November 26, 2010 Final Judgment in Holden v. Swann: Hamblen County Ethics Committee and Its Members Violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act

The Tennessee Open Meetings Act, like the Tennessee Public Records Act, is an extremely important law for those who truly support open and accountable government.

Ironically, the Hamblen County ETHICS Committee violated this law in December 2008 and failed to even attempt to correct its violation of the law until after a citizen, Gwen Holden, filed suit on February 17, 2009. I represented Ms. Holden in this matter (Holden v. Swann, et al)

The 3-page Final Judgment in Holden v. Swann was signed on October 1, 2010, finding that the Defendants (Hamblen County Ethics Committee, Joe Swann, Stancil Ford, Bill Brittain, James Harrison, and Jack Cartwright) violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act.

The Judgment enjoins the Defendants from future violations of the Open Meetings Act and provides that the County pay all court costs ($282.50) in the matter and pay $1500 for attorney fees and discretionary costs incurred by Ms. Holden.

You can click on each page to enlarge, read, and print it out. 

Interestingly, the Hamblen County Ethics Committee was dissolved by the Hamblen County Commission on February 18, 2010, while Holden v. Swann was still pending and before any Judgment had become final in this case.  

When it dissolved the Ethics Committee, the Hamblen County Commission, in a divided vote, appointed the county's attorney, Frank "Rusty" Cantwell, as the "County Ethics Officer."  [Cantwell, acting as county attorney, represented the Ethics Committee and the individual defendants in Holden v. Swann, et al.]

All future Ethics Complaints against a county official or county employee will be referred to County Ethics Officer Cantwell.

Then County Ethics Officer Cantwell, who is also the county's attorney for county officials and employees, will decide what to do with any complaint against his client(s).  More on this set-up later.

May 3, 2010 Epps-Buchanan's Ad on "News"paper Rack Outside Entrance to Courthouse Violates the 100' Campaign-Free Boundary

This is a picture of the "news"paper rack beside the doors into the breezeway that connects the old and new parts of the Courthouse. The picture was taken from W. Second North Street about two weeks ago---during the early voting period for the May 4 primary elections.

Current Finance Director/Trustee candidate Nicole Epps-Buchanan had a political advertisement on this "news"paper rack during all of early voting. [Coincidentally, Epps-Buchanan also had a sticker on the paper itself on the day that this picture was made.] Click on the image to enlarge the picture.

State law T.C.A. 2-7-111 provides that election administrators mark off a campaign-free boundary at polling places as follows: The officer shall measure off one hundred feet (100 feet) from the entrances to the building in which the election is to be held and place boundary signs at that distance.

Since Epps-Buchanan's "'news"paper rack ad appeared to be in violation of the 100' campaign-free boundary specified by state law, I reported this apparent violation to local Election Administrator Jeff Gardner around Day 2 of early voting. Jeff said he would check with the state and get back with me. When I didn't hear anything for several days, I called the state Division of Elections to more fully explain the situation and to request their interpretation of 100' from "entrances to the building in which the election (takes place)."

Today, I called the state Division of Elections again to see what the final decision was.  It is my understanding that the state has advised the local election commission to establish a 100' boundary from the door(s) into the old part of the Courthouse.  In marking off a new, correct 100' boundary, Epps-Buchanan's "news"paper rack ad was found to be in violation of the 100' campaign-free boundary as was suspected.

Joe Swann, Chair of the local Election Commission, and Jeff Gardner, local Administrator of Elections, assured me that Epps-Buchanan's ad would be removed from the rack and that no political ads would be allowed on the rack at its current location.

I am grateful to state Election Division attorney Beth Henry-Robertson for her work in helping to determine  the proper 100' campaign-free boundary.  I also thank Swann and Gardner for going back and establishing  a new and proper 100' boundary for Primary Election Day tomorrow.

Good luck to all the candidates. Win or lose, all those who campaigned tirelessly for the past several months are to be congratulated.

February 19, 2010 Eight County Commissioners Vote To Abolish Ethics Committee and Make County Attorney Rusty Cantwell "Ethics Officer"

Not surprisingly, the Hamblen County Commission voted yesterday to abolish its 5-man Ethics Committee.  

Not surprisingly, Hamblen County now has an "Ethics Officer."

Not surprisingly, the new "Ethics Officer" is county attorney Rusty Cantwell.

Pushing hard to disband the Ethics Committee that was established in 2007 and give the title of "Ethics Officer" to Cantwell were County Mayor David Purkey and Commission Chair/one-time Ethics Committee member Stancil Ford.

How will this new set-up work? County Attorney Rusty Cantwell represents all county employees and county officials.

So an ethics complaint against a county official or county employee is supposed to be sent to that person's attorney for consideration and action?

Yes. The Commission has just created yet another conflict of interest. The county attorney charges the county $150/hour and now ethical complaints against his clients will be sent to him so he can be paid $150/hour to receive and read complaints (against his clients!); handle the complaint himself (conflict of interest); or assign it to some other attorney (without a conflict) that the county will have to pay.

I guess the first complaint that our new Ethics Officer will handle is the one filed by the Hamblen County Civil Service Board against Sheriff Esco Jarnagin. This complaint was originally filed with the old and now "officially" disbanded Ethics Committee.

[I say "officially" disbanded because the five members of the Ethics Committee who were appointed to one-year terms in 2007 were not legally appointed or reappointed when their terms expired in June 2008. No one was appointed in 2009 and no one had been appointed to date in 2010. The original Ethics Committee members from 2007 (Commissioner Stancil Ford, Commissioner Joe Swann, Trustee Bill Brittain, James Harrison -attorney and citizen member, and Jack Cartwright-citizen member) just kept serving and serving year after year as "holdovers" without legal appointment. It looks like the Ethics Committee that violated the Sunshine Law by having a meeting without notice to the public on December 15, 2008, was made up of five people who acted as Committee members despite the fact that their terms had expired 6 months previous.]

