Reeves nominated for U.S. judge gig

Pam Reeves

Not sure if you've seen this one, but President Obama nominated local legal eagle Pam Reeves for U.S. District judge for East Tennessee. If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips, who retires this summer.

Local porch readers and those who keep up with county business have probably heard of Pam as she is the author of the eponymous “Reeves report.” (I do believe that is the first time I have ever used that word. Wonder if it was used correctly. Eh, whatever.)

Anyhoo, the 58-page report, released in March 2010 looked inot the Knox County Solid Waste Department and targeted former director John Evans, who is deceased, and Natural Resources Recovery of Tennessee, the management firm formerly charged with operating the county's Solway greenwaste facility.

It also criticized Evans because he waived the revenue-sharing fees - about $311,000 - the firm owed the county. The investigation also chastised Engineering and Public Works Director Bruce Wuethrich for not disciplining Evans.

You can find that report, right smack here.

Trustee's chief of staff steps down

William "Bill" Curtis

William “Bill” Curtis' last day as chief of staff in the Knox County Trustee's Office was Wednesday. 

He is the third top ranking member of Trustee John Duncan III's team to leave in the past six months, although his exit is less controversial that the others.

“I'm almost 71 years old – that's the main reason,” he said laughing slightly Thursday. “I worked for 50 years. That's long enough.”

Curtis spent 40 years at Curtis Mortgage where he was president and CEO, and then sold it to BB&T Bank. He signed a no-compete contract, so he was essentially retired for a few years before joining Duncan's team when he took office in September of 2010. He was hired on as a stat programs administrator and later promoted to collections administrator.

When Duncan's then-chief of staff, Joshua Burnett, pleaded guilty to facilitation of official misconduct, the trustee appointed him to take over the position. 

Curtis, who earned $77,250, was generally well-respected in the office, although he was lumped in with a group of six others brought into the administration and who had close ties or made political donations to Duncan or his family. (He donated $1,000 to Duncan's campaign.)

However, Curtis was not connected to any of the employees who received education bonuses for classes that they never took, a scandal that has tarnished Duncan's time as trustee and led to the resignation of Burnett and office attorney Chad Tindell, who also pleaded guilty to the facilitation charge.

Curtis said he enjoyed his time working in the Trustee's Office, adding “we got some things accomplished.”

But, he said he also has five grandchildren he wants to “spend more time with and that's what I'll be doing.”

“I've been working all my life and there comes a time when you have to make a decision and make a change,” he said. “I enjoyed working up there but I have to make some time for myself.”

And in the meantime?

“Well, just today I've been mowing the law,” he said chuckling.

Duncan said Thursday that Kristin Phillips will take over the chief of staff gig on an interim basis. 

“She has worked in the office for twenty years and has proven to be hard working, extremely knowledgeable and capable of handling the additional responsibilities,” he said.

Carter Carnival to offer free stuff

The county is teaming up with Independent Insurance Consultants to present a community carnival at the Carter Senior Center (9040 Asheville Highway) on Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It's free and open to the public. The event also will offer free health screenings, and 25 area businesses will offer free stuff.

There also will be games and prizes.

For more information, call the county at 865-215-4579.

County creek event set for Saturday

In his never-ending metal detecting, Bigfoot hunting quest, Knox County Mayor Tim burchett will be hanging out in the Halls Greenway (behind Food City/7114 Maynardville Pike) at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Apparently, the mayor is participating in the “Families in the Creek” event, which the county's spin team says “is an educational opportunity for families to explore a local creek and learn about water quality issues.” (And for the mayor to finally catch Sasquatch.)

In addition to the fish assessment, the event (hosted by the county and the Beaver Creek Task Force) will include a stream walk, benthic macroinvertebrate (WTH????) assessment and a scavenger hunt.

Oh and get this: Registration for the event is now closed but was free to the first 40 registrants.

What the deuce? Then why did the county's spin team even send this out today? Bah. Since I typed it up, might as well post it.

UPDATE: Here's more on the creek event, right smack here.

Knox to pay for Carter school by June

The county is set to stroke the final check toward paying off Carter Elementary School, which opens in August, after it recently received the $5.75 million in folding paper it got from selling three pieces of property to Hillcrest HealthCare Communities (that the operation initially leased).

