Members of the Lincoln County School Board elected officers recently, passing the gavel from Kay Coon to Diane Gill.

Ricky Welch was re-elected as vice president, and with Gill as president, the secretary spot was open.

Johnny Hart was elected to that position at the meeting held Friday afternoon at the district office on East Monticello Street.

“Alright, Miss Diane, you can take over,” Coon told Gill with a big smile.

Besides the in-house elections, the Board of Trustees heard about a delay that is keeping them from acting on Superintendent Mickey Myers’ recommendation that three board seats be placed on the ballots for the general election to be held in November in order to get the school board back on the correct election cycle.

Board attorney Jim Keith has not received an opinion from Attorney General Jim Hood.

“You’d think we’d have it by now,” Myers said.

Myers is recommending that the seats held by Coon (District 1), Hart (District 2) and Joanna Posey (District 5) be chosen by popular vote.

District 1 and 2 will be six-year terms. District 5 will serve an unexpired term. The next election for a six-year term for District 5 will be in 2022.

District 3 and 4 will see elections in 2020.

Keith made the presentation to the board at the Dec. 18 meeting and board members seemed agreeable, however, they won’t take a vote on the issue until they receive an AG opinion.

Myers said the board needs to vote on the issue at the Feb. 20 meeting so Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Dustin Bairfield can begin the process of putting a school board election on the ballot.

“Mr. Keith anticipates it will be favorable to the recommendation that was made at the last board meeting, but obviously we have to have it in place by the Feb. 20 so we can notify Mr. Bairfield and he can start setting up the election ballot for November of this current year,” Myers said. “Mr. Keith recommended that we take no action until we get that AG opinion.”

The board will next meet on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m., because Feb. 19 is Presidents Day. The meeting will be held at a board room at Region 8 Mental Health Services.