The Warren County Board of Supervisors’s most outspoken member today was elected president for the calendar year.

Separately, the county administrator, whose reappointment had appeared to be in jeopardy, was retained.

District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders, 36, was voted into the job at the first meeting of supervisors for the calendar year. The vote was 4-1, with District 5 Supervisor Richard George dissenting. George declined after the meeting to comment on his vote.

In public and in private, Flanders had expressed keen interest in the position, despite the post’s titular nature of chairing meetings and representing the board at speaking engagements.

The vote for Flanders keeps an unwritten rotation in effect, with the other tenured supervisors each having served in the post at least once in the past five years. District 2 Supervisor William Banks was elected to the board two months ago to fill the unexpired term of Michael Mayfield, who resigned after being elected to the city’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Flanders, who was elected to the board in 2003, has been outspoken on such issues as courthouse personnel, emergency management structure and the future of the county-owned U.S. 80 bridge over the Mississippi River. He takes the presidency from District 1 Supervisor David McDonald.

District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon was unanimously voted to retain his post as vice president.

In other appointments, John Smith was retained as county administrator in a surprisingly swift and non-contentious 4-1 vote.

Flanders dissented on that vote, saying that current Culkin Water board and Jackson Public Schools executive Fred Davis would have made a better choice as administrator because of concerns Flanders had about the administrator’s handling of personnel issues.

Smith’s position and his potential reappointment had been discussed in two informal board meetings during the past few weeks, with Flanders leading a movement to have the former City of Vicksburg accountant ousted.

Later in this morning’s meeting, Flanders offered a motion that was seconded by Selmon that directed Smith to draft an organizational flow chart for all of county government. It passed 5-0.

Paul Winfield was unanimously reappointed to retain his post as county attorney, as was Richard Winans as road department manager, John McKee as county engineer and state aid coordinator and ABMB Engineering Inc. as the county engineering firm.