Wheeler lawsuit seeks Circuit Court job back, goes after Quist-Shanks

Wheeler

Two days before Knox County Circuit Court Clerk Cathy Shanks terminated her chief deputy, she sent him a text message, telling him to take some time off because "obviously you need the rest," according to court records.

She then fired him on Friday.

Now, Tim Wheeler, who served as Shanks' second-in-command, has filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court, seeking to keep his job.

In addition, he sent a letter of appeal on Wednesday to Shanks and the county's human resource director, Mark Jones.

Wheeler has asked the court to determine whether he is a county employee or an employee of Shanks, who is an elected official. Shanks oversees a fee office paid for by fines, fees and penalties rather than a traditional county department that is funded with taxpayer dollars.

As a county employee, he would have the right to appeal under the county's personnel ordinance.

Officials in the office have said little about why Shanks fired Wheeler, who has worked for the department since December 2001.

His notice of termination lists "office reorganization" as the reason he was let go.

Circuit Court officials on Wednesday referred questions to the county's law department, which doesn't comment about ongoing litigation.

Wheeler earned almost $82,000 annually.

Another Knox Co. worker sues PBA

I'm seriously surprised that there haven't been more of these. Heh.

Another Knox County worker in the Old Courthouse downtown has sued the Public Building Authority, alleging mold in the building is causing health problems.

Deborah Scribner, an appraiser who works for the Property Assessor's Office, seeks in Knox County Circuit Court a to-be-determined amount of money, wants PBA to be required to fix a potential mold problem or move her to another county-owned building, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Court records state Scribner has worked in the Old Courthouse for two years and "at some point . . . began to experience unexplained breathing problems, fatigue and severe headaches."

Scribner has worked in the building's basement, according to the lawsuit.

Her lawsuit is similar to one filed in February by Knox County Clerk Foster Arnett Jr. The two are using the same attorney, Darren Berg, to represent them.

LAWSUIT: County employees allege mold problem in Old Courthouse

TVA to give city $7.1 million for 'extreme energy makeovers' funding

TVA has selected Knoxville as one of two communities in the Tennessee Valley to receive TVA Extreme Energy Makeovers funding, which means the TVA will invest $7.12 million to improve the energy efficiency of lower-income homes in Knoxville.

The Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee (CAC) led an application for this funding in partnership with the City of Knoxville and Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB). The Project Team also includes the Alliance to Save Energy, a national nonprofit that promotes energy efficiency through public policy, education and outreach.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for Knoxville," said Mayor Madeline Rogero. "The award speaks to the leadership and strength of our partners and the momentum we have built in Knoxville to improve energy efficiency."

As a result of this funding, the CAC will launch the Knoxville Extreme Energy Makeover program, which will offer energy efficiency retrofit services to over 600 local homes between Summer 2015 and Fall 2017. This new program will build on the CAC's existing weatherization programs that provide energy efficiency upgrades to income-eligible families.

"Many families in Knoxville struggle with utility costs because their homes are not well insulated or sealed from outside air," said CAC Executive Director Barbara Kelly. "This award provides an unprecedented amount of funding to provide energy upgrades that will help hundreds of our community's most vulnerable citizens control their utility bills."

The Project Team applied for this funding to support the Smarter Cities Partnership, a coalition of more than 20 community organizations seeking to improve the quality, comfort and affordability of center-city homes through energy efficiency. The Smarter Cities Partnership was formed in response to Knoxville's participation in the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant program, which offered $400,000 in technical assistance to evaluate how to connect energy efficiency services with utility bill assistance and other programs serving lower-income populations.

"IBM specifically recommended pursuing this funding opportunity in order to expand local resources for energy efficiency and weatherization," said Mayor Rogero. "The Knoxville Extreme Energy Makeover program will advance the vision and goals of the Smarter Cities Partnership and significantly boost local efforts to improve the efficiency of our aging housing infrastructure."

The Extreme Energy Makeover award comes amidst several recent funding announcements to support the Smarter Cities Partnership's efforts to promote and increase resources for Knoxville families that haven't been reached by existing efficiency programs.

In October of last year, the Partnership was awarded a $60,000 Partners for Places grant from the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, United Way of Greater Knoxville, and East Tennessee Foundation. That grant specifically supports efforts related to education, community engagement and energy efficiency.

Mayor Rogero unveils '15-16 budget

Rogero

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero on Wednesday unveiled her proposed budget, a spending plan that she says benefits all parts of the city, including the continued creation of a "thriving business sector," establishment of "strong, safe and connected" neighborhoods, and the continued focus on "an energized downtown."

