June 25, 2006 Noe Statement Part III

Part III

10. The Mayor’s constant response to any question is to issue vicious, unrelenting personal attacks.

Why is there such anger and invective at the slightest request for information? It is my opinion that the Mayor resists every effort to promote accountability because he is desperately trying to cover up for the fact that he has presided over the collapse of Hamblen County finances.

a. He was County Mayor when the county spent $923,000 more than it took in (fiscal year 2002) and when the general fund went broke (fiscal year 2003). Only the new auditors’ actions in allowing money to be moved from 6-7 small funds into the general fund kept Hamblen County from being officially broke as of June 30, 2003.

b. He was County Mayor when the garbage fund went broke in 2003 and last-minute monies had to be switched around to keep that fund from being insolvent.

c. He was serving on the Board at Morristown-Hamblen Hospital when the Hospital failed to recognize its financial problems until it reached the point that it couldn’t meet its debt payments.

11. In addition, the Mayor has made intentional misstatements of fact in order to smear me or anyone else who dares to ask questions about county finances or property.

a. I suggested and the full commission approved placing Hamblen County decals on all county vehicles with the exception of undercover vehicles. Mr. Purkey refused to place a decal on his taxpayer-provided vehicle. Mr. Purkey then went a step further and stated that putting a decal on the Juvenile Court transportation vehicle for dependent and neglected youth would be a violation of state law. I called a state official and found out that not only are decals acceptable for such use on county vehicles, but they are used by the state itself for juvenile transport.

b. The Mayor falsely told all commissioners in a letter that I had made a document request that would endanger the safety of law enforcement personnel. That was absolutely untrue. The open records law provides that redaction, or marking out, of certain confidential information is to be made when an otherwise public record is requested. I never asked that the Mayor ignore the open records law and provide non-public information or information that would endanger anyone.

c. The Mayor refused to meet with me in early 2004 when I had questions about a committee meeting I chaired.

1. At the meeting, there was a quorum present when certain votes were taken but not a quorum when other votes were taken.

2. Instead of meeting with me or discussing this situation with me as I requested, the Mayor refused to do so and instead went to every other commissioner one by one and accused me of taking illegal votes.

3. The Mayor refused to call everyone together, refused to discuss this openly at a committee or commission meeting, and refused to discuss this with me despite my request to meet with him. I received an e-mail saying that neither he nor his staff would meet with me even though I had set up an appointment to discuss the quorum question.

4. Since the Mayor wouldn’t talk to me, I asked the county attorney who agreed with me that the votes taken when a quorum was not present should not be reported in the committee minutes. [Of course, when the previous commission had committee meetings without a quorum, Mr. Purkey did not question their actions.]

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