Will Cantwell recognize that he has a conflict of interest in trying to handle an ethical complaint against one of his government clients? Will he charge the county $150/hour as he decides to which attorney he will give this complaint? Or will Cantwell take off his County Attorney hat and put on his Ethics Officer hat and handle the complaint against Jarnagin himself and collect his fee?

Several commissioners are led around by Stancil Ford and David Purkey. Purkey and Ford want to keep everything close to the vest and in-house.  Ethics?   One person--County Attorney Rusty Cantwell--is going to make the ethical calls from here on out and that one person has a clear conflict of interest that is obvious in the very first complaint that he has to consider. 

June 27, 2009 Jeff Gardner Appointed Election Administrator

The (well-founded) rumor that I reported on Thursday turned out to be on-the-money.

Jeff Gardner was indeed named Hamblen County Administrator of Elections at a public meeting on Friday of the Hamblen County Election Commission. The job pays $62,000/year plus all kinds of benefits.

The Trib posted an online report of the meeting here. [Usual Trib caution: The link only works for a short time. The Trib disables its links quickly so that people can only access online stories for a short period. Such a shame. The Knoxville News-Sentinel leaves its links up for weeks, months, and longer.].


The Trib reported that Gardner had resigned as head of the Hamblen County GOP at some time prior to the meeting. The Trib didn't report that Gardner had also turned in his resignation from his regular job at Allied EMS before his appointment yesterday. That seems like a newsworthy piece of information that was totally ignored by the Trib.


Gardner was obviously confident about what would happen during deliberations and discussion at the public meeting to go on and resign from his bread-and-butter job before being officially appointed. Actually, if the Trib report is correct, there were no deliberations or discussions about the appointment at the meeting. Nominate Gardner, wait a decent interval, close the nominations, and it's a done-deal.


Last week, the Trib reported that there were only 4 applicants and provided the names. Yesterday's article stated that there were 9 applicants but the names of the additional five applicants were not mentioned. There was also no mention as to whether there were any interviews of the applicants.


To help Mr. Gardner out, the Election Commission evidently approved paying Neal--at her current daily rate of about $250/day--to assist Mr. Gardner on occasion.

June 18, 2009 And the New Hamblen County Administrator of Elections Is....

Rumor is that the meeting of the local 5-person election commission will be held soon to appoint a local Administrator of Elections. Wanda Neal is the current Administrator. Click here for the names of the Election Commissioners and other background information.

Joe Swann serves as chairman of the Commission. Click here for the post on Joe's April resignation from the Hamblen County Commission in order to achieve his "lifelong dream" of serving on the Hamblen County Election Commission.

With the recent switch in all 95 counties to a Republican-majority local Election Commission, many counties already have a new Administrator of Elections or are in the process of appointing a new local Administrator.

In Knox County, the new Republican-majority election commission opened up the process and allowed interested individuals to apply for Knox County Administrator of Elections. Forty-five people submitted applications. The list will be narrowed down by the election commissioners and then actual interviews of the finalists will take place in about two weeks prior to taking a vote and making an appointment. Click here for the Knoxville News-Sentinel article.

I must have missed the article in the local "news"paper where interested individuals were asked to submit applications for the local $62,000/year position of Hamblen County Administrator of Elections.

Or maybe, after the next meeting of the Hamblen County Election Commission, there will be an announcement that the position is open and then applications will be requested and interviews conducted.

Or maybe the discussions have already taken place, someone has been selected, and there is no need to waste time taking applications and interviewing people.

June 12, 2009 New Hamblen County Election Administrator?

There is a rather persistent rumor that Wanda Neal, current Hamblen County Administrator of Elections, will resign soon and open the way for the new Republican majority on the Hamblen County Election Commission to appoint a new administrator to the post.

The local position of Administrator of Elections is a plum appointed position with pay of around $62,000 plus health insurance, benefits, retirement, etc.

After her initial appointment and throughout the years that the Democrats continued to have a majority in the state legislature and thus a majority on the local election commission, Wanda was reappointed by the Democrat majority Hamblen County Election Commission.

With the new Republican majority in the state legislature and thus on the local election commission, it appears that Wanda's re-appointment will not take place and so she is going to resign/retire.

If she retires, there will not be a court fight as is occurring in a few counties where longtime Democrat-appointed administrators don't want to give up their position despite the change in election commissions across the state.

At various times, I heard that one of the current Republican election commissioners (Judy Blackburn) wanted Wanda's job and that at least two other individuals wanted the post.

With the recent appointment of Hamblen Election Commissioner Judy Blackburn to the state election commission, it's up in the air as to whether she still wants the Administrator's post or whether either of the two other Republican election commissioners (Lyle Doty and Joe Swann) might decide to seek the Administrator's job.

Of course, things can change rapidly. Nobody knows for sure at this point. It's possible that Wanda might keep the job or that a well-connected "outsider" might emerge as a dark-horse appointment.

Members of the Election Commission are Gayle Bruce (D), Dwaine Evans (D), Judy Blackburn (R), Lyle Doty (R), and Joe Swann (R).

May 22, 2009 Louis "Doe" Jarvis Takes Joe Swann's Seat on Hamblen County Commission

Louis "Doe" Jarvis was appointed to the 5th district seat on the Hamblen County Commission yesterday without opposition.


Ernie Horner--as I posted yesterday morning--decided to withdraw from contention for appointment. My earlier post describing some of Ernie Horner's political connections and actions is here.


[This is the seat vacated in April 2009 by Joe Swann who only served 2-1/2 years on the Hamblen County Commission before resigning to take a position on the Hamblen County Election Commission.]

May 21, 2009 Ernie Horner Drops Out of Commission Race

The rumor going around is that Ernie Horner has now dropped out of the race for the county commission seat that has been vacant since April when Joe Swann resigned.

