said.
“There was no previous conversation (between us,)” Masters interjected. “I voted with my conscience.”
Blevins noted that he is already serving on 10 committees, limiting his available time.
In a second vote, Masters continued to support Blevins, Ellis and Blevins voted for Harding, and Harding did not vote. Attorney Joey Petrack noted that a commissioner has the legal right to vote for him or herself for board chair, and that a nominated commissioner has the right to withdraw his or her name from consideration.
Petrack was sitting in for regular County Attorney Four Eggers, who was unable to attend the meeting.
“If this were next year when we did it, I would probably say yes,” Blevins said. “I am honored that you think that of me, Harley. … I’ll just withdraw.”
In the final vote, Ellis and Blevins voted for Harding, and Harding and Masters stayed silent. County Manager Allen Cook, who was presiding over the vote because the board chair cannot preside over his own election, noted that he would need a clear majority in order to declare a winner, so Harding chimed in to vote for himself, at that point the only candidate, winning the appointment 3-1.
Pitman, who was still absent from the meeting, was elected vice-chairman 4-0.
Board comments
At the end of the meeting, during the “Board Comments” section of the agenda, Masters said she would like to expand on the reasoning behind her decision to oppose Harding as chair.
“I have been very disappointed with the lack of communication I have seen from you,” Masters said. “It is my hope that if you are going to be the chair for the next year that we can see an improvement on that, and so I don’t know if that is amongst all board members or that is just what I see from my standpoint. But congratulations on being the chair, and I hope to see more communication from you as the chairman.”
Harding said that he has some concerns about Masters as well.
“I don’t feel comfortable talking to you on the phone or in private, or communicating with emails,” Harding said. “I’ll be happy to meet with you, with the county manager, or someone else in the room. But your prior actions, especially with tape recording the conversation you had with the recreation director, I don’t appreciate that. Basically, I’m not going to be caught in that circumstance with you.”
Adjournment mid-sentence
Masters attempted a response to this remark but did not finish her statement.
“And if I have to cover my hind end as a female—” Masters said.
“Motion to adjourn?” Harding said abruptly.
“I make the motion,” Ellis said.
“Meeting is adjourned at 7:58 p.m.,” said Harding.