Defeated and “lame duck” Commissioner Chairman Eddie Holbrook remains in office until December 3, 2018 when his duly elected replacement Deb Hardin is sworn in. Appointed and re-elected Commissioners Doug Bridges and Ronnie Hawkins still have until December 3, 2018 before they are released from their required appointment pledge to support the old commissioner programs and are free to act on their own judgement as an elected Cleveland County Commissioner. The November 20, 2018 Commissioners will have Eddie Holbrook, Johnny Hutchins and Susan Allen controlling the vote.
So, what does “Lame Duck” Commissioner Chairman Eddie Holbrook do? He schedules a public hearing and a vote for a $26 Million bond issue for November 20, 2018. Totally in defiance of the voters of Cleveland County who elected Doug Bridges, Ronnie Whetstine and Deb Hardin as the voter’s choice for a new MAJORITY on the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners.
A review of the little bit of information that Eddie Holbrook has allowed to be made available to the public regarding this $26 million bond indicates; a fiscally responsible Board of Commissioners would vote NO on this bond issue. The actual bond issue could be just as equally good, bad or ugly; yet Holbrook wants a vote while he is still in power. Just one more good indication of why the voters of Cleveland County threw him out of office in the first place.
It will be interesting to see how Doug Bridges and Ronnie Whetstine vote on this last-minute bond issue. As the information available to the public is so poor, I cannot make a reasonable case for approving the bond issue. In such a case, if I were a commissioner, I would vote NO. In this case Holbrook, Hutchins and Allen could override anything Bridges and Whetstine want to do. I would recommend Bridges or Whetstine make a motion to reschedule the actual vote until after Deb Hardin is sworn in. That is what the voters wanted as they clearly indicated by their vote on Election Day. If Holbrook, Hutchins and Allen vote them down, we get rid of Hutchins and Allen in 2020. And just be glad Holbrook is gone.
