Commissioner Ken Meyer is no longer chair of the Scotts Bluff County Board.
At the start of Monday’s meeting, Meyer took a point of privilege to make the announcement before handing over control of the proceedings to Vice-Chair Mark Harris.
Meyer said the decision came following a weekend conversation during which Commissioner Charlie Knapper, told Meyer others on the board had lost confidence in his leadership. “Some of the issues that he brought up to me were very disturbing. My wife heard it, I was on speakerphone. She was appalled by the things that he was saying, and that’s okay. I ended the conversation rather abruptly, basically I hung up on him,” said Meyer. “That’s what I did, so we won’t pull anything. And after thinking about it for about two-and-a-half minutes, I decided that I’m going to move on.”
Meyer, who is running unopposed for another term in November, said he had plenty to do in the next 4 years representing his district.
Knapper did not address the issue during the meeting, but later told KNEB News Meyer had initiated the call to discuss an unrelated agenda item, and during the conversation it came up that the board and chair did not align on issues more often than not over the past several months. He called it a difficult situation, saying Meyer has been a friend and an advocate who has done a tremendous job on the board for a long time, and while he did not ask Meyer to step down from the chair, he supported the decision.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Harris would assume the chairmanship immediately or had to be elected, however election of a new Vice-Chair is virtually guaranteed during a future meeting.
