The Effingham Industrial Development Authority has a seat to fill — and wants some answers on making sure that they don’t have to fill out the majority of the board.

Delmons White, who represented the county’s 5th District on the board, submitted his immediate resignation recently.

“Delmons was a good member,” IDA Chairman Chap Bennett said. “I think he had a lot of things going on and had a hard time dedicating the time to the board.”

White’s seat is one of five reserved for the corresponding seats on the county commission. The three municipalities — Guyton, Rincon and Springfield — each get a seat on the eight-member IDA.

But the seats are not staggered and there is a question as to how they are determined. The IDA wants to have its board members’ terms staggered to prevent the possibility of five members’ terms all ending at once, and five new members having to begin service and learn the ropes.

“That’s not good for a lot of reasons,” said Charles Hinely, who represents Springfield on the IDA.

IDA CEO John Henry said the county commissioners seem to be amenable to the IDA’s wishes. But the county attorney, he said, isn’t so sure.

“He said it would take a statewide referendum,” Henry said.

The IDA was created by a constitutional amendment in 1968 and a Superior Court judge ruling set the members’ representation to the county commission districts.

However, the IDA counters there is ambiguity in the opinion from the bench.

“The problem is, because it’s a constitutional amendment, it would take a statewide vote,” said IDA attorney Marvin Fentress. “We’re trying to fix an ambiguity and get it as close as we can to the statute.”

But the law creating the IDA called for the members to be chosen from general militia districts. It so happens, Fentress said, that there were five general militia districts and there are five commission districts. The law stated that members had to be chosen from the same general militia district as a commissioner and the terms would serve concurrently.

The commission districts and the general militia districts are closely aligned but are not exactly equal in their configuration.

Fentress also offered the concern that anything short of a constitutional amendment could be challenged.

“There’s certainly no easy way to fix it,” he said.

While it is unlikely that all five county commission-appointed members would be changed at once, the IDA wants to make sure that is an impossibility and not an improbability.

“There is the possibility they may be upset with the IDA and may want to clean that whole board out,” Henry said.