Emery's 5 & 10 store gets first 'cash mob'

Ron Emery, owner of Emery’s 5 & 10 at Chapman Highway and Moody, should benefit from county's first 'cash mob'

To the surprise of no one, the first location to receive a visit from the “Knox Cash Mob” is Emery's 5 & 10 on Chapman Highway.

This is according to the latest Big “Michael Grider” Sexy spin release which touts the announcement as “after more than a week of anticipation . . . .”

Burchett is urging residents to show their support by spending a few dollars at a yet-to-be named business via a cash mob, a concept that encourages people to show up at the same time at a small business and attack it with commerce.

The idea, according to county Mayor Tim Burchett, is to hold these so-called cash mobs at various small businesses all over the county, with the first few in South Knoxville, which the rest of the city generally treats like an ugly stepchild. Burchett was inspired to organize a cash mob to help boost sales after seeing a news report of a successful one held at a hardware store in Ohio.

Business has been slow for some south side operations ever since construction started on the Henley Street Bridge.

According to Grider's big spin:

“Emery’s is a local institution, and this business represents so much of what is good about our local entrepreneurs,” Burchett said. “I hope everyone will come to South Knoxville tomorrow and spend $5 or $10 at Emery’s, or any other South Knoxville business.”

Cash mob participants are asked to visit the store sometime between 5 and 7 p.m.

Emery’s 5 & 10 opened in 1927 and is a third-generation business. According to the store’s website, it is the oldest family-owned 5 & 10 store in the United States. Owner Ron Emery is a former U.S. Marine. He was wounded in Vietnam and received the Purple Heart. His father also served in U.S. Military and was a bomber pilot during World War II.

County to merge HR, risk management

Next Monday – with Knox County HR Director Frances Fogerson retiring – the county will combine its human resource and risk management departments. Deputy Veteran Services Officer Colonel Richard Julian will take over as HR manager and risk management director Mark Jones will oversee the whole shebang.

According to a county spin release sent out by the woefully underpaid Big “Michael Sexy” Grider (if you compare his coin to that of his counterparts in the city):

Jones has nearly 17 years of management experiences in Knox County alone, and he holds degrees in law, business and public health. His qualifications make him uniquely suited to head a combined HR-Risk Management department.

Col. Julian retired from the U.S. Military in 1998 after serving more than 30 years as a human resource professional, first as a Military Personnel Specialist. He later spent 17 years as a Military Personnel Officer and Human Resource Director with the 134th Air Refueling Wing.

Come back later for an interview with Fogerson. We'll run part of it in tomorrow's News Sentinel, but I'll post all of it here. It's a good read.

County worker salaries database updated

So, ah, if you're interested in knowing just how much coin Knox County employees make, you can click right smack here for our new updated database.

It's put together every year or so by KNS editor Steve Ahillen who uses records supplied to him by the county. The new numbers also reflect the 3 percent raises county employees received, beginning Jan. 1.

County refinances bonds, saves some coin

In an effort to prove that he really does earn his paycheck and outdoes his colleagues on the city side of the Deathstar, Big “Michael Grider” Sexy this afternoon issued what might be his fifth spin release in as many days. (Or it might not be.)

According to the release, the county will save $1.43 million in interest payments during the next two years after refinancing some bonds this week. The savings beat expectations by more than $400,000.

Half the savings is supposed to benefit Knox County Schools, the spin job states.

I assume that's a message to the school administration, which is more than likely going to ask the county for millions more in folding paper this year.

Attorneys show up to endorse Jarret

OK, here's the deal: If you're a candidate in an upcoming Knox County political race, feel free to send me your spin release and I'll post it.

So far, only county Law Director Joe Jarret has taken me up on the offer. I'm sure there will be more. Joe takes on former county Commissioner Richard "Bud" Armstrong. This is going to be a good race.

Anyhoo, I know there's a good lawyer joke in here somewhere - but more than 200 local attorneys have officially endorsed Jarret. You can read the release and check out the names by clicking right smack here.

Please note that I see a lot of folks on the KNS message board (man, there are some numbskull comments that get posted over there) say the paper has already endorsed Jarret. I have no opinion in the election. As always, I'll be voting for myself.

HR director, law director and those files

Apparently local TV has just wet itself over the county's HR director downloading her personal - not personnel - files. (Actually, she didn't even download them.) I'm not going to link it. I'm sure they'll update soon. Anyhoo, here's the real story so far:

Knox County Law Director Joe Jarret today took a disc full of information that county Human Resources Director Frances Fogerson had asked to be downloaded from her personal files.

