Pi Alpha Alpha to honor John Troyer

Former county Finance Director John Troyer

The University of Tennessee's Political Science Scholastic Honor Society (Pi Alpha Alpha) in conjunction with the East Tennessee Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration will honor former Knox County Finance Director John Troyer as its “Public Administrator of the Year.”

The ceremony will take place at 11:30 a.m. today in the Toyota Room of the Howard Baker Center.

Troyer left last spring to take a job with the city of Alcoa to serve as its finance director. At the time he said it was a lower-profile position and he didn't have to deal with the media as much. Also, city government is more straightforward.

Former county Mayor Mike Ragsdale tapped Troyer to serve as head county bean counter after then-finance director John Werner resigned in July 2007 amid a furor over the improper use of purchasing cards by employees in the mayor's office.

Before that, Troyer, a certified public accountant, served as the county comptroller for six years. He also worked as a finance director for the city of Bartlett, Tenn., and for Blount County.

Dirty lots, spin, sin and typical ramblings

Couple things.

You folks see what happened on the emperor's property? Man, that sucks. And, yeah, the Web site disabled the comment section so the peanut gallery can't weigh in. Too bad. Because, you know, so much freakin' wisdom gets espoused during the riveting conversation over there and now we're deprived of it.

The latest edition of Spin County, or as Michel “Big Sexy” Grider likes to call it - “Knox Happenings” - is out. You can find it right smack here. County Mayor Tim Burchett talks briefly about the budget and reflects a little bit on outgoing finance minister John Troyer.

Banned AGAIN from the KNS peanut gallery/comment section, Brian Paone has said the heck with it and is back to reporting. You can find the latest satire right smack here. (Other links are at the bottom.) Some funny stuff.

Madame Mayor Mad Madeline (I just like saying that) and her posse will participate in a “codes enforcement neighborhood sweep” tomorrow, according to the city's zillion dollar public affairs department, which still costs less than the school system's zillion dollar public affairs department (as opposed to the county's ten cent office). I'm not holding my breath on this whole enforcement thing. Former KNS reporter Rebecca Ferrar wrote a whole series about "dirty lots" back in 2010.

Crap like this costs money. But it sure looks good for the TV stations. You know, going around and fighting the good fight. Whatever. They should just bulldoze the crap and dare someone to sue them. Heh.

I'm sure I'll find some other crap to ramble about later.

As always . . .

Knox County finance director leaving job

UPDATE: Story can be found right smack here.

Man, I can't believe it. My boy, John Troyer, the Super Destroyer, is leaving the county. The rogue also has a note about it over right smack here.

Troyer, who took over the county's finance department amidst the infamous P-card scandal, has accepted a job with the city of Alcoa to serve as its finance director.

(It should be noted that he never had his own P-card, which by the way, the current administration is laughably trying to call E-cards, but we all know that's not what they really are. Heh.)

Anyhoo, Here's what Big John wrote to his colleagues earlier this afternoon. (The email actually went out around 5:20 p.m.):

It is with a heavy heart I share this news: I have accepted the position of Finance Director at the City of Alcoa. It is not a position I sought, but rather I have known and worked with both the current City Manager and the current Finance Director for over 20 years. They sought me.

A lower-profile position with much less of a media component to the job are appealing to me at this point in my career. City government is a much more straightforward organization structure to work in – compared to county government.

Please accept my sincere thanks for all you have done for me and the citizens of Knox County over the last 11 years. I tell everyone I know that I could not ask for a better staff or co-workers – capable, conscientious and caring. You all have the taxpayers interest at heart.

We will stay to finish the budget and the capital plan for Mayor Burchett – with my last day being April 13th.

Again, thank you for all your hard work and everything you do.

John

I'll have a short story about JT's resignation in tomorrow's paper. It will probably be buried in the election coverage mess.

Knox County to go after unclaimed money

Local leaders are touting a popular adage: Every little bit helps.

