Smoky Mountain News

Sylva Commissioner Danny Allen announced he will resign from the town board, but has yet to say when, leaving the rest of the town board in limbo on how — and even whether — it will fill his position.

Allen still has three years left on his term. Typically, the remaining town board members would appoint someone to fill the vacancy. But Town Manager Adrienne Isenhower said Sylva might simply leave the position vacant until November’s elections. This would set up the potential for a 2-2 voting split on the board in the meantime, with Mayor Maurice Moody holding the tiebreaker vote.

Also interesting? If Allen follows through (and he hasn’t publicly stated why he wants off the board, much less given a date of exactly when), then Sylva would boast a town council in which three out of five members were appointed rather than elected — if they moved forward with replacing Allen themselves.

Allen won re-election in November 2009 after a two-year hiatus from the board. Harold Hensley lost that election, but was appointed to the board to replace Sarah Graham, who resigned after moving out of the town limits. Chris Matheson also was appointed to the board to replace Moody as a commissioner after Moody vacated his seat to become mayor.