Fogerson, who has served as the HR director for almost a decade and who will retire Friday, told the News Sentinel today that the disc contained “dozens of files” but they were all “frivolous.”

“There are some recipes on there and a set of menus from when we had a weight loss challenge,” she said.

Fogerson said that on Tuesday she asked county IT Director Dick Moran about what she should do with some of her personal files. Fogerson said she had some instructions that she put together for her successors and wanted to keep the information handy in case they needed help once she left.

Moran, she said, downloaded the files for her.

Jarret said Moran told him about the disc, so later Tuesday the law director called Fogerson to let her know that he needed the disc back.

“I need to see what’s on there,” he said. “(If she’s telling the truth), then it’s innocuous. But I want to make sure there is no sensitive information on there, or information that is not public record. When I called her, she immediately agreed to return the disc. She didn’t put up a fight. She said ‘OK,’ and I’ve got it now.”

Jarret said he would look over the information today.

Fogerson, whose last day is Friday, said no personnel files were on the disc.

“The way personnel files are stored, I couldn’t remove them anyway,” she said, adding that she didn’t do anything wrong.

MP's 'mean one' says KTSC is full of it

Cari “Mean” Gervin over at da Pulse is calling out the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corp., saying it took credit for events that the non-profit had nothing to do with, like the Big Ears Festival and the Furrow Auction Company’s Great Smokey Auction, among others.

Now why doesn't that surprise me? 'Course, you can probably find bogus claims made my these types of groups throughout the state. Not that they're bogus, you know. Heh.

Anyhoo, the mean one writes:

There is no question that KTSC has brought events to town, and there is no question that those events have had an economic impact. However, there are questions over whether all the events that KTSC claims as examples of its success at driving economic impact are ones that it actually had anything to do with. Despite just picking a sampling of events at random from KTSC’s list, we found a number of organizers who say they had no assistance at all from KTSC.

Click right smack here for the story.

Knox County bond rating toes the line

(Earlier, I posted some more about the KTSC mess.)

In the latest spin job released by Big “Michael Grider” Sexy, the administration says Standard & Poor has recently affirmed the county's AA+ bond rating. Click right smack here for the deep spin.

County Mayor Tim Burchett in a quote no doubt written by his chief of staff, Potentate Rice, says: “S&P offered proof of the success of our efforts when they affirmed our AA+/stable long-term bond rating. We are doing the right things: reducing the amount of money government spends, increasing efficiencies, paying down our debt and shrinking the size of local government in general.”

Don't get me wrong, a strong bond rating is a good thing. But, the county earned it because of our low tax rate. Not because of “increasing efficiencies” or “shrinking . . . local government.” In fact, look at the past administration. I think it's safe to say that efficiencies weren't increased and government wasn't shrunk. Yet, that's when the bond rating got to where it is now.

But, fist-bumps to everyone, I suppose. It could have been lowered.

Still, local government as always is mostly ridiculous. The glass is half full. And all that.

UPDATE: Big Sexy, or BS for short, sent me a quote from S&P's report: “We consider Knox County's financial position very strong due to tight expenditure controls and conservative revenue estimates.” He also sent me the original report, which is right smack here.

Inside baseball on the KTSC mess

So, at this point is there anything left to say about the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corp. mess that hasn’t already been reported in the paper, on TV and over at the blogs? Ha ha. Of course there is.

I wrote this entry on Sunday while watching the Stupor Bowl and the suck commercials that accompanied the game. But then I got caught up and didn't get a chance to post it.

Wow, rambling already and only a few sentences in. OK, I suppose there are a few things worth mentioning that haven’t been touched on yet. Note, that most of this is inside baseball.

First off, I posted a few days back about the KTSC hiring local spin team Moxley Carmichael. I called KTSC a public relations group. Cynthia over at the real PR firm pointed out that they’re actually a “marketing” group. At this point I don’t think it really matters. But, in the interest of fair play . . .

Anyhoo, Moxley Carmichael is charging KTSC $200 and hour. That’s a discount from the usual $250 an hour. Cynthia told me that in 10 years I’ll probably be in public relations myself. After seeing those numbers I don’t disagree.

But, first I want a job running KTSC. Heh.

(Oh yeah, for disclosure’s sake, The Knoxville News Sentinel has Moxley Carmichael on retainer. Or under contract. Or however all that works. Regardless, the company handles spin for us.)

