The Shelby County Commission meets Monday, July 26, at 3:30 p.m. Watch a livestream of the meeting. Here is the agenda for the session. Click on an individual item to see detailed documents about that particular matter. Follow @bdriesdm on Twitter for live coverage of the meeting.

After a five-week summer break, Shelby County commissioners return Monday, July 26, to the county’s business. And it’s not a happy return.

The five-week break is the result of only one commission meeting in July instead of the normal two because of the annual NACO — National Association of Counties — meeting in Washington earlier this month.

Between committee sessions last week and Monday’s session:

• The nomination of Dr. Michelle Taylor as the new director of the Shelby County Health Department has turned into a bitter skirmish.
• The commission is still debating whether it is done with the county property tax rate almost a month into the new fiscal year. Budget committee chairman Edmund Ford Jr. is locked in a new clash with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris over bonuses for county employees in the budget.
• The body of 13 is about to reopen its debate with the Shelby County Election Commission over a new voting system that could wind up in Chancery Court.
• And in the charged environment, the commission is scheduled Monday to appoint a new General Sessions Court Judge.

Ford-Harris bad blood renewed over county pay bonuses

The Taylor appointment

After the Wednesday committees, Commissioner Mark Billingsley went public with a three-page memo to Harris from Deputy Chief Administrative Officer La Sonya Hall on the search for a new Health Department director.

The May memo said one of the job search panels recommended that Taylor, Harris’ nominee, not be the choice and that the job search continue. The group cited Taylor’s lack of experience with a public health agency comparable in size and work to Shelby County’s.

Hall, who has served as the interim Health Department director, was also among those who applied for the job.

Health Department panel recommended Harris pass on Taylor as new director

Harris posted several videos on social media the next day of Memphians expressing support for Taylor as the administration fights for the nomination. But Harris refused to comment on the memo, citing personnel policies.

Commissioner Van Turner said the three-page memo is part of a report of almost 80 pages including the various other panels that talked to Taylor as part of the process. All recommended her to Harris.

Turner says the memo also doesn’t reflect Taylor winning over critics in the two months between the memo and when Harris made his choice.

Health Department panel recommended Harris pass on Taylor as new director

The commission’s Black Caucus called the release of the internal memo from Hall by Billingsley “highly unprofessional and purposely released to call into question the leadership of Mayor Lee Harris.”

“The racial undertones of this memo plus the use of it to attack Dr. Taylor are both reprehensible,” the statement reads.

Billingsley followed with his own statement saying Harris told the commission Wednesday that Taylor was the “strongest candidate” by those involved in the search process when the memo shows that wasn’t the case.

“If Mayor Harris chooses to support a candidate for the director of the Health Department, he needs to own it and not misrepresent his own advisers’ recommendations,” Billingsley said.

The County Property Tax Rate

At its last meeting June 21, the commission approved a county property tax of $3.45, which is a stable tax rate that produces the same amount of revenue for the county as the previous rate of $4.05 taking into account the increase in property values countywide reflected in this year’s reappraisal of property for taxation purposes.

The commission previously approved a tax hike of one cent, making the tax rate $3.46.

Because the tax hike approved at the June 7 meeting was a motion from the floor, another vote was required June 21 after public notice of the tax hike decision that is required by state law.

County property tax hike stirs opposing commission views

But four of the 13 commissioners, including three who voted for the tax hike, were absent for the next meeting to effectively ratify the tax hike and instead the commission did away with the one-cent tax hike.

Several commissioners backing the tax hike voted for the lower rate in order to be able to move for reconsideration at Monday’s meeting before the minutes of the June 21 session are approved.

In order to move for reconsideration, a commissioner must have voted on the prevailing side of a question.

County Commission Scorecard: The tax rate votes

A New Voting System

For months, Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor has been pushing for the County Commission to vote up or down a $3 million contract for a new voting system on which the Election Commission took bids, selected and approved.

But until last week, he couldn’t get any county commissioner to sponsor the resolution that puts county funding in place to carry out the contract.

New voting machine issue is moving again in County Commission

The Election Commission picked a new voting system that used updated touch screen machines with a paper audit trail.

Voters get a paper readout of the choices they make on the touchscreens.

After verifying their choices, voters then feed the readout into a digital scanner with the paper copy going into a sealed ballot box.

A majority of the County Commission, however, is on record supporting hand-marked paper ballots instead.

The Election Commission has already voted to file suit against the County Commission in Chancery Court and if the County Commission votes this down, the lawsuit could be filed quickly.

A New Judge

The resignation of General Sessions Court Judge John Donald takes effect Aug. 1. The person appointed by the commission at the Monday meeting would serve for about a year, until the winner of the Division 3 seat in the August 2022 county general elections takes office to begin a new eight-year term.

Longtime Judge John Donald steps down from bench

Commissioners interviewed eight attorneys last week who applied for the vacancy. Each has indicated they intend to run for the office on the 2022 ballot if they get the appointment.

They are: Carlos Bibbs, Joseph Garrett, James Jones, William Larsha Jr., Danielle Mitchell-Sims, Lisa Nicole Stanley, Lori Parish Vincent and Cedric D. Wooten.