Or in this case, according to county finance minister John Troyer: “Every $9,000 matters.”

OK, here's the deal:

Each year the county writes a lot of checks. About $650 million worth, I suppose. But not everyone cashes the thing. So, after a year, the unclaimed money goes into a state account where it sits for another year.

Then Knox County can go after it. It's all pretty much a rubber stamp deal, but – hey – I promised ya some boring inside baseball every now and then.

This year, the county's finance department will ask the County Commission to give it permission to claim $8,810.31.

As Mayor Tim “Cheapskate” Burchett says: “I'd rather us get it than have it go to the state or federal government for them to waste.”

Heh.

Last year the county got back $8,910. 31 (this was monies from fiscal year 2009); and in 2010 it got back $10,120.72.

In 2009, the county nabbed $10,155.83 and in 2008 it collected $13,108.99.

In 2007 – the last numbers I have – the county collected $18,584.24 in monies from fiscal year 2005.

HR's Fogerson reflects on past decade

L to R: Debbie Dew, Lisa Jarrell, Frances Fogerson, Pat Carson, Glenda Irwin, Diana Sweet, and Anthony Smith. Back: Brian Barnard

Here's an interview I conducted with Knox County Human Resources Director Frances Fogerson, who retires on Friday. She's worked for the county 12 years, spending almost a decade as a department head.

Deputy Veteran Services Officer Colonel Richard Julian will take over.

In the following interview, Fogerson looks back on her time with the county, touching on her best hire, worst hire and the nickname she doesn’t recall getting.

(On a side note, I wish her well.)

What was the most difficult firing you had to be a part of?
Firings that involve a threat of violence always got my attention. You just have to be really cautious in those cases. Several times I was definitely glad we had law enforcement close at hand.

The really difficult task is to tell someone about a layoff. In that case, the employee is usually a skilled person doing the job we hired them to do. I go into that meeting with three goals – brevity, respect and information. I speak softly and really try to emphasize that it was the circumstance and not their performance. Then, I make sure they know about their options in terms of insurance, retirement, unemployment claims, etc. And, of course, I always offer to serve as a reference when they’re looking for a new job.

What was the most unusual firing?
I once fired an intern who just couldn’t seem to be successful at several placements we tried. When I asked him what he had expected when he took a job with the county, he said he thought it would be champagne receptions and brunch with the mayor. Clearly, we were a disappointment for him.

Did you ever face political pressure?
I’m about the most non-political person you could meet. I don’t participate in any political activities and I cross party lines constantly when voting. Really, no mayor ever put any political pressure on me. I tried to keep my advice absolutely professional and I just didn’t participate in the political component.

How has the office changed over the years?
Every mayor has been different and had different styles. You just have to understand that when the administration changes, everything else will, too.

Thoughts on a civil service system.
There was an effort in 2008 to consider civil service for the county, but it didn’t succeed. Civil service is an employment system that predates professional human resources.

I like the merit-based hiring aspect of it, but I don’t like the slowness of filling vacancies or the almost ‘ownership’ status that employees have with their jobs. I definitely prefer a professional HR system. I’m not even sure if there’s a county in Tennessee that uses a civil service, especially one that doesn’t include law enforcement or fire services.

What’s the best part of the job?
Hand down, it’s doing letters and forms to help an employee with an adoption. It only happens about once a year, but I get real pleasure from playing a small role in the process. And, I always want to see the baby!

Worst part of the job.
My ‘Summer of Hell.’ That’s what I call the time in 2007 when we were trying to get a contract with a medical insurance provider. We read through boxes of notebooks to evaluate the companies that bid and then the County Commission wouldn’t approve the contract with the winner. We expanded the evaluation group and did the process three times, each with the same winner, before the commission finally accepted the results. My office was absolutely filled with notebooks and I read each one, taking them home on nights, weekends and holidays. It was the most frustrating task I’ve ever had to do.