Next up: Ward Phillips.

Ward is the attorney KTSC hired when the media started looking into how the non-profit spends money. I’m super impressed with Ward. You know, typically when a group hires an attorney, the lawyer represents the members of that group. Reality check: The attorney is supposed to represent the operation as a whole – not just the director, the chairman, the whoever.

Ward hasn’t pulled any punches in the last week or so. He – it appears at least – is acting in the best interest of KTSC and not one individual. Case in point: He pretty much said CEO Gloria Ray’s contract was illegal. (Heck, he practically begged the board to fire her during last Friday’s meeting.) And, he also noted that board members probably violated a few rules.

It’s always a relief to see an attorney do what they’re supposed to do. Cheers to him.

(I hope all this makes sense.)

Moving on . . . .

Ray’s future: Well, she’s a local icon and institution, and despite what you might think about her, no one at this point has proved that she’s broken the law. Yeah, she probably did draft her own contract and fax it down to Florida to board chairman David Duncan to sign (all this under the radar of the other members of the executive committee), but . . . well, whatever. Unless, it's proven he got kickbacks from this – and I mean proven – then . . . .

Maybe if the board members were actually paying attention. But, again, whatever.

And no, I don’t buy the argument that Ward made (I believe it was him) about how they’re all volunteers, so they can’t be expected to know everything. You know what? Quit then. Get off the board. I mean, come on. Don’t you want to know what your boss makes? And if given the chance, wouldn’t you take a peek? They should have looked. They didn't. End of discussion.

Sooooo, The board says Gloria owes KTSC $96K in folding paper. If it lets her go without cause, then it owes her about $55K in coin and some incidentals, like expenses, travel, whatever. I’m sure all of it will add up to be a lot. Like a lot, lot.

I’m guessing – that because of the work Gloria has done in the past – the board calls it a wash and lets her go “without cause,” and wipes the slate (any payments) clean. Now, whether she’ll stay on as a consultant is another story. Personally, she probably should, at least for a year to head up a transition. Of course that would mean paying her $150K. Unless that can be worked out.

One a side note, firing Gloria with cause might not be the smartest thing. If KTSC really wants to take the focus off the recent problems and get on with doing whatever it’s supposed to do, then it needs to work out something. If it doesn’t, Gloria will take them to court. I guarantee it. She didn’t get to where she is by lying down and taking it.

(On a side note, we’ve reported that Gloria makes more than many of her counterparts in other major Tennessee cities, but did you know she also make more than Susan Walker, the state commissioner of tourist development? Yup. Walker makes $152,400 per year. Thanks to ass-kicking KNS state reporter Tom Humphrey for pointing that out to me.)

OK, let’s get to some good stuff.

County Mayor Tim Burchett. A lot of folks think he and the good Emperor, Dean Rice, were behind this mess, that they were the two trying to get out the information to the media, since Burchett wants to sell the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Nope. (I’ve taken my shots at both of them, but neither was behind this.) Don’t get me wrong, they’re not upset about what’s going on and I imagine there was some fist-bumping going on, but they weren’t behind the information drive.

You see, Burchett announced a long time ago that he wanted to sell the Hall of Fame. That was no secret. And if he knew about Gloria’s salary at that time, then it would have gone public then. It didn’t Also, Burchett wants KTSC – if the hall of fame is put on the market – to buy it and run the operation. Heck, I’m pretty sure that when the purchasing department got done with the bid it would have been written in such a way that KTSC would be the only logical buyer. And really, at this point they might be. So, the mayor doesn’t need this outrage. And yes, I know, that sounds funny. Because sometimes I think Burchett wakes up in the morning, looking for controversy.

With that said Burchett’s call for Gloria’s resignation on Thursday was straight spontaneity. Here’s what happened. As KTSC announced that David Duncan had resigned the previous evening, KNS reporter Josh Flory received some records that he had asked for wile back. He wrote the story and, using the documents, was the first to report the retention bonuses Gloria is/was set to receive. Burchett read the story Thursday morning and was none too happy. The same morning, WBIR, which also received the records, showed them to the county mayor.

And that was it.

Ticked off about the situation – and because he had asked Gloria about her total compensation weeks prior and wasn't told about these incentive bonuses - Burchett immediately called for her resignation.

No one on the city’s side of the Deathstar had a clue about this. So, when they heard that Burchett made the announcement, some on that side – I won’t say who – at first resisted. There was also talk about forming a committee to look into the KTSC issue. (Like this county/city needs another committee.) But, the writing was on the wall.

