Commissioner explains why he missed his first meeting in 20 years in office

Houston County Commissioner Tom McMichael missed his first commission meeting in over 20 years in office recently.

At the March 7 meeting McMichael’s chair was empty when the meeting started, and Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker said he was expected to arrive later in the meeting. He never showed up. McMichael said it was the first commission meeting he had ever missed in over 20 years in office.

But he had a good excuse. He was bleeding profusely.

McMichael was at the commission meeting Tuesday and at the end Stalnaker joked with him about missing the last meeting.

McMichael explained that he had a severe nose bleed. He thought he had it stopped and was on his way to the meeting when it started up again. He later went to the doctor and had it cauterized. He said he was fine after that.

“I never had anything like that happen to me in my life,” he said.

When he was running for re-election last year McMichael told The Telegraph that he had missed one meeting before, but he clarified Thursday that he was talking about having missed a committee meeting. He said Tuesday was the first full board meeting he had missed.

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Commissioner explains why he missed his first meeting in 20 years in office."