"This is a practical, responsible, strategic budget that focuses on real needs in our city, provides the reliable public services that you expect and responsibly addresses infrastructure replacement and maintenance," Rogero said during her presentation at Lakeshore Park in West Knoxville in front of hundreds of local leaders and members of the community.

She added: "It is also aspirational in that it proposes quality of life enhancements and drives quality redevelopment and private investment to make Knoxville an even greater city."

FULL TRANSCRIPT: Mayor Roger gives 'State of the City' address

The proposed budget focuses on a $206.4 million general fund, which covers much of the day-to-day operations. That's up about $5.9 million from the current general fund.

Rogero, who is up for re-election this year but faces no announced challenger so far, is not proposing a tax increase.

Last year, she raised the property tax rate by 34 cents per every $100 of assessed value, in part, to close a $10 million pension gap.

Rest of the story RIGHT HERE.

PBA, Knox County want circuit court to toss clerk's 'mold' lawsuit

Clerk Foster Arnett Jr

The Public Building Authority and Knox County have asked a judge to toss a lawsuit filed by Knox County Clerk Foster Arnett Jr. in which he alleges that "toxic mold spores" in the downtown Old Courthouse where he works have caused his health to deteriorate.

In part, Morris Kizer, who is representing the county and PBA, said Arnett not only lacks the authority to sue the county in his "official capacity" as the clerk, but that "Knox County cannot sue Knox County," according to records filed late Monday in Knox County Circuit Court.

Kizer noted that state law does not grant Arnett – if he's acting in his capacity as clerk – the "right, power or authority to retain counsel to file such a suit."

Response: Motion to Dismiss

Earlier this year, Arnett hired his own attorney, Darren Berg, to represent him in his lawsuit.

Kizer, in court documents, also noted that state law considers public building authorities, such as the one in Knox County, to be "governmental entities."

That means, according to case law, the county is essentially suing itself – something it cannot legally do, Kizer stated.

"The plaintiff has no implied power, in his official capacity as Knox County Clerk, to bring an action against an agency of Knox County. Accordingly, the action must be dismissed," Kizer wrote.

Rest of story RIGHT HERE.

Wheeler out as Circuit Court deputy; lodges complaints about Shanks

Wheeler

Knox County Circuit Court Clerk Cathy Shanks has terminated her chief deputy as of Friday afternoon.

Officials in the office said little about why she fired Tim Wheeler, who has worked for the department since December 2001.

"The clerk is making some changes in the office and this is one of them," said Randy Kenner, the department's managing clerk.

As chief deputy, Wheeler technically operated as Shanks' second-in-command. He earned almost $82,000 annually.

Responding to his termination, Wheeler on Friday night said he'd enjoyed his job, which he thought he did "extremely well," and was disappointed to be losing it.

He said Shanks had recently been missing work. He said he told her judges and others in the court system had been seeking his help in her absence.

"I told her about these requests because I was truly concerned about the damage to the office and to the Clerk's reputation from her neglecting her duties. I felt it was my job to make sure the office continued to run in her absence," his letter states.

He added that while he was away on a leave of absence caring for his dying father that Shanks began acting erratically, resulting in the departures of several employees. According to Wheeler, she filled the vacancies with friends and acquaintances who weren't qualified for their jobs.

Kenner said Shanks, whose office also oversees Juvenile Court, has no plans to fill the position at this point.

Wheeler was a Knoxville City Council candidate in 2003

Hard time goes high tech at Knox County Jail; contracts for bid

The Knox County Detention Facility holds more than 1,000 inmates. The average stay for most is 12 to 14 days. Those couple of weeks of hard time behind bars are now high-tech.

Gone are the old Hollywood images of the county jail that serves bread and water while only allowing inmates to make one phone call. The Knox County jail on Maloneyville Road features electronic touch-screen kiosks where inmates can video conference with family, order food, schedule haircuts, electronically manage their money, and handle medical services.

While buying snacks, having visitors, and receiving medicine is nothing new to jails, the high-tech methods of delivering these services are modern. The electronics are designed to reduce paperwork, keep better track of prisoners, and maintain up-to-date records.

The county has been able to implement these technological upgrades by contracting with private vendors.

"It has really brought the sheriff's office from manual to electronic over the last few years. And we've done that through contracting with no cost to the taxpayers," said Rodney Bivens, a Knox County Sheriff's Office assistant chief deputy who is over corrections and personnel for the department.

"Prior to these contracts... everything was done on paper forms and kept in files somewhere."

Now some major contracts are about to be up for grabs and the county aims to negotiate better bargains for the services behind bars. Bivens said he hopes the competitive bidding process will allow the jail to save taxpayers some money, but said it could also help generate more revenue.

