The first meeting of the new year for the Spalding County Board of Commissioners began with the re-election its chairman and vice-chairman Monday night.

District 1 Commissioner Gwen Flowers-Taylor was re-elected by her fellow commissioners by a unanimous vote. Commissioner Chipper Gardner made the nomination, which was seconded by new Commissioner Bart Miller.

Gardner was nominated to serve again as vice chairman by Commissioner Raymond Ray, with a second by Flowers-Taylor. This was also unanimous, with support from new commissioners Rita Johnson and Miller, as well as Gardner.

At the end of the nearly three-hour meeting, Flowers-Taylor apologized to her fellow commissioners “for any offense from the ethics hearing. I wasn’t given a warm feeling for a few days,” she said.

“It was a life lesson for me to be conscious of the position,” Flowers-Taylor said of the ethics hearing. “I am very thankful you chose me to serve again.”

During Monday night’s scheduled appointments for the Ethics Review Board, Flowers-Taylor suggested the appointments be tabled until the county can “get the details down on the ethics ordinance,” noting the recommendation from the previous board members to revisit the ordinance.

She also cited her concerns about equity that were raised by members of the community.

“I think it’s wrong,” she said, “to say a commissioner’s members are singled out” just because the complaint is against that commissioner.

County Attorney Jim Fortune, who recommended making the appointments so “we’ve got a pool if we need it,” told the commissioners, “the people we need to appoint are honest upstanding citizens who can read the ordinance.”

In her recommendation to table, Flowers-Taylor advised the board, “just no Facebook, emails, keep your mouths shut and clothes on.”