New term begins with oath of office in White County

A new term in White County government begins Tuesday, but first came the oath.

Newly elected and returning county officials, along with members of the White County Board of Education, gathered Monday evening to take their oaths of office ahead of the Sept. 1 start of their four-year terms.

County Executive Kyle Goff was among those sworn in, along with the 14 members who will make up the White County Commission for the new term: Cain Rogers, Chris Brewington, Bill Templeton, Erick Dildine, Becky Golden, Willard Greene, Edward Newport, John Dakota White, Dana Teeple, Megan McBride Dodson, Derrick Hutchings, Bryan Cole, Tracy England Fowler and Andy Davis.

For some, the work has already started. Several commissioners have attended statewide training through the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service, better known as CTAS, as they prepare for the new term.

The commission will take one of its first organizational steps Thursday night with committee elections. Committee meetings will not begin until the first Monday in October, while the first full County Court meeting of the new term is scheduled for Sept. 21.

A first look at what the White County Full Court meeting of commissioners will look like for the next four years.

For several other county officials, Tuesday will simply mean getting back to work. Sheriff Steve Page, County Clerk Sasha Wilson, Circuit Court Clerk Beverly Finley Jolley, Road Superintendent Jerry Sawyer, Trustee Kathryn Adcock, and Register of Deeds Lori Jones were all re-elected to another term.

White County's three newly elected school board members — Chandel Thorpe, Bryan Liner and Jerry Kelsey — also took their oaths Monday evening. Their first official meeting as members of the board will be Thursday, Sept. 10.

Monday night's ceremony marked the formal transition from election season to a new four-year term — and, beginning Tuesday, the work that comes with it.