Then they opted for a spin conference. My understanding is that Burchett's people reached out to the Rogero camp and asked if they wanted to hold a joint press conference. At least one of Madeline's top adviser's was on board, but Madeline wanted to go solo. So, last Thursday’s spin conference was Madeline’s first as mayor.

I wasn’t there, but I heard Madeline did a pretty good job and made it clear that she wasn’t standing for Gloria to make some $600K in coin in her final year of her contract. (Now, if the city's mayor will just look at her own spin team, which makes more than a combined $200k salaries while the county's spin doctor makes about $54,000 . . . but I digress.)

So, who did leak the information (yeah, I know it was public but no one bothered to look) that got the media looking into this whole mess? Well, there could be some truth to the email that the KTSC Chairman David Duncan sent and which I wrote about (click right smack here for that bad boy). Or maybe not.

David Duncan – no relation to Trustee John Duncan III or his family – blames former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, Liza Zenni, executive director of the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville, and Caesar Stair, a local attorney who serves on the alliance board.

Well, Victor certainly wrote about the issue – although he didn’t name names – before anyone else. And yes that includes WBIR, which continues to erroneously note that it reported about Gloria’s salary first (more on that later). I don’t know anything about Caesar’s role. I do know that he knows Liza. And I know that Liza and Victor don’t hang out.

But, here’s what else I know.

Back around November, Gloria and Liza got into a spat about the 5 percent of hotel/motel tax that is typically allocated to the smaller non-profits (think Beck Center, Ramsey House, symphony, blah, blah. Blah).

Some members of the Arts Alliance (Liza’s group) felt Gloria wanted the money to run the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame – if KTSC ever bought it. (Gloria denies her organization needed this money.)

There was plenty of internal bickering and the Arts Alliance board told Liza to step down from the KTSC board (yes, she was on both boards). The arts folks felt it was a conflict. They also saw the potential for a feud. So, did Liza leak the information out of spite?

Well, a lot of people think so. I will say that she did not give me the information. I heard about this elsewhere, and at this point I don't remember who first told me.

And: Does it really freakin’ matter who leaked what? No, it doesn’t!

(Also, the feud is now moot as county Mayor Tim Burchett decided late last year that he was going to make organizations bid on that 5 percent. They'll now have to submit “requests for information” and then a team will figure out who gets the money. At this point, the Arts Alliance has put together a group and will go after the money. KTSC isn't expected to.)

Now, let’s get down to who first broke this story. I get kind of annoyed with the whole “you heard it here first” or “as we first reported” or whatever. Hey, I get it. The media – KNS included – likes to toot its horn. Fine. Just make sure you know what you’re talking about.

So, I know a lot of people aren’t going to like this and I’ll probably catch some heat for it. But I got news for you: I don't care.

Rogue blogger Brian Hornback was actually the first to write about Gloria's salary with any detail and name names. You can find if by clicking right smack here.

Again, that’s also probably going to tick off some people over at the local TV channel that’s been bragging about this, but . . . whatever.

Finally, what does the future hold?

I don’t know. I think more crap will come out about the contracts and how they were hammered out in the middle of the night. Or not. Maybe the new executive committee will keep a better eye on things.

I hope.

Anyway, I’m out.

KTSC hires spin team, board chair quits

OK, so let me get this straight. The Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation has hired Moxley Carmichael, a PR firm. In other words, tax payer money is now paying a company whose business is public relations to hire a public relations business????

This makes as much sense as the News Sentinel, which puts out an advertisement every day, paying a PR firm. Oh wait, crap, we already do that.

Anyhoo, Cynthia Moxley sent the media a note, letting us know that KTSC board chairman David Duncan resigned (more on that in a moment). She said: Your next question will be, "Where are the documents?"

No, actually (and I emailed this to her), my next question was: How much are they paying you?

Seriously.

OK, with that said, here's some excerpts from the KTSC spin release:

David Duncan has resigned as chair of the board of KTSC. “I have been very concerned over the past few weeks about how we can be responsive to the concerns that have been raised and to restore the reputation of KTSC as an organization and confidence in its leadership,” Duncan said in a letter of resignation. “I believe that KTSC would be better served by different leadership of the board.”

Susan Brown, the vice chair of the board, is now the interim chair, in accordance with the organization’s by-laws.