The commission obviously will have to sign off on it, but it shouldn't be a big deal. The money will cover the rest of the $13.9 million for the school as well as a little more than half the FF&E (furniture, fixtures, equipment), which will cost another $2 million.

The county will then sell some 1.5 acres off Middlebrook Pike, which will cover the remaining $900K it needs. Officials hope to actually get between $1 million to $2 million for that property. Key, though, will probably be how it's zoned.

It's currently zoned agriculture-residential. The county is asking the Knoxville City Council to rezone it to commercial (MPC recommends “office”). The council will take up the issue tonight and during its May 28 meeting.

Knox retirees to get paid sick days

Knox County officials are looking into a plan that would pay those retiring (it doesn't count if you're fired or quit) a portion of their sick leave. You see some employees toward the end of their careers like to call it in on Fridays and Monday and, you know, take that loooong weekend.

Well, the administration thinks that giving the sick days a little more meaning (in other words: Show me the coin), then employees are less apt to phone from home and abuse the day when they're really not sick.

Heh.

The maximum payoff would be $10,000, or a total of 800 hours for a 40-hour employees. The Sheriff's Office and the school system already do this. (All county employees also get paid for their annual time when they leave.)

“You're putting a value on it (the sick day) and rewarding long-tenured employees,” said Casual Chris Caldwell, the county's top bean counter.

He added that the plan will be revenue neutral in that if someone leaves and gets paid out, the county won't replace that person until whatever amount of paid sick days have expired.

Non-profits to get "peddler" waiver

Late last year, the county commission approved new standards and regulations for roadside vendors (look them up yourselves – not doing it for you) and those who operate small, unlicensed flea markets in parking lots and out of abandoned businesses.

And already they have to amend the thing. (It's in the county code under "Peddlers and Solicitors.")

The commission will talk about working out some kind of deal to provide exemptions for programs run by non-profits, which will probably actually help the small vendors that fall under the umbrella of an already established 501c3. The non-profit would be subject to the codes, licenses, fees, whatevers, but the booths that operate with them wouldn't. That way not everyone would need to jump through the hoops.

A situation that comes to mind is if a neighborhood wants to hold a large sale on the side of the road.

Key to this is that the money of course would have to go toward charity.

Legislative dept to get official axe

As the County Commission preps for the upcoming fiscal year, there's a little house cleaning it needs to do, namely getting rid of the non-existent Office of Legislative Affairs in Knox County. (Did that even make sense?)

This was the one-person office that Patsy Miller ran for years. When county Mayor Tim Burchett took office, it was one of the first jobs he cut in the spring of 2011. (I believe Miller made about $50k a year.) Tim essentially told members of the local Legislative delegation (where he served for 16 years) to answer their owns phones. Since most of them already did, there wasn't a lot of heartburn.

No one ever bothered to appeal the private act that created the office. That will happen in the next few weeks. Not a big deal, really, but I figured like rambling.

More on Ownby diversion note, censure

Jeff Ownby

I've noticed some debate lately regarding Knox County Commission Jeff Ownby's court hearing Friday and whether the judge should have or could have ordered him to write a letter, enter it into minutes of the next board meeting and turn it over to the media.

Some folks say the judge exceeded his bounds, some think it's plain mean. Whatever. The fact is Ownby had the option of not asking for judicial diversion. He could have walked away with a $500 fine. For some reason he feels judicial diversion will make everyone forget what happened. It won't.

The judge noted Friday that because Ownby sought judicial diversion, then he could impose a number of requirements. That letter was one of them. It was up to Jeff then to follow through. Or not to.

Now, on to this whole censure thing that the commission will discuss. Quite frankly, it's nothing more than a public reprimand, a symbolic expression with little practical value. Still, it creates headlines and the commission would be remiss if it didn't talk about it. That said, there will be some folks – possibly some on the commission although I don't know for sure – who will call for his resignation. I don't think he will.

The board last censured a fellow member in July 2009 when members publicly rebuked then-board member Greg “Lumpy” Lambert for his “disruptive behavior” at two meetings of the Task Force on Ridge, Slope and Hillside Development that took place weeks prior.

In June that same year, the commission also censured then-county Law Director Bill Lockett and asked for his resignation because of what members deemed “repugnant behavior.” Lockett, who would eventually resigned, later pleaded guilty to taking clients' payments that were intended for his former law firm, Kennerly, Montgomery & Finley.

