How can Webster be improved? What would make it more walkable? What would encourage community socialization? 

Town leaders aim to find out. Having secured a $5,000 Southwestern Commission Toolbox Implementation Fund grant — and matching it with another $5,000 — they are pursuing a planning study in an effort to map out some possible changes to consider.

Webster Commissioner Mark Jamison resigned from the town’s board last week, citing unexplained issues with his real job as the community’s postmaster.

In a short letter by Jamison read aloud by Mayor Larry Phillips, Jamison said: “My service on the town board has begun to have an impact on my position as postmaster. Unfortunately in a public position such as mine I’m an easy target.

“Regretfully I must tender my resignation from the Webster town board effective immediately. It has been a pleasure serving with you.”

The letter was dated June 9.

Jamison had more than two years left on his term. Jamison’s seat likely will be filled with an appointment by the remaining town board members, said Lisa Lovedahl-Lehman, who oversees the Jackson County Board of Elections.

The postmaster took a seat on the town board after prevailing in an unusual write-in election in 2009. There were five open seats on the town board, but only two candidates signed up to run that year. The lack of interest by official candidate meant write-ins were destined to fill the slots on the town board. When Election Day rolled around, however, more than 20 write-in candidates emerged in an election that drew 42 voters. Jamison and Alan Grant, an instructor at Southwestern Community College, garnered as many votes as sitting town board members Billie Bryson and Jean Davenport, whose names officially appeared on the ballot.

Jamison, at the time, told The Smoky Mountain News that the unusual election process indicated to him that the town board didn’t have a message from voters to create change.

“It’s kind of weird, but what it tells you is you don’t have much of a mandate. It tells you people don’t want you to do a whole lot. In my case, I think I’ll tread lightly,” Jamison said.

Jamison has occasionally been outspoken on community issues, and a regular columnist and letter writer to local newspapers.

In July only two candidates signed up to get on the ballot for the five spots up for grabs in Webster’s town board election, posing a quandary for the tiny Jackson County town of just over 250 registered voters.

When Election Day rolled around last week, however, burgeoning interest among town residents resulted in more than 20 write-in candidates emerging in an election that drew 42 voters.

The turnaround that transpired in the run-up to the election proved to be a lesson in small town politics. Steve Gray –– who served as the town’s mayor for 11 years before stepping down prior to the election –– said he was surprised by the number of write-ins, although he tried his best to drum up people willing to run as a write-in and to turn out and vote on election day.

“It was really quiet before the election. I never heard a peep,” said Gray, publisher of the Sylva Herald. “A lot of people on the list I’m wondering if their families wrote them in.”

Two of the winning write-in candidates weren’t accidents, because Gray and other local leaders recruited them to put their name in the hat, in order to ensure there were enough people to make the town board viable.

Mark Jamison, Webster’s postmaster, and Alan Grant, an instructor at Southwestern Community College, garnered as many votes as sitting town board members Billie Bryson and Jean Davenport, whose names officially appeared on the ballot. Both Jamison and Grant have been involved in the town’s political structure in various ways in the past, and both were known quantities to the town’s voters.

“I was surprised with Mark and Alan both that they didn’t file to begin with,” Gray said.

Bryson –– whose father was an alderman in the town and who has served on the board for the past 14 years –– believes the filing deadline simply took people by surprise.

“The sign-up deadline just snuck up on people and then it disappeared,” Bryson said. “We’ve always had problems with people not being interested in the town board meetings.”

But Jamison said that, at least in his case, the reluctance to file was no accident.

“Nobody was really interested in serving,” Jamison said.

Jamison said he agreed to serve in the end because he knew it was important that the board maintains a quorum.

Bryson said that she, like Gray, expected to see Jamison and Grant win board slots, but she didn’t know what to think of the third-leading vote getter when ballots were tallied at the close of Election Day, A.J. Rowell, or some of the other write-ins.

“We had a few people we already knew were qualified and we wanted them on there. I don’t know about the others,” Bryson said.

The write-in election for the last available board spot made for a whimsical scenario in which 18 separate candidates received between one and six votes each. Rowell ended up with six votes, just ahead of Rick Fulton and Karen Dill, who earned five.

The final count was so close that Lisa Lovedahl-Lehman, director of the Jackson County Board of Elections, warned that a count of provisional ballots could end up deciding the outcome.

Provisional ballots –– ballots cast by people not appearing on the voting roll sheets –– are set aside until the election board determines whether the voters were eligible. That count took place on Tuesday.

In the ongoing Webster write-in saga, the results of the count changed the election’s outcome. Rick Fulton scored two additional votes, nosing out Rowell by one vote.

Rowell hadn’t given a seat on the board much thought until a few weeks ago, when Gray asked him if he would be willing to serve if people wrote in his name. Rowell said he wouldn’t be devastated if the provisional ballots put an early end to his political career, but he also said he would be pleased to serve his new community.

