Harper’s resignation has supervisors seeking attorney general’s opinion

At Monday’s regularly scheduled Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss the matter of County Prosecutor Ken Harper submitting his resignation Sept. 14 then rescinding the resignation days later.

The item on the board’s agenda referenced possible litigation. The board met for several minutes before reconvening and recessing until 9 a.m. Tuesday when the board again went into executive session. In addition to the board members, Chancery Clerk Donna Ferris Hardy, Deputy Clerk Beverly Johnson, Board Attorney Blake Teller and Warren County Judge Marcie Southerland attended.

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s session, the board announced it had instructed Teller to seek an attorney general’s opinion as to the legality of the resignation and the action to rescind, as well as whether the board was the correct governmental agency to handle the resignation.

The board also voted to withhold any payments to Harper until the issue is resolved. Harper submitted a one sentence resignation letter to the board Sept. 14, only to rescind it Sept. 17 saying he had acted in haste. The board was originally scheduled to address the situation in its Sept. 21 meeting but the item was removed from the agenda.

Harper defeated long time prosecutor Ricky Johnson for the post in November 2019, and has been in office since January.