Habersham commissioners fill Development Authority vacancy after earlier deferral

Habersham County commissioners voted 3-1 on Oct. 18, 2021, to appoint C. Allen Whitener to the Development Authority seat associated with R. Allen Smith’s resignation. Commissioner Palmer cast the dissenting vote, and the motion set Whitener’s term to expire Feb. 17, 2022.

The decision put a named appointee in a county Development Authority position for the balance of a resignation-linked term. It also resolved the practical question left by an earlier decision to table the appointment: commissioners delayed their choice, but did not leave the seat unfilled through the stated February 2022 expiration.

Before the Oct. 18 meeting, commissioners had set aside the appointment connected to Smith’s resignation rather than selecting from the matter then before them. That deferral preceded the later motion to appoint Whitener, which passed with three commissioners in favor and Palmer opposed. The county minutes establish the sequence, though the excerpt does not give an exact date for the earlier tabling action.

Whitener was the successful appointee, while Smith’s resignation created the vacancy addressed by the commission. The recorded vote shows a divided commission rather than unanimous support: Palmer dissented, while three commissioners supported the appointment. The minutes do not state Palmer’s reason for opposing it, identify competing candidates, or describe public comment on the selection.

The appointment was a completed county action, documented in meeting minutes as a 3-1 vote on Oct. 18, 2021. The stated term end is also documented. The record does not show when Whitener began serving, whether he completed that term, or what action, if any, the county took after the listed expiration in February 2022.

The next public record that would clarify the matter is a later dated county commission minute or other county action identifying implementation of Whitener’s appointment and the seat’s subsequent status. What remains undecided in the public record is not whether commissioners chose Whitener, but when service began and whether the position changed hands after the term’s Feb. 17, 2022 expiration.