“I’ll be sure not to lose too much sleep over it, but I’ll be happy to serve on the board if I should get the honor to do so,” said Rowell, an accountant a few years removed from college.

Dill –– who already serves on the town’s planning board –– said she never expected to get more than the one vote her husband told her he would cast on her behalf.

“Elections in Webster are not this hot item,” Dill said. “It’s not like everyone’s going around talking about it.”

Dill said she hoped she, Fulton and Rowell could come to some agreement if they ended up with the same number of votes after the provisional vote count on canvas day.

“I think we should all just flip a coin or something and whoever wins doesn’t have to serve,” Dill joked.

Jamison, arguably the town’s most recognizable public servant as its postmaster, believes the message of what has been a highly unusual election process is that the town board doesn’t have a strong mandate to create change.

“It’s kind of weird, but what it tells you is you don’t have much of a mandate. It tells you people don’t want you to do a whole lot. In my case, I think I’ll tread lightly,” Jamison said.

Webster’s planning board is busy working on an overhaul of the town’s 1970s-era zoning ordinances, and the new board’s most decisive action may come when it votes to approve those reform measures.

In an unusual election storyline, voters in Webster cast ballots for a total of 21 write-in candidates because too few candidates signed up to run for the five available seats on the town council.

When the new town council convenes, three write-in candidates — Mark Jamison, Alan Grant and A.J. Rowell — are expected to be sworn in along with incumbents Billy Bryson and Jean Davenport. Larry Phillips will replace long-time mayor Steve Gray, who also did not run for re-election.

Jamison, the Webster postmaster and a former member of the Jackson County Planning Board and the former chairman of the county’s smart growth task force, was among the write-in candidates who won a seat. Although he did not actively campaign, Jamison was asked by several citizens if he would agree to serve if elected.

“Several people had asked me to run for either mayor or a council seat, and I felt because of my job that I didn’t necessarily want to file. But they asked if I would serve if I was a write-in winner, and I said yes,” Jamison said Tuesday night.

“I’m looking forward to serving. I’ve been active from the sidelines for a while, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity to address some of the issues,” Jamison said.

Jamison is a federal employee, but he said that since the town election is non-partisan there are no issues with the Hatch Act, which governs the political activities of federal employees.

While Jamison and Grant were clear winners with 23 and 20 votes, respectively, fifth-place finisher Rowell collected six votes, and two others tallied five. All results are unofficial until canvassing by the county board of elections.

Webster

Mayor

Larry Phillips    35

Town board

Seats up for election:    5

Total seats on board:    5

Billie Bryson (I)    26

Jean Davenport (I)    26

Mark Jamison (write-in)    23

Alan Grant (write-in)    20

A.J. Rowell (write-in)    6

Registered voters: 445

Voter turnout:    40 (9%)

When voters head to the polls to elect town leaders in Webster this fall, the choices will be slim. Mighty slim.

Only two candidates are running for five openings on the board — leaving three seats unclaimed.

The tiny Jackson County town has just 444 registered voters. The sign-up period for candidates to run in town elections was held in July, but the two-week window came and went without enough takers putting their name in the hat. Jackson County Election Director Lisa Lovedahl-Lehman extended the filing period by five days, which is the maximum allowed under state law. But no additional candidates emerged.

So come Election Day, the makeup of the town board will largely be determined by write-ins.

“We’ve never had this happen before,” Lovedahl said. “This is the first widespread write-in candidacy.”

Billy Jean Bryson, a Webster town board member who defied the trend and will run for re-election, said she doesn’t know why three of her fellow board members are stepping down.

“I asked them the same question myself,” Bryson said. “I guess they just decided they didn’t want to.”

The long-time mayor of Webster, Steve Gray, is stepping down this year as well, but someone has stepped up to run for mayor at least.

The line-up — or rather lack of one — has prompted Bryson to go on the stump to recruit prospective candidates rather than leaving it up to chance that a write-in will emerge.

“I have several neighbors who would certainly do an excellent job,” Bryson said. “I will have to consult with them.”

Bryson knows of two people whom she believes have agreed to serve on the board. Next it will be a matter of disseminating the word to voters what name to write in. Bryson said if push comes to shove, the town board could function with just four members and a permanently vacant seat. They would still have the necessary majority for a quorum and the mayor could vote in the case of a tie.

“We could work with that if we had to,” Bryson said.

Being a small town doesn’t usually preclude competition in local elections. In fact, the opposite can be true. Four years ago, there was healthy competition in the Webster election with two contestants for mayor and eight people running for the five town board seats.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

A warm mid-morning sun beats down on the back parking lot of the Family Resource Center in Webster where cups of color and paintbrushes await hands eager to put the finishing touches on a small mural that now graces a concrete, stairway wall.