Shelby County Tries to Decide on Mayor

Tuesday the Shelby County Commission will try to come to a consensus on who should be appointed to temporarily replace former Mayor AC Wharton.

Last Monday, county commissioners voted for hours trying to come up with seven votes for a single candidate to be appointed as interim mayor. Five votes for Commissioner Joe Ford, five votes for Commissioner J.W. Gibson.

"We need to move on cause frankly its dividing the commission," says Commissioner Mike Ritz.

Ritz says there needs to be an alternative candidate, one that comes out of the community, not the commission. Ritz, a republican, says the consensus candidate will likely be a democrat because the democrats out number republicans on the commission 8 to 4.

Right now, four names keep coming up as possible candidates: Otis Higgs, currently a Shelby County criminal court judge. Higgs declined to comment. Former city councilman and current city of Memphis CAO Jack Sammons, tells FOX13, he is "maybe" interested in the interim position. John Vergos, a former member of the Memphis City Council. He did not return calls for comment on possible candidacy. And Brian Kuhn, the Shelby County Attorney. He also did not return our calls, but FOX13 has learned he will only seek the position if all the commissioner candidates remove themselves from consideration.

And that's exactly what Ritz plans to ask before voting begins Tuesday.

"I'm going to suggest Frankly that the county commissioners that are in this race drop out," says Ritz. "I think we've gotten to the point I think where neither of the apparent candidates are going to get seven votes."

But Gibson says he's confident that he can find two more votes to secure the appointment.

"I wouldn't be interested in removing myself or wouldn't be interested in asking all commissioners to remove themselves from consideration," says Gibson. "We all have a right to run for this position."

Ford did not return phone calls for comment on if he would be willing to step out of consideration.

FOX13 was able to get in touch with seven of the ten commissioners likely to be voting tomorrow. All seven said they would change their vote to either Sammons, Higgs, Vergos, or Kuhn as a consensus candidate.