Madison County’s legal counsel told supervisors on Jan. 6 that state statutory language and Attorney General opinions support keeping officers elected at an organizational meeting in office for the entire term.

County counsel reviewed the board’s organizational minutes from 2024 and the controlling statute dating to 1937, saying the statute requires the board to elect a president and vice president at the first meeting after an election but does not require rotation. He cited a 1994 Attorney General opinion addressing Madison County specifically and several other opinions concluding that officers elected at the organizational meeting serve the full term.

“The person that the board elects in the organizational meeting, sits in the office of president, and the person elected in the first meeting sits in the office of vice president, the same person for the entire 4 year period,” the county attorney told the board.

Following counsel’s guidance, a motion was made and carried to maintain the officers elected in 2024 (Miss Steen as president and Supervisor Banks as vice president) for the remainder of the term, unless one resigns or a vacancy occurs, at which point the board would elect replacements per statute.

Ending

The board asked staff to record the statutory guidance and the vote in the minutes and to follow AG opinions as the authoritative interpretation of the statute.