Didn’t you get a few nicknames over the years (like ‘The Terminator’)?
You’re the only person who has ever suggested a nickname. I know the one you mean, but I never heard it personally. Really, I’m just an ordinary person who learned all I could about my job and then tried to do that job with fairness and consistency.

Was there a hire you regret making?
Yes. One official asked me to find a job for the relative of an acquaintance. I interviewed the person to determine her experience and skills, and then tried to find a position for which she was both qualified and could be successful. I wasn’t having much luck when a director jumped in and hired the woman. It was a poor fit and caused a lot of turmoil within that department. It simply didn’t last long.

What was your best hire?
I interviewed (current senior director of finance) John Troyer, although I didn’t make the hiring decision. I think that turned out pretty well.

What do potential employees see as attractive reasons to work for Knox County and what do they see as turnoffs?
I think our benefits are superb. We have a decent amount of vacation and holidays, and the insurance is excellent. Our retirement plan — not a pension plan — is very responsible and requires everyone to contribute 6 percent with a matching 6 percent added. It teaches you to save for retirement and that’s a very good thing.

On the downside, there’s variability among offices. Elected officials don’t share the same policies and employees don’t always have the same support. One thing I don’t like is the lack of an appeal system in many offices. I really wish that all Knox County offices would share the same policies, but state law permits them to each have their own.

Finance department honored for its math

The Knox County Finance Department continues to add and subtract big numbers correctly and make it all look pretty.

The Government Finance Officers Association for the 16th year in a row – see, Screams from da Porch can count, too – honored officials with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the FY 2011-12 budget.

In a spin release, issued from the Deathstar's 8th floor of evilness, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett brags about finance director John Troyer, saying the honor is well-deserved because it makes him look good.

In return, Troyer brags about his staff cause they make him look good to the mayor.

“No, you're the best,” the mayor says.

“No, you are,” Troyer counters.

“We both are,” they say at the same time.

(Yeah, I made that up.)

To qualify for the award, the finance department needed to . . . . Well, I'm not exactly sure. The spin release doesn't really say, other than satisfy some national guidelines. Whatever that means.

Anyhoo, good job.

Now, get back to work, cause you've got next year's budget to do.

(Must be a slow news day or something.)

Retirement plan audits to cost $42K

Sat in the pension board meeting Monday for more than two hours. Exciting stuff, I'll tell ya. No, really. Good stuff. Heh.

Anyhoo, I've got a notebook full of information, most of it will never see print because we don't have the space, so I'll start dumping some of it here on the ole blog.

The County Commission recently (it might have been Monday when I was sleeping) signed a four-year contract with Pugh and Company, which will serve as its external auditor. The Knoxville-based company also will work with the pension board.

Some officials, particularly Knox County Senior Director of Finance John “Mad Dog” Troyer, have been itching to get someone to audit the county's six retirement programs.

Now, don't go and get too excited. For someone who operates with the glass half full, even I seriously doubt they're going to find anything. (Other than investment returns kind of suck. But that's true pretty much everywhere.)

In fact, Troyer called it a “straight forward vanilla” audit. (Although he might have said a “Donila” audit.)

The IRS looked over some of the plans (if not all of them) not to long ago and didn't find anything. (As I recall there were some payroll issues or something to do with the county not putting in interest or whatnot, but the plans were pretty much clean.)

The pension board will pick up the tab – about $42,000 for the first year's audit. Executive Director Kim Bennett said the scratch will come from a pot of coins set aside to purchase new software.(She hinted pretty hard Monday to the board that if she uses this money for the audit, she'd still need the software in 2013. In other words, fellas, don't be surprised if I put some extra coinage in there 18 months from now!)

ON A SIDE NOTE: Ann Acuff, who is pretty much second-in-command of the county's finance office is (or has) retired. I met her a few times and she has always been very pleasant and very helpful. Her effective retirement date is Dec. 1. She's leaving after more than 46 years.

