On Monday, Greg Cannon was sworn in as the District III commissioner by Probate Judge Kelley Powell at the Henry County Administration Building, to fill the seat of former Commissioner Gary Barham, who passed away last month after succumbing to complications from Covid-19.
State law, under Senate Bill 22, requires the Henry County Board of Commissioners to appoint a person to fill the seat until a special election is held in June. The BOC had 14 days to appoint one of three possible candidates from a list supplied by the former commissioner’s political party, but were unable to come to a consensus. The time to appoint expired on March 16.
Under Senate Bill 306, the Chair of the Henry County Commission is authorized to appoint a person to fill the vacancy once the allotted time frame for the Board to make the appointment has elapsed.
SB 306 reads, “In the event that a majority of the board does not vote to appoint a person to fill a vacancy within the time provided for in this subsection, the chairperson shall then immediately appoint a qualified person from the list of nominations provided pursuant to this subsection to fill such vacancy.”
Cannon is the CEO and co-owner of Cannon Cleveland Funeral Directors and is active in the Henry County community through a variety of Boards and initiatives. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Rotary Club, was the Chairperson of the Stewardship Committee for McDonough Presbyterian Church, and served on Sacred Journey Hospice’s Foundation Board of Directors.
