Some members of the Board of Supervisors may be jockeying to become the next Chairman, according to District Two rep John Roark.
“Are you kidding me?” Roark told viewers Thursday during a Facebook Go Live address. “That’s what’s being talked about right now?”
Roark said a colleague reached-out to him in July and was “upset — and rightfully so — because another Board member is talking about who’s going to be Chair next year. DID YOU HEAR ME?”
Roark said he told the colleague to “take a deep breath and ‘let’s see how this plays out.’”
The Board is currently chaired by District Five rep Bill Collins. District Three Supervisor Daphne Norton serves as Vice Chair.
Roark, who led the Board in 2024, said, “If you came up here to sit in a chair and worry about titles and stuff like that, you’re damn sure up here for the wrong reason.”
Two weeks later, Roark said, a second Supervisor brought up the issue during a private conversation. “Uh oh, we’ve got a problem now and keep in mind: it ain’t me.”
Roark said the Board already has a succession plan with the Vice Chair, Mrs. Norton. “Are we going to ignore what we voted for? Not me. I don’t get involved in that stupid stuff…. if you’re here to hold a specific spot or title, you shouldn’t be up here.”
Roark said he doesn’t worry if his remarks upset some of his colleagues. “I don’t care. I’m just tired of the ignorance going on here, and the ones suffering from RDS (Roark Derangement Syndrome) are creating issues to try to deflect from those of us that ARE working, that ARE trying to use common sense.”
Roark first ran for the Board in 2019 and won a three-way race campaigning for change and against what he called a “good ole boys system.”
Roark said he’s not going so far as to paint some of his colleagues and others as ‘good ole boys,’ “but it’s teetering. This is a good Board — don’t get me wrong. But some of the lunacy that surrounds it in certain circles is too much.”
Board Chair Bill Collins responded to a Courier-Record request for comment, saying, “Presumably Vice Chair Norton will be chairman in 2026. However it was changed to a vote by the Board, not a rotation, in Jan. 2024. A citizen asked me about that change several months ago. Which I mentioned to another board member. Other than that, I have not had discussions.”
Supervisor Bo Toth told the Courier-Record at deadline, “The comment made in relation to next year’s chairperson was simply stated and asked who I individually thought it should be. My comment back was the current co-chair. Thought that’s pretty apparent for the co-chair to be the next.” Toth is referring to Vice-Chair Daphne Norton.
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