That's pretty cool. So congrats goes out to her.

Pension boredom office to relocate?

If you’re not into county pension board/office stuff, you might want to skip this one.

Then again, maybe not.

As the News Sentinel reported (click right smack here) a week or so ago, the city’s pension board or its officials or whatnot are looking into a proposed charter amendment that would require that all votes on board action take a majority of all seven board members to pass.

Who knows if it will pass. Politics are involved. You know how that goes.

Anyhoo, the county’s financial minister, John Troyer, wants the county pension board to look into the same proposal.

But, when he suggested it during the board meeting this past Monday, other members met with some blank stares.

(Yeah. I’m not too sure this one is gonna fly.)

Troyer was upset because board members are talking about moving the office from the Deathstar’s third floor over to Landmark Plaza, which is at the corner of Papermill and Northshore drives.

Last month, the board, in a 4-1 vote, agreed to let pension board Executive Director Kim Bennett look further into the proposal.

The county pension board, though, has 9 members, including four commissioners. It also includes county Mayor Tim Burchett, but let’s face it, he doesn’t like meetings, so Mad Dog John is his official stand-in. ANYWAY, as I was saying, last month, the four commissioners bolted early from the meeting to grab some grub at commission Chairman Mike Hammond’s monthly luncheon. That left JT and four others.

And when Troyer voted against the proposal to move, he thought he had won. (JT figured you needed five “yes” votes to get something approved.)

He didn’t.

Pension board attorney, former county law director and (newly appointed) nemesis to the county’s administration Richard Beeler (because Burchett doesn't want his firm to be the county's bond counsel) said it takes a majority of a quorum to approve a board action – not five.

JT didn’t like that.

The Actual Relocation

One a side note, Bennett said it would cost about $50,000 to move the office and about $32,000 (at least) a year more to maintain operations.

She handed out a worksheet, listing the four “cons” and the 11 “pros,” which made me chuckle.
I agree that her office needs more space. It’s like a matchbox right now. And, it’s not very accessible to the seniors who make up 91 percent of the office’s clientele.

But her other reasons?

“More flexibility in future needs for office.” Really? We hiring more people in that pension office?
“Free up floor space in the (Deathstar) for expansion.” Really? Is The Man with the Badge finally going to get that intake center he always wanted?

“Participants perception of independence.” Come on. Just go to a board meeting. The attorneys like to remind the administration every ten minutes that the board is independent.

“Larger board room available for board meetings.” Huh? There’s like a 100 big rooms in the Deathstar you can use.

OK, I’m rambling.

Count on the board approving this next month.

Count on Burchett, I mean JT, voting against it. (And maybe a few other folks.)

Knox already has $9.2 million for Carter

By Wednesday, we'll finally know whether the school board will sign off on county Mayor Tim Burchett's plan to build a new Carter Elementary. (Actually, we'll probably have a pretty good idea after Tuesday's blab session, but I digress.)

Here's something that hasn't been reported yet. Because, the sixth floor Deathstar spin squad hasn't really gotten this out. Not sure why. But, I figure it's worth mentioning.

All this talk about selling land to build a new school? Naw. They don't really have to do that. Not entirely. The county says it needs $13.9 million to replace the busted-up East Knox County elementary school.

But, if you count the $2.5 million that it still expects the school system to cover, then we've pretty much got $9.7 million in the bank. Sooooo, that means we've got two years to raise the other $2 million or so.

Here's the breakdown:

$2 million: The sale of the Solway land and Commissioner Tony Norman's BMX track. (Yeah, the deal hasn't officially closed, but whatever. The sale has been approved)

$900K: Young-Williams Animal Center. You see the county has an agreement with the city to jointly operate the animal center as 50-50 partners. The county – along with some private coin – built the building and the city has been paying its share over the years. Well, the city fulfilled its commitment toward the building this year, according to the county's czar of finances, John Troyer. (I think the city actually paid up early, but who's complaining? Money spends the same.)