See my previous post about Horner here when he was still in the race and trying to get votes.

May 19, 2009 Who Will Take Joe Swann's Seat on the Hamblen County Commission?

All is quiet on the news front as Hamblen County Commissioners prepare to select a replacement for Joe Swann in the 5th District. I haven't seen any news in the Tribune about those who are interested in the position.

[Swann was elected to the county commission in 2006 but resigned in April 2009 to take a position on the Hamblen County Election Commission---a post he said that he had always wanted. ]

At least two individuals have apparently expressed an interest in the appointment to take Joe's place. Louis "Doe" (sp?) Jarvis is interested in the position as is Ernie Horner. I don't believe Mr. Jarvis has ever run for office---which should be a plus.

Ernie Horner, on the other hand, is a politician and longtime school board member. He was chairman of the Hamblen County School Board during the last school building program. As a teacher at West View Middle in an "open" classroom, I supported school renovations and improvements in 1997-1998.

The problems in the building program that surfaced later were brought about by a school board that took $35 million dollars for a needed building program and wrote up contracts that permitted conflicts of interest, that wasted money paying people to manage themselves, and that even paid the construction managers "fee on fees." While my support of the building program was well-documented, I spoke up to oppose the conflicts of interest and fees on dees and that's when the personal attacks began.

When you are confident in what you are doing, political and even personal attacks don't matter much and don't really faze you. I started out trying to use logic and common sense with the local school board. That was a waste of time. When that didn't work, I went straight to the State Comptroller and ended up getting state law changed to address the conflicts and craziness of paying people to manage themselves.

Yes, I remember several things about Ernie and the 1998 school building program.

I remember that Ernie didn't see a conflict of interest in paying someone under one a construction contract to build a school and then paying them a second time under a construction management contract to manage their own construction work.

Ernie also thought it was OK to pay a construction manager a 4% fee plus a little bonus "fee on a fee." Back in 1998 when the school board hired construction managers, the contracts said that the managers would get a fixed fee of 4% of the estimated cost of each project. But those same contracts miscalculated the fixed fee.

When it came time to pay the managers, Ernie and the school board ended up paying the 4% fee of estimated costs and then kicked in an additional 4% of the 4% fee. When you're talking about millions of dollars of construction, paying an extra 4% of the contractual 4% fee meant that tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars were wasted--money that could have been spent on schools went to managers as a bonus for the difficult job of largely managing themselves!

Another thing I remember about Ernie is a press conference he called in November 1999 right after I first raised questions about Hamblen County School Construction Managers being paid to build schools and also being paid to manage themselves. The board always hated the term "paying people to manage themselves" but that's what happens when you allow a conflict of interest.

[I also had questioned the illegal West High Baseball Stadium bidding where an advertisement for bids ran in the local paper, but potential bidders--all except the firm that was the only bidder--were told by the architect that there were no plans. Later it was discovered that the "plans" that the one bidder had been allowed to have were stamped with the same date as the bid date. With the West High Baseball Stadium bidding, Ernie had to admit that the school board had made a "mistake" but then came the spin explaining that it was a really good bid and no one could have bid lower even if there had been one of those silly old, time-consuming, legal and competitive biddings.]

When Ernie tackled the sticky question of construction managers getting 17-18 no-bid contracts and being paid to build schools while they were also paid a management fee to manage their own construction work, Ernie proudly announced that the School Board's attorney Scott Reams had reviewed everything and had given everything his seal of approval. Ernie even had a letter from the attorney to back him up. When Ernie was asked to provide the Reams letter that presumably supported the board's version of construction management and paying people to manage themselves, Ernie claimed that the letter was attorney client privileged. In other words, Ernie would TELL you his version of what Reams said, but Ernie would NOT let anyone see the actual letter.

A Judge later ruled that the letter was attorney-client privileged communication, but the question always remained as to why Ernie would "use" the letter to say everything was OK but would not agree to release the letter. The attorney-client privilege can be waived, but the School Board voted unanimously to keep secret what its attorney really said about the construction management arrangement.

If you are a School Board member who has a legal opinion that says that what you have done is on the up-and-up, wouldn't you want people to see that opinion? Even if you could hide the opinion behind attorney-client privilege, why would you do that? Government attorneys give opinions all the time--sometimes publicly in meetings and sometimes in writing at the request of a government official. Most of those written opinions are public record. And the opinion is made public---especially if it actually supports the opinion or actions of the requester.

Just about everybody--except those involved--knew that paying people hundreds of thousands of dollars to manage themselves didn't pass the smell test and at that time the question of paying a "fee on a fee" was not even being discussed.

Ernie left the School Board in September 2002--but I believe he was still around in the summer of 2002 when the state legislature unanimously passed a clarification to the school construction management law that made it clear to the Hamblen County School Board --and to any other Board that might have been thinking of the same thing--that you can't use public dollars to pay people to manage themselves.

The clarification of the law came about after I had gotten tired of talking to the Board and had gone to the State Comptroller's Office in August 2001 to explain exactly what was going on in Hamblen County. At the beginning of the very next legislative session, the Comptroller introduced the clarification that stopped the sham no-bid construction contracts and the paid self-management that was taking place in Hamblen County (paying people to manage themselves!). The legislative vote was unanimous. The Hamblen County School Board didn't see a problem but every legislator in the state did--including the state representative and state senator for Hamblen County!

Ernie was also closely involved with the dismissal of former superintendent Sam Shepherd and the confusion surrounding the handling of the evaluations of Dr. Shepherd.

As I recall, Ernie moved out of the school board district (13/14) that he represented before his term was up but did not resign his school board seat.

I can just imagine the behind-the-scenes deals and contracts that Ernie will engineer or be involved in if he is appointed to serve on the county commission. Time will tell if there are commissioners who have forgotten or simply don't care about these and other things that Ernie has been involved in.