“The KTSC has received dozens of requests for information and documents regarding this issue over the past few weeks and we have been trying to respond to those requests with sensitivity to both the legalities and certain privacy issues,” Brown said. “Upon the advice of legal counsel, we have determined that all the documents are, in fact, public records. Rather than release the documents in a piecemeal fashion, we have decided it is more efficient to release them all at one time to anyone who has asked for them.”

The board also plans to meet Friday to discuss “this and related matters.

Voting locations, sample ballot released

The county's top election head honcho Cliff Rodgers just released a list of the early voting locations and the schedule for the March 6 elections. You can click right smack here for it.

He also shipped over a sample ballot for the election. Click right smack here for it.

And, for a closer look at some of the county candidates' campaign disclosure forms, just scroll down the post just below this one.

Closer look at current candidates' finances

Here's a closer look at the campaign financial disclosure statements that cover July 1, 2010 to Jan. 15 for the three county races. (Well, two races, since Judge Steven Sword doesn't have an opponent.)

Note, that I just took a quick glance at these and I encourage you to do your own research by clicking right smack here for the complete reports. These quick hits, focus mostly on how much the candidates raised and whether other former or current elected folks chipped in. I also didn't include school board candidates because . . . well, we have a school reporter. Call her up and bug her for the information. Heh.

Presumably, whoever wins the March 6 Republican primary, wins the whole deal, barring a write-in candidate pulling off a miracle.

Soooooo, here ya go:

Criminal Court Judge Steven Sword: The good judge doesn't have any competition, but it didn't stop him from pulling in more than $18,000 during the six month reporting period. He also spent about $2,200 on T-shirts, printing, postage and a website. As expected, he received a a lot of support from local attorneys. In addition, current and former elected officials Foster Arnett (county clerk); Richard “Bud” Armstrong (county commission) and Marilyn Roddy (city council) each threw a couple hundred bucks his way.
Balance on hand: $16,062.01

Law Director Joe Jarret: Jarret might not be from around here, but he's getting plenty of support so far, collecting more than $13,700 during the filing period. He's also spent almost $4,000 during that same time period on advertising, a website, printing, postage and fees charged by Pay Pal (which is a crappy company that I hope one days goes out of business because it sucks, but I digress.) A great deal of Jarret's contributions come from the the legal field, including a few folks from the district attorney general, Knoxville office, but he's also received some support from insurance agents, professors, a fire inspector, a nurse and some people from his old stomping grounds in Florida, including a few Polk County commissioners. Elected officials Foster Arnett (county clerk) and Richard Briggs (county commissioner) also kicked in a few coins.
Balance on hand: $9,855.42
Total loans outstanding: $1,1452.84

Law Director candidate Richard “Bud” Armstrong: the former county commissioner is from around here, and he's starting to amass quite a pot of paper. During the filing period, Armstrong raised almost $30,000 and spent more than $13,300 on printing, advertisements, a golf tournament (hey, I didn't get invited to this!) and his Crown Plaza kick off fund raiser. Like Jarret, Armstrong's supporters aren't pigeon holed to just attorneys. They also include folks from the schools, real estate, banks and an auto parts business. Former county Mayor Mike Ragsdale and his chief of staff and former county Commissioner Mike Arms also kicked in, as did former Law Director Richard Beeler. Additionally, county Commissioner Jeff Ownby, school board member Mike McMillian, state Rep. Frank Nicely, former Commissioner Jack Huddleston, state Rep. Harry Brooks chipped in, as did former Commissioner Diane Jordan and the Committee to Elect Ivan Harmon, and the Committee to Elect Steve Hall.
Balance on hand: $16,879.95
Total loans outstanding (transfer from county commission campaign): $17.829.03

Property Assessor Phil Ballard: The former county commissioner and incumbent assessor raised $23,100 this filing period and spent more than $24,700 on advertisements and donations to a number of organizations including the Boys and Girls Club and the Alzheimer's Association. He got a little bit of coin from the Craig Leuthold campaign, as well as some scratch from bankers, and members of his own office and the county Trustee's Office. (I'd include more but he didn't note the occupations for his contributors.)
Balance on hand: $52,693.40
Total outstanding loans: $5,850

Property Assessor candidate John Whitehead: Whitehead, the former property assessor who also worked in the office for about 30 years, raised raised almost $14,600 this filing period and spent more than $15,900 on printing, advertisements and donations to a number of political and charitable organizations. Most of Whitehead's supporters were either retired, in the real estate business or didn't list an occupation. He did receive some scratch from former Law Director John Ownings.
Balance on hand: $27,104.63