Politics

Mills River Town Council elects mayor and welcomes new members

District Court Judge Kim Gasperson-Justice swears in Shanon Gonce as the new Mayor of Mills River on Thursday night. Gonce’s wife, Barbara, stands by his side holding the Bible.

By Amy McCraw, Published: December 10, 2021

The Town Council in Mills River elected a new mayor and welcomed two new council members Thursday night during a meeting filled with photographs, thanks and well wishes.

“I appreciate what you’ve done. I appreciate your time served,” council member Shanon Gonce told outgoing council members Brian Caskey and Brian Kimball and outgoing Mayor Chae Davis shortly after the new council elected him to be the town’s next mayor.
Gonce, a 53-year-old Mills River native, was first elected to Mills River’s town council in 2005 and served for 12 years before he stepped down to help his wife, Barbara, with health problems.
He said he decided to run again this year after his wife’s condition stabilized and Davis declined to seek another term.
As mayor, Gonce said he wants to keep the town running smoothly and maintain consistency in its staff.
He said he would also like to meet with the Henderson County Sheriff's Office about his department’s contract to provide law enforcement in Mills River.
“I want it to be fair,” he said. “I want it to be a fair deal.”
The council elected Gonce as mayor and council member Randy Austin as mayor pro tem after District Court Judge Kim Gasperson-Justice swore him and newly elected members Sandra Goode and James Cantrell into office.
With their hands on a Bible and their spouses at their sides, the council members took the oath of office, administered by  Gasperson-Justice. The judge drew laughter from the audience when she noted she had attended high school both with Goode and one of Cantrell’s parents.
Davis presented Kimball and Caskey each with a plaque and thanked them for their service to the town before they turned their council seats over to Goode and Cantrell.
Gonce presented Davis with a plaque and thanked her before he took over the mayor’s seat.
Family members and town staff members photographed both the outgoing and newly elected members before and during the ceremony at town hall.
In it’s first official act, the new council appointed its members to various area boards and committees.
A reception followed the meeting.
Goode unseated Mayor Pro Tem Caskey in the District 1 seat and Cantrell narrowly defeated Kimball in District 2 seat in the November election. Gonce won Davis’s District 3 seat without opposition.