Of course, everything may change between now and Thursday. We'll just have to wait and see who ends up being nominated and who ends up getting the appointment.

April 25, 2009 Joe Swann Becomes Chairman of the Hamblen County Election Commission: Lifelong Dream Realized

Right after voting this morning, I dropped in on the Hamblen County Election Commission meeting which was just starting.

This was a reorganizational meeting since the composition of the Election Commission has recently changed. There are now three Republicans on the Election Commission (Judy Blackburn, Lyle Doty, and Joe Swann) and two Democrats (Gayle Bruce and Dwaine Evans). [Previously there were three Democrats and two Republicans.]

Joe Swann, a Republican who resigned his county commission seat in order to accept Sen. Steve Southerland's appointment to the local election commission, was elected chairman. Dwaine Evans, a Democrat and former Election Commission chairman, was elected secretary.

The Election Commission discussed how to handle the counting of paper ballots in the current election and indicated that they might count the ballots themselves to save money. Wanda Neal, the current election administrator, added that an Election Commission employee might help also.

Today, Joe Swann's longtime dream of being on the Hamblen County Election Commission came true! According to the Tribune, Swann recently said of his appointment: "This is what I've always wanted." Joe's wish has indeed come true.

[Note: Joe ignored violations of state law (Tennessee Open Meetings Act) when he served on the Hamblen County Commission. Until a lawsuit was filed, he ignored another violation of the Open Meetings Act when he served on the Hamblen County Ethics Committee. I'm sure that as Chairman of the Election Commission, Joe will now be careful and make sure that all meetings of the Election Commission are announced to the public and that all deliberations concerning public business are held in public.]

[Another Note: Joe's brother is Bill Swann. Bill is the former head of BASF (Enka) and also former manager of the Morristown Utility System. Bill Swann is currently a candidate for an at-large seat on the Morristown City Council.]

April 10, 2009 Tennessee Attorney General on Replacing County Election Administrators

Tennessee State Attorney General Robert Cooper has given an opinion on whether and under what circumstances local county election commissions can replace local county election administrators.

Opinion 09-52 is here.

This goes back to the 2008 legislative races. Republicans finally became the majority party in the state legislature (House and Senate combined).

The legislative majority party gets to name the majority of members to each county election commission.

In Hamblen County there is a 5-person election commission. Because the Democrats have held a majority of seats in the state legislature for years and years, the local election commission has been comprised of 3 Democrat election commissioners and 2 Republican election commissioners.

With a new Republican majority in the state legislature, the local split will soon be 3 Republican election commissioners and 2 Democrat election commissioners.

In fact, Joe Swann, who was just elected to the Hamblen County Commission in 2006, recently stated that he will resign his seat as a county commissioner in order to accept appointment as the 3rd Republican on the local election commission. [The Tribune story is here but it will be gone before you know it.] Swann is quoted as saying: "This is what I've always wanted."

Election commissioners in each county will be reading the Attorney General's opinion carefully to determine if and/or how to legally make a change in appointment of each local election administrator, a plum high-paying position.

Hamblen County's long-time election administrator is Wanda Neal.

March 17, 2009 Sunshine Week and Open Meetings Act Lawsuits in Hamblen County: Then and Now

March 15-21 is Sunshine Week in Tennessee. Usually, the local newspaper carries a series of front-page articles during Sunshine Week about openness in government, noting the importance of Tennessee's Open Meetings and Open Records Acts in ensuring open and accountable government. [Update: Thanks to Michael Silence for steering readers to this post]

Newspapers have traditionally been major proponents of open government, and there are some newspapers today who still continue the proud tradition of the press as guardian and protector of the public's right to know when government meetings are taking place and right to access to public records.

In this area, the Knoxville News-Sentinel has continued the tradition of the press as guardian and protector of open government. To protect the public from backroom deals and secret meetings, the Sentinel filed an Open Meetings lawsuit in 2007 against the Knox County Commission. The lawsuit resulted in an important victory for open government not only for the News-Sentinel but also for the people of Knox County.

And one time many years ago, the local Citizen-Tribune took the lead in exposing and stopping violations of the Open Meetings Law by the Morristown Civil Service Board.

The Tribune, a part of Lakeway Publishers, filed an Open Meetings lawsuit against the Morristown Civil Service Board some 15+ years ago. The Tribune asked for an injunction against the Civil Service Board to prevent secret deliberations and future violations of the Act and the Tribune asked that costs be assessed against the Board.

The Tribune won that battle, but only because it was willing to file suit on behalf of the public and the press.

What happens when there are local violations today?

In December of 2008, the Hamblen County Ethics Committee violated the Open Meetings Act by not providing notice to the public of its December 15 meeting. [Yes, as many have people have mentioned to me, there is real irony in the Ethics Committee violating state law.]

On January 22, during the public comments portion of the meeting of the county commission, Ethics Chair Joe Swann, Ethics member Stancil Ford, Ethics attorney Rusty Cantwell, and the full commission were informed of the Open Meetings violation by the Ethics Committee and the Ethics Committee was asked to correct the violation.

A Tribune reporter was present. However, in the Tribune's coverage of the commission meeting, the alleged Open Meetings violation by the Ethics Committee was not mentioned nor were comments or responses from any Ethics Committee member reported.

With no concern, questions, or reporting by the press, the Ethics Committee just ignored and denied the violation. While I would hope that the Tribune is still as concerned about the Open Meetings Act as it was fifteen years ago when it filed its own Open Meetings lawsuit, that just doesn't appear to be the case today.

Stonewalling by the Ethics Committee left only one way to enforce the Open Meetings Act--a citizen lawsuit. The citizen lawsuit was filed on February 17, 2009, only after the Ethics Committee continued to refuse to admit and correct its violation.

After the lawsuit was filed, the Ethics Committee quit ignoring and denying its violation and held a re-do meeting on March 11.

