Both Sullivan mayoral hopefuls support smaller County Commssion

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The 24-member Sullivan County Commission should be downsized, both people seeking to be the next county mayor have opined. However, neither of them is sure mimicking the county Board of Education districts is the way to go. During a Bristol Tennessee-Virginia Chamber of Commerce forum at Bristol Regional Medical Center Wednesday evening, Republican mayoral hopefuls Angie Stanley and Zane Vanover said they supported downsizing the commission. The two are the only hopefuls for Sullivan County mayor in the May 5 primary, in which early voting starts April 15 in Blountville and April 23 in Kingsport and Bristol. "It's hard to get a lot of things done with 24 commissioners," said Stanley, a former commissioner and two years into a four-year term on the Sullivan County Board of Education. At first glance, she said instead of 11 commission districts of one, two or three seats each for 24 commissioners, taking the seven school board districts for the seven-member BOE and electing two commissioners from each of those districts seems reasonble. She even voted for that in 2018, but the 24-member commission changed its mind before that plan could be implemented. Stanley said the reason was that under that plan, eight districts would be all or predominantly inside Kingsport, four in or predominately inside Bristol and only two mostly or all non-city areas. "We were having a lot of lash back from the county and the Bristol area," Stanley said. Vanover, not seeking reelection after almost four years on the commission, said he supported a smaller number of commissioners. "You can't get 24 pleople to agree where to eat after the meeting," Vanover said. "I don't think the school board districts would be equitable." Still, he said he hopes a path forward for a smaller commission is taken, estimating it would save about $100,000 a year in pay to go from 24 to 14 commissioners since each commissioner makes around $900 a month before taxes. He said neighboring Washington County went from 25 to 15 commissioners and has done well with fewer commissioners, adding that he supports smaller government. Talk of downsizing the commission has occurred on and off for years. Back in the 1990s, the discussions included complaints from rural commissioners than the non-city areas would lose their commission representations and rural identities on the commission. In those days, the commission was split along informal political lines, although the commissioners until this century ran on a non-partisan basis. The commission, facing issues of annexation by the cities, also split along urban/rural and upper end or Bristol/Bluff City/Piney Flats area and the lower end/Kingsport basis. Stanley and Vanover are the only candidates for mayor, with no Democrats or independents seeking the office in the Aug. 6 primary. That means the May 5 winner will be the de facto winner Aug. 6 and become mayor Sept. 1.