After nearly three years with East Mississippi Community College Thomas Huebner announced Wednesday he would be resigning as president of the college.

“We appreciate his service for the last almost three years to our institution,” Jimmie Moore, the EMCC Board Chairman, said. 

Moore said Huebner gave the board a letter of resignation Monday night at the scheduled board meeting and the board accepted it. 

Huebner will use accumulated leave time presently but will officially resign on June 30. 

“The first thing we’ll do this coming Monday is initiate the search for an interim president because we can’t operate without a chief executive officer,” Moore said. “When that’s settled we’ll begin the search for our next president.”

Moore said the last search for a non-interim president took approximately five months. 

Huebner could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

Meridian Community College named Huebner as one of five final candidates on April 24 after inviting Huebner to interview for the position. Huebner’s public forum tentatively has been scheduled for May 30, the final of five public candidate forums. 

Scott Elliott, who has led MCC for the last 20 years, announced his retirement earlier this year. 

Paul Miller, a vice president at EMCC, had the first candidate forum on April 24 and Ted Lewis, a vice president at Pellissippi State College in Tennessee, had his forum on Tuesday. 

Candidates Don Burnham, a vice president at Holmes Community College, and Scott Alsobrooks, a vice president at Pearl River Community College are scheduled for May 15 and May 22 respectively. 

In April, MCC Board President Alec Weddington said he anticipated the final decision would be made at the board’s regular June meeting, with the president assuming their duties as early as July 1. 

Huebner took over as EMCC president in 2015, replacing Rick Young, who retired June 30, 2015. 

He previously served as dean of student services at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa; interim president of Bevill State Community College in Jasper, Ala., vice president at Logan State University in Chesterfield, Mo., and vice president of Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tenn.