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Chatham County commissioners appoint Shirley Sessions to temporarily fill District 4 seat and set May special election
Summary
At a March 10, 2026 special meeting, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners appointed Shirley Sessions of Tybee as a temporary District 4 commissioner and adopted a resolution to hold a special election May 19, 2026, with qualifying to begin March 18.
The Chatham County Board of Commissioners on March 10 appointed Shirley Sessions of Tybee to serve temporarily as the District 4 county commissioner and adopted a resolution to hold a special election to fill the unexpired term of Patrick Farrell.
The board announced the temporary appointment by consensus and moved to approve it; commissioners cast votes to confirm the appointment. Commissioner Tanya Milton spoke in support, saying Sessions is experienced, independent and “does not plan to seek the seat,” and the statement was entered into the record. Shirley Sessions affirmed the oath of office and told commissioners she would “do my very best for Chatham County and certainly for District 4.”
The board also read and approved a resolution setting a special election date of May 19, 2026, to fill Farrell’s unexpired term. The resolution, read into the record, states candidate qualifying will begin Wednesday, March 18 at 8:00 a.m. and end Friday, March 20 (the transcript records a 12:00 p.m. end time). The clerk and the Board of Elections of Chatham County were identified as sources for additional qualifying information.
In a separate resolution the board cited OCGA 21-2-131 and set qualifying fees for the special election; the qualifying fee for the commissioner, District 4, was listed as $1,412.12 and the clerk was authorized to publish the qualifying fee list in accordance with state law. The board noted that the February 1 statutory publication date does not apply in this instance because the meeting occurred after February.
The temporary appointment takes effect immediately after the oath was administered. The clerk’s office was directed to handle publication and candidate qualification logistics described in the resolutions. No vote tallies were announced on the record in the transcript.
The next procedural step listed in the meeting documents is administration of the special election on May 19, 2026, and public notice and qualifying procedures to be managed by the Board of Elections of Chatham County.
