Council approves tourism-tax committee nominees, reappoints planning commissioners and adopts Black History Month proclamation

At its Feb. 17 meeting, the McCormick County Council approved Resolution O825 to appoint members to the county's accommodation (tourism) tax advisory committee, reappointed six members to the planning commission and adopted a proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month.

During consideration of Resolution O825, a council member raised concern that the full list of nominees had not been provided to the public in advance. "The names of the individuals that are nominated here were not provided to council very far in advance," the council member said and asked whether it would be appropriate to delay approval so the community could review the nominees. County staff (identified in the meeting as Mister Richards) responded that nominations had been delayed because it was difficult to find qualified candidates. Richards said the seven candidates met state criteria and that presenting the list now would bring the county up to date.

The chair read the nominees aloud (Marla Baker, James Brady, Tim White, Thomas Green, Missy Wines, George Selfridge and Tanya Moore). Council approved the appointments by voice vote after discussion. Later in the meeting, the council reappointed Wendy Gables, Terrell Johnson, Thomas Green, Valerie Jones, Byron Thompson and Todd Bennett to the planning commission. Staff confirmed the commission's seventh seat did not require reappointment because that term had not expired.

Also on the agenda, the council read and adopted a Black History Month proclamation recognizing the national observance and the 2026 theme set by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Next steps: appointed committee members may begin work and planning-commission reappointments will continue the commission's work on county land-use issues. The council did not record contested roll-call tallies for these voice votes in the transcript.