At the Ethics Committee re-do meeting, Bill Brittain, a member of the Ethics Committee, recused himself from the vote regarding discipline of Frank Parker and Paul King after being questioned about a conflict of interest regarding Frank Parker.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Fifteen years ago, the Morristown Civil Service Board violated the Open Meetings Act but did nothing about its violation until forced to do so as a result of an Open Meetings lawsuit filed by the Tribune.

In December 2008, the Hamblen County Ethics Committee violated the Open Meetings Act but did nothing about its violation until forced to do so as a result of an Open Meetings lawsuit filed by a citizen.

Some helpful links on Open Government in Tennessee: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. Tennessee Press Association.

March 12, 2009 Ethics Committee Meets To Correct Violation of Open Meetings Act

The Hamblen County Ethics Committee met yesterday at 4:00 PM.

This time around, notice to the public was provided.

Chairman Joe Swann stated that the re-do meeting was in response to a recent lawsuit "challenging the adequacy of the notice provided to the public of its December 15, 2008, meeting."

He didn't state that he was put on notice of the violation of Tennessee's Open Meetings Act on January 22, but simply ignored the violation and did nothing until AFTER the lawsuit was filed on February 17. More on the lawsuit here.

Ethics Chair Joe Swann noted that this corrective meeting was to "re-visit" the December meeting concerning the county's disciplinary actions involving county employees Paul King and Frank Parker.

Joe outlined the procedure for yesterday's meeting by saying that (1) he was going to read the minutes of the December 15 meeting into the record, (2) open the meeting for public comment on the disciplinary actions involving Frank Parker and Paul King, (3) take further comments, if any, from the Committee, and (4) then he "would ask for a motion that we approve, affirm, and ratify by its entirety the actions taken at the prior committee meeting."

The Ethics Committee is composed of Chair Joe Swann, Stancil Ford, Bill Brittain, James Harrison, and Jack Cartwright. Bill Brittain was not at the December 15 meeting. Bill was at yesterday's meeting but recused himself from voting after I pointed out a conflict of interest on his part.

During public comments, I presented information and documents concerning the Parker and King situations. I asked the Committee to not only consider the Victim Albert Walker this time around but to recognize that their recommendation in regard to Paul King and Frank Parker will set a standard for ethical conduct of employees and will have a far-reaching impact on future ethics concerns.

Gwen Holden stated her concern for honesty in county employees and mentioned that this was not King's first criminal violation.

Not surprisingly, the Committee then took a vote and unanimously approved, affirmed, and ratified the same actions it had taken in December.

Ethics?

In its very first vote of consequence, the "Ethics" Committee set a very low standard for county employees.

The Ethics Committee decided to recommend and approve the transfer of county employees who lie and steal to other taxpayer-funded county jobs--with a pay reduction in the process.

Should the Ethics Committee be faced with future ethics violation, its endorsement on March 11 of continued employment for those who lie and steal in the course of their county employment will be the standard against which all other ethics violations are measured.

Prior to the vote, I asked Trustee Bill Brittain to recuse himself from any discussion or vote because of his inclusion as reference #2 on Frank's initial diversion request. I suggested that Brittain's recusal would remove any appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest on his part.

After being asked, Brittain did recuse himself, stating that he agreed that it would be "proper" for him to step aside. Brittain then added that he had supplied "a letter."

Mayor David Purkey, who was listed as reference #1 on court documents filed by Frank and Paul, had earlier asked that the record reflect that "neither was I asked nor would I have provided a reference in a court of law for either of these employees."

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Frank and Paul from their supervisor.

Purkey would not provide a "reference" for either employee? Purkey provided the ultimate reference for Frank and Paul in continuing to provide a taxpayer-funded job for each of them. Purkey's reference may not have been in a court of law, but it was the "reference" that Frank and Paul were most concerned with.

March 10, 2009 County Commission Rejects Land Purchase for a New East High

The meeting was at the Health Department on Main Street. There was no set time--the notice just said that the Education Committee would meet "after" the called county commission meeting was over.

It started as a discussion about a 1.4 Million dollar land purchase for a new East High School.

It ended with 10 commissioners voting "no" and 3 commissioners voting "yes."

After the Education Committee vote was taken yesterday, the school board, Dr. Lynch, and Central Office administrators scooped up the powerpoint presentation and left the building.

Commissioner Joe Swann, chairman of the Education Committee, said to Director of Schools Dale Lynch, "You just heard the door slam on your building program."

Joe Swann, Tommy Massey, and Ricky Bruce voted "yes."

Voting "no" were Stancil Ford, Larry Baker, Guy Collins, Herbert Harville, Reece Sexton, Joe Spoone, Doyle Fullington, Paul Lebel, Dennis Alvis, and Dana Wampler. Commissioner Nancy Phillips was absent.

There were discussions about the price of the land, access roads, site preparation costs, increased traffic, safety concerns, renovations vs. new construction, and practice fields for sports.

Joe Spoone said he wanted to see the funding plan for the entire project before any property is purchased.

Well, when you look at the true costs for the entire project, you will see that the $80 Million estimate is just a fraction of the total taxpayer costs.

There is not $80 Million sitting around waiting to be spent on another school building program. The $80 Million has to be borrowed, and that means there are interest costs on top of the actual building costs.

Over a 20-year payout period, an $80 Million dollar building program would cost county taxpayers another $61 Million in interest for a total cost of $141 Million TAX Dollars (principal + interest).

Over a 25-year payout period, that same $80 Million dollar building program would cost county taxpayers another $80 Million in interest for a total cost of $160 Million TAX dollars (principal + interest). [These costs are from a county cost estimate]

Those are sobering figures that should make anyone pause ---but especially so in these uncertain and difficult economic times in Hamblen County and across the nation.

Another sobering figure is the debt still owed by the county (taxpayers) on the previous (1998) $35 Million dollar school building program and $5 Million capital improvement program. The re-payment schedule for that $40 Million debt was set up as interest only payments for the first 8 years or so, meaning that after making "minimum payments" for 8 years or so, the county still owed the same $40 Million that it had borrowed at the start.

