Kyle Possoit Voted District 6 School Board Member

The commission met in a called session Thursday evening at the Visitor Center. All commissioners were present for the highly-anticipated event to fill the vacant District 6 School Board seat. Candice Jones, who had only been voted in this past November, submitted her resignation in late February. Jones announced that she had “accepted an employment opportunity with the State of Tennessee that may pose potential conflicts if I continued to serve on the school board.”

Upon her resignation, there were a few individuals who expressed interest in running for the position. Kyle Possoit- who ran against Jones in November- David Ross, a Houston County School teacher, and Mike Keel, pastor of Pleasant Hill Free Will Baptist church. Following the Pledge and roll-call, Mayor “Boo” Beecham reiterated the procedures of the voting. After individuals were nominated, the commission would “verify the acceptance of nominations with nominees.” Beecham highlighted this particular step, owning that he “goofed up. I had a gentleman that wanted to be a nominee, come to me at the last commission meeting and specifically asked me not to schedule this meeting on the 27th- he was going to be out of town one night… I left that [note] in this office and I went back to mine and scheduled it for the 27th.” Beecham referred to T.C.A. § 5-5-111 for further clarification. The majority of votes (8) would earn the vacant seat. If a candidate did not receive the majority, the commission would recast their votes on the two candidates who received the most votes.

Each candidate was allowed 5 minutes to speak before the voting commenced. Kyle Possoit, whose wife is a teacher’s aide at Dover Elementary School, spoke first, sans his trademark ball cap. Mike Keel was unable to be present for the voting but did send in a signed and notarized letter accepting his nomination. He had submitted a pre-recorded video of his 5-minute speech. David Ross, who had been a favorite among the most recent poll (64% said they would vote for him over Possoit or Keel), and finally, Brandy Hardigan, who referred to herself as an “11th-hour addition” spoke. The commissioners were then asked to vote, with each candidate getting the following votes:

Kyle Possoit: Elijah Thomas (district 1), Randall Redmon (d2), Vince Gray (d4), Archie Cryer (d5), Clint Mathis (d6), Bradley Jones (d6), Mark Dortch (d7)

Mike Keel: Brian Tiebor (d1), Rickie Joiner (d2), Shane Keatts (d3), Eric Watkins (d3), Terry Fitzhugh (d4)

David: Melissa Fields (d5), Alexis Taylor (d7).

Brandy: none

With the “majority voting” in place, commissioners did a second round of voting, this time among Possoit and Keel. Melissa Fields redistributed her vote to Keel and Alexis Taylor to Possoit. Watkins also changed his vote to Possoit. The final vote placed Possoit as the new District 6 school board member with 9 votes, and he was sworn in that evening by county clerk Natalie Hardison.

-Chelsea Nicole
-Stewart County Streaming Volunteer

4/29/23