Additionally, the board censured former county Mayor Mike Ragsdale in May 2008 in connection to questionable purchasing-card charges he and his top aides made.

Judge to Ownby: Write apology note

Greg Isaacs, left, Jeff Ownby on right

Man, what a weird hearing.

Knox County Commissioner Jeff Ownby was in court today and pleaded no contest to public indecency.

He could have paid a $500 and called it a day. Instead he asked for judicial diversion, which will wipe the record clean. In theory.

Ownby, whose job status is questionable (he said he was unemployed, then said he works part-time for a real estate company, and he also has a part-time commission job), told the judge that he was looking for work. He said he'd get to the third or fourth interview and be on his way to a job offer but would fail the background check.

Judicial diversion (I suppose he was suggesting) would get him out of all this.

Apparently, he's never heard of Google.

Anyhoo, the judge noted that because he sought diversion, he could then put some provisions in place.

And boy did he. He put Ownby on supervised probation for six months (that ain't free), told him to continue counseling (that ain't free) and told him to stay 100 yards away from Sharp's Ridge (that's free).

The kicker? Told him to write a letter “explicitly detailing” what he had done and to apologize. Then the judge changed his mind and told Ownby to just explain what he did and use general terms. Heh.

He told him that the letter must be entered into the Knox County Commission meeting minutes this month. Wow.

And, he told him to turn it over to the News Sentinel. Geez.

Further, the judge wanted it done by noon. (By the way, this is the letter, right smack here.)

None of this, of course, went over too well with Ownby's attorney, Gregory P. Isaacs.

The lawyer told the judge that he had some other pressing things he had to do. The judge told him to cancel them. Isaacs then wanted to know how he would get the letter to him. Judge said to email it. Isaacs then asked if he would get it. Judge told him: “Uh yeah. On my phone. I got one of those phones that's smarter than me.”

Heh.

(On a side note, Isaacs needs to get a new phone. The guy drives around in a gazillion dollar car a wears some seriously fancy clothes sans socks, and yet he owns a 2-cent phone. But I digress.)

The judge, Blount County's William Brewer, again stressed that he wanted the letter by noon and to the media by 2 p.m. He said for Ownby it's “kind of like ripping the Band-Aid off . . . and he can get on with his life.”

At one point, he also said: I've been on the bench 24 years now and one thing I've found consistent is that human beings are interesting creatures. Why we do what we do is very intriguing . . . and by all accounts from what I've heard today and from what I've read, Mr. Ownby is a good man and a good citizen . . .”

Well, we'll see what happens on May 28.

KCSO adds 54 new cars, bus to fleet

Sheriff Jones

The Man with the Badge? Naw, more like, the da Man with the Car.

Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones sent out a small release yesterday evening, noting that his office will add 54 new cars and one 34-passenger, bad-guy-hauling bus to the KSCO fleet. The department will use 2014 Dodge Chargers for patrol and unmarked 2014 Chevrolet Impalas for detectives.

The sheriff had asked Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett to include 80 cars in his proposed budget. The mayor put in 25 and the bus. The plan now is to use some left over surplus coin to pay for another 29 cars.

The sheriff said if he could get between 50 to 55 cars a year, he wouldn't fret as much about the fleet. As it is right now, he said, most of the cars have more than 100,000 miles of “hard” mileage on them and the upkeep is starting to cost more in the long-term than just buying new ones.

Broyles to kick off LWVTn conference

Commissioner Broyles

Got an email from the Knox County Commission office, noting that Commissioner Amy Broyles will deliver the opening remarks at the League of Women Voters of Tennessee's 2013 Spring Convention set for tomorrow and Sunday in downtown Knoxville.

“This is a wonderful event for our area, and I am honored to be given the opportunity to kick it all off by welcoming women from across our state to our beautiful city,” Broyles said in a released statement. “This year's theme, 'Reaching Out, Making Change,' speaks precisely to the standard of leadership I embrace, and I am truly looking forward to an exciting and educational convention.”

Conference registration begins at noon tomorrow at the Hilton Knoxville, Downtown, with opening remarks beginning at 12:30 p.m. The convention wraps up at noon Sunday.

For more information, click right smack here.