March 9, 2009 Official Pow-Wow...the Rest of the Story

In a recent post, I mentioned the rumor going around that at least two elected officials had met with other elected and/or appointed officials to discuss public business in a meeting that neither the public nor the press knew about.


Today at county commission committee meetings, Commissioner Joe Swann admitted that he and Commissioner Ricky Bruce had met with Director of Schools Dale Lynch and others. Joe said it was an unannounced meeting to discuss and prepare the school board's answers to questions about the proposed purchase of land for a new East High.


Joe said he was sorry if he had upset the Tribune by not telling them about the meeting. He said that no votes were taken, and he claimed that the Sunshine Law was not violated because it was just an information-gathering meeting. Ricky said nothing.

Tribune writer Bobbie Young was at the meeting.

March 7, 2009 After Lawsuit Is Filed, Ethics Committee Wants To Correct Its Violation of Tennessee Open Meetings Act

In a previous post, I reported that the Hamblen County Ethics Committee violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act (TOMA) by not providing notice to the "public" of its December 15, 2008, "public" meeting.

Commissioner Joe Swann, who is chairman of the Ethics Committee, Commissioner Stancil Ford, a member of the Ethics Committee, and Rusty Cantwell, attorney for the Ethics Committee, were put on notice of this violation during the public comments portion of the January 22 meeting of the Hamblen County Commission.

Fortunately, the TOMA provides a very simple way to fix such a violation--- just "re-do" the meeting with adequate notice to the public and then re-consider and fully deliberate again on the public business in a true public meeting. On January 22, the Ethics Committee was requested to re-do its December 15 meeting with proper notice to the public.

Unfortunately, the Ethics Committee chose to deny the violation and ignored the request to correct the situation. With the Ethics Committee stonewalling and refusing to remedy its violation, the only way left to enforce the Open Meetings Act was for a citizen to file suit against the violators.

After waiting weeks and weeks for the Ethics Committee to do the easy thing, the right thing, the "ethical" thing---call another meeting with proper notice to the public---Gwen Holden filed a citizen's suit against the Ethics Committee and its five members on February 17, 2009. I represent Ms. Holden.

After being served with Ms. Holden's lawsuit, the Ethics Committee rather suddenly decided that a "re-do" meeting sounded pretty good after all. The Ethics Committee "re-do" meeting to correct its violation of the Open Meetings Act is set for Wednesday, March 11, at 4:00 pm in the West Wing Conference Room in the basement of the new portion of the Courthouse.

The March 11 agenda includes review of the disciplinary actions taken by Mayor David Purkey against county employees Paul King and Frank Parker who were indicted for felony theft (Parker and King) and felony misconduct (Parker) in May 2008.

Government at its best. The Ethics Committee violates the law. Refuses to admit that it did anything wrong. Ignores a simple request to fix the violation with a "re-do" meeting. Then, after its bluff is called and a lawsuit is filed, suddenly the Ethics Committee thinks that a "re-do" sounds great after all!

It is ironic that a violation such as this would involve the Ethics Committee.

It is unfortunate that the Ethics Committee, faced with an obvious violation of the Open Meetings Act, got its back up and refused to admit the violation and simply correct it. This could have been taken care of right away--at no-cost to the taxpayers--if the Ethics Committee had said 'oops, we're sorry and we're going to fix this right now with a proper meeting with adequate public notice.'

Now, the Ethics Committee and its members will ask the taxpayers of Hamblen County to pay the legal fees that the Ethics Committee has incurred for a lawsuit that they caused by their refusal to correct their Open Meetings violation at the start.

The good news, however, is that Ethics Chairman Joe Swann and the other members of the Ethics Committee have seen the light ("Sunshine") and are now aware that you really can't have a "public" meeting without letting the public know about it.

Hopefully, other local governmental bodies will also be careful to make sure that the public is informed about their meetings.

The Open Meetings and Open Records Acts are Tennessee's Sunshine Laws and help protect and preserve the public's right to know what the government is doing. Visit the website of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government.

[3/8/09 Special thanks to Taxing Tennessee for mentioning and linking to this post! Click Taxing Tennessee to see the complete website.]

February 10, 2009 Ethics Committee Violates the Sunshine Law--No Notice to the Public of its December 15 "Public" Meeting

Oops, they did it again--another county government meeting without notice to the public.

THEN: The Commission held a special meeting in May 2007 to appoint the Ethics Committee and did not provide public notice of the meeting. See my post here and the opinion of the county attorney that informing the press about a meeting meets the requirements of "adequate public notice"---even when the press doesn't mention the meeting to the public.

NOW: The Ethics Committee, which rarely meets, has held a special meeting (December 2008) without providing public notice of the meeting. What irony! The Ethics Committee is appointed in a meeting without notice to the public--- and then the Ethics Committee itself meets without notice to the public.

Tennessee's Open Meetings Act (TOMA) is one of our Sunshine Laws. The purpose of TOMA is to make sure that the public's business takes place in the "sunshine" with "adequate public notice" of any meetings.

Tennessee Code 8-44-103 requires Notice of public meetings. —

(a) Notice of Regular Meetings. Any such governmental body which holds a meeting previously scheduled by statute, ordinance, or resolution shall give adequate public notice of such meeting.

(b) Notice of Special Meetings. Any such governmental body which holds a meeting not previously scheduled by statute, ordinance, or resolution, or for which notice is not already provided by law, shall give adequate public notice of such meeting.

(c) The notice requirements of this part are in addition to, and not in substitution of, any other notice required by law.

Notice of the special December 15 Ethics Committee meeting was provided to a limited number of people---Ethics Committee members, commissioners, the county attorney, and the press but these were the only people who were notified.

So there's not really a question of whether there was adequate notice to the public. There was NO notice to the public.

