Richard Wharton will not be filling a vacated Dukes County commission seat until he is voted in.
On Thursday, commissioner Tristan Israel told other commissioners he spoke with Wharton about filling the vacated seat of Gretchen Tucker-Underwood, who stepped down from the commission this year, leaving the county body with only six members.
Israel said Wharton, who is on the ballot for November to be a county commissioner, declined to serve out the remainder of Tucker-Underwood’s term.
Wharton, the only nonincumbent running for a seat on the commission, received the seventh most votes in the primary election earlier this month. The election would have been contested, but Hunter Moorman, another nonincumbent, dropped out of the race.
Commissioner Leon Brathwaite said he spoke to Wharton who said he would sit in on meetings leading up to the election, but not participate.