$3.4 million: This scratch represents E-911 money the center owed to Knox County for financing the construction of its building. E-911 recently bid out what amounts to a re-finance, thus paying off its obligation to the county. The E-911 board has approved the mortgage – which has been bid, but not closed yet – but it should close this month.

$900K: This beauty comes from a legal settlement (Class action, SEC v. JP Morgan). Click right smack here for the details. Or, if you want the easy to understand version, then here it is: Say your college roommate stole $20 from you a few decades ago, then felt bad about it and decided – out of the blue – to give it back to you. Well, you didn't really miss it because you didn't know about it, but it sure is nice to have. Except think about it actually being $900,000. So, really this is money we shouldn't have lost in the first place, but whatever. At this point it might as well be free money.

$2.5 million: The county issues bonds on behalf of the school board, which actually affects the school system's debt service. This is how the two sides were going to renovate Carter anyway.

There you have it. If the school board doesn't want the coin, then the mayor will use it to pay down the county's $1 billion debt (that includes the interest), which is pretty much a drop in the ocean.

Burchett on land sale: hero or goat?

Knox County is on its way out of the mulch business, now that county Mayor Tim Burchett sold the Solway plant.

So, is he a hero or a goat?

(Damn, I just can’t resist that quote. County Property Assessor Phil Ballard used it the other day, I blogged about it, and , yeah, I like Phil, but that quote? Hahahahaha. That was a good one. But I digress.)

Anyhoo, where was I? Oh yeah, earlier today, Natural Resources Recovery of Tennessee was the high bidder ($2 million in scratch) to buy the 160-acre Solway plant.

And people reacted.

Some loved the deal; some used it to attack the mayor.

Interestingly, I talked to a number of Burchett supporters who didn’t like it, some opponents who did, and vice versa and all that.

In other words, it was a polarizing move.

Some thought (and rightly so) that the economy wasn’t right to sell the land. But, they also felt that the county – besides the bad timing – didn’t get enough for what it put into it. They didn’t, however, mention NRRT and some of the controversies that have surrounded the company in the past.

The other school of thought is that the mayor did the right thing. And in fact – because he got $800,000 more than the land was appraised – he REALLY did the right thing.

Here’s the deal:

The county, including the initial land purchase, has spent $4 million on the property during the past 12 years. That includes the upkeep, improvements, fixing sinkholes, whatever, that ran about $245,000 a year. The county received, on average, about $72,000 a year under the contract it had with NRRT.

So, it’s easy to see why folks don’t think it was a great move. But, as the county’s financial minister – John Troyer – pointed out: That IS one heck of a reason to get rid of the property!

(On a side note, the county commission awhile back debated whether the property could be used for anything other than a recycling facility and felt it couldn’t. But that’s a different argument.)

Putting the property back on the tax roll at this point means about an extra $18,880 in coin that heads to the county coffers. That’s not a lot when you compare it to the overall budget, which is somewhere just south of a zillion dollars.

But the plan is to use the money from the sale to buy the Carter community a new elementary school (this is also a different argument about whether it should be used for that), which will run close to $14 million. So, the top bid – that $2 million? – that is a lot if you want to purchase a new school.

So. Hero? Goat? Or just another dumb blog post?

(Heh. I know the answer to this one.)

Proposed budget amendments

The county commission tomorrow at 3 p.m. inside the Deathstar will vote on county Mayor Tim Burchett's proposed budget.

There's been a lot of talk about this one, but there should never have been any surprises. Burchett said he was going to cut the heck out of a lot of things when he campaigned. And cut he did.

This morning the mayor and the county's Financial Minister, John Troyer, were on the radio talking about the budget. A few minutes later, Commissioner Amy Broyles and The Man with the Badge, Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones got on to talk about some of Broyles proposed changes that would give employees raises – something they haven't had in four or so years.