[And strangely, the notice that was provided to the press and to the Ethics Committee didn't even mention why there was a special meeting or what it was about.]

As it turned out from reports after the meeting, the Committee considered the "resign or be ousted" letter sent by Mayor David Purkey to then-Constable Paul King, discussed and got county attorney Rusty Cantwell's opinion on the actions taken by Purkey in regard to Paul King and Frank Parker, and then took a vote supporting the "resign or be ousted" letter.

The Parker-King saga at Cherokee Park is a lengthy one of theft, lies, pre-trial diversion, and plea deals, culminating in both keeping their county jobs but with demotions and/or transfers. Of course, it was their boss County Mayor David Purkey who made the decision to keep them on the county payroll and he just happened to be the #1 character reference for both men.

But I digress. Back to the Sunshine Law.

At the January 22 meeting of the full Commission, I spoke to the county attorney before the meeting to point out that there was no notice to the public of the December 15 Ethics meeting. The county attorney repeated his previous opinion that notifying the press is all the county must do. In other words, we tell the press and if the press doesn't pass the word along to the public, then too bad, so sad.

During the visitor's comments portion of the commission meeting, I spoke to the full commission about the apparent violation of the Open Meetings Act, pointing out that the law requires "adequate public notice" and that this is the second meeting that I know of where a limited number of people are notified, but there is NO notice to the public at all.

Actions taken at a meeting in violation of the Sunshine Law may be declared void, but there is a very easy way to correct the violation, and that's what I asked the Ethics Committee to do. Hold a new meeting--with notice to the public and with full deliberation and re-consideration of the actions taken. Problem solved.

After two weeks passed and the commission had not responded to my request for a re-do of the Ethics Committee meeting, I contacted Chairman Stancil Ford to see what, if anything, the county intended to do. Ford stated that he had talked with the county attorney and that the county attorney continues to maintain that notifying the press is all the law requires. Ford suggested that I call the chairman of the Ethics Committee Joe Swann, which I did, and discuss my concerns with Joe.

Joe Swann told me that he had also talked with the county attorney. Swann informed me that the county attorney maintains that there is no violation of the open meetings act and that notice to the press meets the requirements of the law. He was firm in stating that there would be no re-do of the meeting.

I shared with him that it is my opinion that at least two "public" meetings of county government have been held without any notification to the "public." While I fully agreed that there has been "adequate press notice," I believe that the law clearly and in plain words requires "adequate public notice."

In the two instances mentioned, no one has to spend much time bickering over whether "adequate" notice to the public was given, because there was NO public notice at all. Let the Sunshine in.

June 20, 2008 Commissioner Frank Parker Resigns; Hamblen 2008-2009 Budget Passes

The 2008-2009 Hamblen County budget passed yesterday by a vote of 10-1. Ricky Bruce cast the lone dissenting vote. Commissioners Paul Lebel, Frank Parker, and Nancy Phillips were absent.

Prior to the budget vote, there were a few surprises. (1) A commissioner resigned. (2) A last-minute insurance decision was made. (3) Trustee Bill Brittain reported on a special meeting of the county's executive committee that was held just prior to the full commission meeting to discuss the county's debt.

(1) Commissioner Frank Parker, who has not attended the last several committee or commission meetings, submitted a letter of resignation. In his letter to Chair Stancil Ford and County Commission, Parker said:

Please accept this as proper notice of my resignation from the County Commission (District 7) effective June 30, 2008.

For some time now, I have found in necessary to abstain from voting on the Commission due to my position as a county employee. This has made me uncomfortable. I want to concentrate on my work at Cherokee Park and feel that this decision will help me focus my efforts there.

I just want you and the other commissioners to know that I have enjoyed serving on the county commission. I just feel that this is the right decision at this time.

(2) The E-911 and Solid Waste employees, represented by EMA Director Eric Carpenter, asked to be allowed to piggy-back on the county's insurance. After intense questioning by Commissioner Joe Swann over the possible negative impact that these groups could have on county employee's insurance premiums at renewal time, the Commission voted to put them on the county's insurance for 6 months and "study" the issue.

These groups were previously piggy-backing on the city's insurance but, as Carpenter pointed out, they were left out when the City decided in May that it could save money by going to a self-insured plan that only included city employees.

(3) Trustee Bill Brittain said that the Executive Committee met with Joe Ayres of Cumberland Securities just prior to the Commission meeting to discuss problems with the county's debt. Brittain mentioned the subprime market and its negative impact on the county's debt--noting several county bond issues were involved.

The Commission approved appointment of County Mayor David Purkey, Finance Director Nicole Buchanan, and Trustee Bill Brittain to research this issue and report back.

April 25, 2008 Hamblen County Commission Meeting

Yesterday's meeting of the Hamblen County Commission was very routine.

Thirteen of the fourteen commissioners were present. Commissioner Frank Parker, the subject of a TBI investigation that is scheduled to be forwarded to the local grand jury in May, was absent.

Sheriff Esco Jarnagin addressed commissioners at the end of the meeting about employee turnover in his department and about the TBI investigation mentioned above.

During the regular meeting, there was actual discussion on one item before the vote was taken! The issue that prompted two commissioners to speak and four to vote "no" was whether to purchase some hand mowers and have a few low-risk inmates mow the courthouse lawn.

Commissioner Paul Lebel was first to speak. He was adamantly opposed to having inmates mow the courthouse lawn. Lebel said he was concerned that the inmates might meet their girlfriends or family members. Commissioner Joe Swann joined with Lebel and expressed concern over liability issues.

When the vote was taken, there were 9 in favor and 4 opposed to having inmates mow the courthouse lawn. Commissioners voting "yes" were Baker, Bruce, Collins, Ford, Harville, Phillips, Sexton, Spoone, and Wampler. Voting "no" were Fullington, Lebel, Massey, and Swann.

