County Commissioner Tami Sawyer announced Monday she will not seek a second term in the 2022 county elections. Her decision means six new faces on the commission in the next election.

The first step would be a commission to draft a charter for a combined city of Memphis and Shelby County government covering Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County but not the six suburban towns and cities. 

The County Commission will soon have a panel of five to advise on ethics. One commissioner warns it could be seen as conflicting with the ongoing special prosecutor’s investigation into a 2019 grant proposed by Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr.

Brent Taylor says the County Commission decision to take its own bids on a new voting system “effectively bypasses” the Election Commission and “doesn’t indicate a willingness to work cooperatively.”

The commission also delayed the second of three votes on the Byhalia Connection Pipeline ordinance after it was amended.

Shelby County commissioners Monday voted down a new touch-screen voting system that includes a paper trail and moved to cut the Election Commission out of the process by taking new bids on a system that primarily uses hand-marked paper ballots.

Shelby County commissioners chose Dr. Michelle Taylor as the new head of the county’s Health Department Monday, and they picked Judicial Commissioner Danielle Mitchell-Sims to fill a General Sessions judge vacancy. 

Monday’s commission agenda includes confirming a health director whose nomination is in trouble, possibly reopening the contentious question of a property tax hike, a long-delayed decision on a voting system for the county, and appointing a new judge.

Morgan is in his second term on the City Council, which has a limit of two consecutive terms. Contenders for county offices in the May Democratic and Republican primaries can’t begin pulling petitions to get on the ballot until Dec. 20.

The nomination of Dr. Michelle Taylor as the new Shelby County Health Department director drew fire Wednesday, July 21, with distribution of a May memo to Mayor Lee Harris that said a search panel recommended not picking Taylor and continuing the search.

A vote Monday by the Shelby County Commission on a new voting system could mean new voting machines by the May county primary elections. 

Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. wants the county to get the bonuses to county workers in the next pay period. County Mayor Lee Harris says the county needs to be sure the use of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds is allowed before it cuts checks.

Masks will be required when the coming SCS school year begins, but field trips, athletics and reopened playgrounds will come back again. 

The Shelby County Commission will vote on Taylor’s appointment on Monday, July 26.

The positivity rate has tripled since July 1, to 8.9%. The majority of cases are the Delta variant, which is 50% to 60% more contagious than the B.1.1.7 strain that was dominant here from mid-March 2021 to early July.

County Mayor Lee Harris plans to nominate a pediatrician and White Station High School graduate as the Shelby County Health Department’s next director. 

The collaborative with more than 150 local nonprofits is to tackle long-terms needs and problems in the same rapid and sustained way the countywide COVID task force has handled the local response to the pandemic.

The two teachers’ unions in Memphis used to be one. But a battle over local control caused them to split.

People with compromised immune systems should talk to their doctor about a third dose, Dr. Manoj Jain says.

For decades, Memphians have crossed over to Arkansas to get their fireworks. That will be considerably harder with the bridge out. A report from the West Memphis fireworks tents. Will business be a dud?

The district voted to approve a $750,000 contract for Educational Epiphany, a company whose proposed contract teachers protested earlier this year. 

Coronavirus case rates are down 30% in the last 14 days.

The state comptroller commented Tuesday during a visit to the county on the idea of reopening county government’s tax rate after the July 1 start of the fiscal year. But the county commissioner who vowed Monday to do just that next month says there is wiggle room in state law.

The proposed review of appointees to the ethics body comes as County Mayor Lee Harris is about to propose new ethics regulations.