In the meantime, there's a number of other proposed budget amendments that commissioners have thrown around, not the least of which is Mike Brown's idea – I don't think anyone has talked about this one yet – that would give employees the summer off.

This morning, the fine folks at the county commission office/department, sent me over the “2nd Revision” proposed budget amendments. It was dated last Thursday (June 9).

So, in case you're not keeping up, here's a look at the proposals:

Chairman Mike Hammond: Reinstate each commissioner's $3,000 slush fund, I mean discretionary fund. But, they won't get to spend this coin at will. Items must be placed on the agenda for commissioners to vote. They also must be put on the commission website. And each request must define how the money will be used.

Commissioner Sam McKenzie: Add $138,000 to the Beck Cultural Center; reinstate $50,0000 to KAT Seniors Ride Free Program; reinstate $66,000 to the slush fund; add $25,000 back to commissioner's travel to reinstate the $300 a month in coin they used to get until the mayor cut it and suggested they fill out mileage reimbursement forms. He also wants to cut $364,000 in additional money to the engineering department that was supposed to pave roads – none of which will be in his district, since it's city-inclusive. And, he wants to suspend the $2.8 million Outlet Drive project. He says the net savings will be $85,000.

Vice Chairman Brad Anders: Eliminate the Great Schools Partnership Budget ($2.6 million) to use for a 2 percent employee pay increase. He also wants to reinstate the commission travel allowance.

Commissioner Amy Broyles: She wants to add a 3 percent step increase for county workers, increase the Ijams budget, revisit the Legacy Parks budget, revisit employee layoffs; eliminate HOPE Resource Center budget and reinstate $75,000 to the KAT program. Broyles' plan would take about $3.5 million from the additional $5 million the mayor's budget proposes to pay down the debt.

Commissioner Mike Brown: He wants to cut payroll expense by letting workers leave at 2:30 p.m. and/or by letting them take off for the summer. (There are so many things wrong with this plan if you're a county worker, I couldn't even begin to describe them. If you're a resident, then be happy because it would actually save a whole lot more money than Brown anticipates, since the employees won't be getting insurance, either. Ever.) He also wants to add a 2 percent increase for county workers by taking money out of the rainy day fund.

Mayor: Do as I say, not as I do

Apparently, the administration – even in the face of proposed layoffs – can hire (or sign off on) any new employees. And it has.

You know, a few folks in risk management. Maybe a guy who knows the chief of staff for a nice Community Outreach manager position. Some people over in the engineering department.

But, it didn’t want to sign off on some pay raises for three workers in the Retirement and Pension Board (department). You see, awhile back, the board – which doesn’t answer to the administration by the way – agreed to let Executive Director Kim Bennett hire a new employee.

Instead, she gave three current workers more responsibilities and raises – including “one sizeable raise.”

But, the pay-bumps were under what it would have cost to hire a new worker. And, she is still going to come under her overall budget for this year.

However, the county's finance director (and mayor's representative on the pension board) John Troyer – apparently at the mayor’s orders – told the board this morning that sBennett probably shouldn’t give the salary increases. He said other “regular employees” haven’t received raises in years and with layoffs pending it wouldn’t send a good message to the rest of the workforce.

“I’m not trying to challenge the authority of this but (rather) the wisdom of the move at this time,” said Troyer, more than likely realizing the mayor had just thrown him under the bus on this one.

The good doctor and Commissioner Richard Briggs, also a pension board member, pointed out that “there’s a difference between a pay raise and a promotion.”

In a 8-1 vote the board agreed, signing off on the promotions and salary increases.
Troyer was the dissenting vote.

This probably would have been a good time for county Mayor Tim Burchett to not miss a meeting for a board on which he serves. He says that Troyer is his stand-in for him on the pension board because because Troyer “understands finances better than anyone I know.”

That might be true.

But this wasn’t a case of understanding finances.

And Burchett argues better than Troyer.