Currently, low-risk inmates are allowed out to work on the "can truck" picking up litter. Low-risk inmates are also allowed out to work for Central Services and other non-profit groups when requested and when proof of insurance is provided.

Commissioners apparently haven't raised liability issues over 4-5 low-risk inmates out in the community picking up litter. However, one or two low-risk inmates mowing the courthouse lawn causes concern.

During the discussion of this issue, Sheriff Jarnagin pointed out that while there are some violent criminals in the jail, the ones who would be allowed out to mow the courthouse lawn would not be rapists and murderers--instead, they would be the same low-risk inmates who work on the can truck or go to Central Services to help out occasionally. There is no guarantee that there will never be a problem, but do you treat the person who wrote a bad check like the rapist or murderer?

Sheriff Jarnagin spoke again at the end of the meeting on two other issues. He began his remarks by saying that at least one commissioner as well as some other people had been claiming that he had fired numerous employees (anywhere from 50-60) since taking office in September 2006.

Jarnagin acknowledged that there had been a large employment turnover, but he explained that some of the departures were the result of voluntary quits, one employee was arrested by the FBI, another was arrested by the TBI, there were discharges due to various types of misconduct, some employees would find that they could not handle the stress, and some employees were let go during the probationary period when the sheriff determined that the employee was not suited for employment in the jail or in other areas of the sheriff's office.

Jarnagin then said that he also wanted to answer a question that was raised but left unanswered at the last county commission meeting about a $750 charge to get a car out of the sheriff's impound lot. Jarnagin said he wanted to make it clear that the Sheriff's Office did not charge anyone $750 to get a car out of impound.

At the March meeting, Commission Chairman Stancil Ford had refused to discuss the $750 charge, saying that the matter of a $750 impound charge was under investigation. Later D.A. Berkeley Bell reported that the TBI had indeed investigated the matter and that the TBI would take the case--allegedly involving Commissioner Frank Parker and perhaps others-- to the grand jury next month.

Then--almost like clockwork--Commissioner Guy Collins moved to adjourn the meeting. OK?

January 25, 2008 Purkey-Ford Send Out Tax-Us-More Letter

The letters are in the mail.

Hamblen County Mayor David Purkey and Commission Chair Stancil Ford want your vote FOR increasing the local sales tax in the referendum.

Purkey and Ford have sent out a "tax us more" letter using the old 2002 "pick your poison" wheel tax blackmail tactic.

"Pick your poison" was the Tribune headline during the 2002 wheel tax referendum when Commission Chair Maudie Briggs proclaimed loudly and clearly that voters could choose EITHER the wheel tax OR there would be a property tax hike.

Well, voters "chose" the wheel tax in May 2002, and Hamblen County Commissioners, no doubt laughing the whole time, took that $1 Million+ and then went ahead and increased the property tax by 15 cents anyway.

Predictably, the Citizen Tribune (a/k/a Jack Fishman) has endorsed the higher sales tax and, just as predictably, the Tribune is running a series of articles on the sales tax referendum---a series that so far has only included comments and interviews of people who support the newspaper's editorial stand.

Fair and balanced? Nope. Slanted and tilted toward taxes, taxes, and more taxes. Yes.

Ford and Purkey stated yesterday that the "education foundation" paid for the printing and mailing of the letter that they signed and that went out on county letterhead. Purkey and Ford were apparently referring to HC*Excell, a 501(c)(3) non-profit---but the letter itself doesn't provide the identity of the financier.

County Mayor David Purkey has already been quoted in the newspaper encouraging people to vote to increase the local sales tax and stating that the commission was unanimous in supporting the sales tax increase.

At yesterday's commission meeting, Commissioner Larry Baker pointed out that Purkey's statement about the commission supporting the sales tax increase was wrong. Baker said that he did NOT vote to support the sales tax increase; he only voted to put the sales tax on a referendum. Stancil Ford agreed that the only vote commissioners took was to put the referendum on the ballot.

School Board Chairman Janice Haun got her turn in the newspaper yesterday. Her message was the same old/same old-- send more money to the school board. Haun said that she ISN'T sure where the money will go, but she IS sure that she wants it and that Dr. Lynch will find a place to spend it. She never mentioned that the school system got an extra $5 Million in BEP money last year. Hopefully, Dr. Lynch was able to find a place to spend that!

Purkey, Ford, Haun...Who will be next in line to tell voters how to vote and to encourage a YES vote for a sales tax increase?

Some Predictions:

Morristown City Mayor Sami Barile and/or City Administrator Jim Crumley, both of whom are adept at overspending, raising taxes by 40% in one year, and then dreaming up the sales tax increase to get county taxpayers to help city officials lower the city tax rate.

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Thom Robinson keeps a somewhat low profile but would be good for a pro-tax soundbite.

Director of Schools Dale Lynch will surely jump in and push for more money. The schools got an extra $5M in BEP funding last year. But, of course, that can't be enough. More, more, more!

HC*Excell Director Tish Jones will be pushing for higher taxes of all kinds as she constantly repeats "it's for the children, it's for the children, it's for the children."

Alex Rom-Roginski, newly-elected Chamber of Commerce president and Tish Jones' husband, would gladly speak in favor of higher taxes as he has before.

Commissioner Ricky Bruce, who has been telling Hamblen Countians for years that they are undertaxed, should be giving his enthusiastic support for this tax increase and the next and the next!

Commissioner Joe Spoone, whose wife, sister, and brother get school system paychecks, might say something, but he usually likes to remain quiet and let others vote for the tax increases that end up benefiting him and his family.

Commissioner Joe Swann, whose wife is a school teacher, thinks you just can't tax people enough "for the children" no matter where the money goes or what happens.

A smattering of P-16 officials, industry leaders, and perhaps even a current or former principal or teacher would round everything out nicely.

By the time the newspaper series ends, everyone should know exactly how to vote (remove tongue from cheek).