"These are some huge contracts," said Bivens. "One contract is for the communications system we use for phone calls, video visitation, and electronic banking. Another contract is for the pharmacy and our electronic medical system. Then we want to put a request for bids on a third contract for our commissary."

You can read the rest of the story RIGHT HERE. The link also includes the two TV stories (yes, they're different!) that ran at 6 and 11 yesterday.

Rodgers reappointed to serve as administrator of Knox Co. elections

Cliff Rodgers (Photo: Knox County)

The Knox County Election Commission on Thursday unanimously reappointed Cliff Rodgers to serve another two years as the administrator of elections.

“I’m pleased to continue this opportunity to serve the citizens of Knox County, and I’m very proud of what we’ve all accomplished during the last four years and confident we can continue to administer fair, open and honest elections,” Rodgers said. “I have a dedicated staff, and hundreds of hard working and diligent elections officials who help us ensure the integrity of the ballot box.”

The five-member commission also reappointed Chris Heagerty, a Republican, to serve as its chairman and Cassandra McGee Stuart, a Democrat, to serve as its secretary.

Rodgers, 61, first took over the office in April 2011, succeeding long-time administrator Greg Mackay, a Democrat, after officials ousted him over political differences.

Rodgers cited increased training for his crew as one of his top achievements during the past four years.

“We now have a pool of well-trained election officials and we will continue to have classes as we add people on,” he said.

Rodgers joked: “The other thing that stands out is that we really try to stay out of the newspapers. We don’t want to be in there for the wrong reasons and I don’t think we have been. We like to be in the newspaper explaining the process and let the candidates be on the front page. We like to stay it the background.”

Rodgers, who earns $121,564 annually, runs an office with a roughly $1.7 million budget.

This year the office will oversee two city elections and possibly one special election tied to state Rep. Ryan Haynes stepping down to serve as chairman for the state GOP. Rodgers said his office is working with the state to see if the special election can be held on the same day as one of the municipal ones.

Next year will feature the presidential and county elections.

Rodgers is a Knoxville native and long-time attorney whose past civil law practice focused primarily on state and federal litigation. During the mid-1980s through 2007, he served as a law clerk for the late Senior U.S. District Judge James Jarvis and Chief U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier.

Rogers received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law.

In addition to the appointments on Thursday, the commission also agreed to move Precinct No. 46 out of West Hills Elementary School and across the street to the Knoxville First Church of the Nazarene.

BOE members raise concerns about balanced school calendar survey

And . . .  here we go again. If people would quit screwing around there would be a whole lot more trust going on.

Instead, we get a monkey survey. Or whatever. And not even a complete one at that.

Folks, if you want your voice heard regarding the balanced school calendar, contact your school board member and don't participate in a rigged survey. Yeah, it's rigged. You can vote more than once. And plenty of people have.

On with the story:

A newly released Knox County Schools survey that seeks public input about a proposed balanced calendar has come under fire from a school board member.

They say the survey - RIGHT SMACK HERE - can be easily manipulated and taken over and over again by the same person.

In addition, they say, residents from outside the county, whose children don't attend the school system, can also take the survey.

Further, officials say the questionnaire fails to include a key option that board members championed this year: a longer fall break.

"It might have been beneficial if they sent a draft to the board members as well and asked for our input, recommendations, or any changes that the board may have wanted to see made before they sent it out across the county," said Board of Education member Patti Bounds.

School administrators didn't see a reason to put the other option on there.

"From my perspective that was never intended to be included in this survey as we are really trying to gauge interest in a balanced calendar model versus the traditional calendar," said Assistant Superintendent Elizabeth Alves. "Having said that, the school board could always consider having a full week of fall break using our traditional calendar."

Rest of the story RIGHT SMACK HERE.

New report: Little if any mold found in Old Knox County Courthouse

Old Courthouse

An independent air quality assessment found few problems with mold in the old courthouse building downtown and suggested that it was safe for human occupation.

The investigation, conducted in late March and requested by the Knox County Mayor's Office, comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed against the county and the Public Building Authority by Knox County Clerk Foster Arnett Jr., who says the building contains toxic mold that has hurt his health and forced him to do his work elsewhere.

PBA Executive Director Dale Smith said he asked Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett to have a third party assess the air quality throughout the building, which includes the clerk's office, some courtrooms and the elections administration. The county's purchasing office and its safety manager then hired Knoxville-based ES&H to take and analyze samples on March 24 in a number of rooms, including Arnett's office.

ANALYSIS: Air Quality Report

WBIR 10News and one of the area's top air quality assessors reviewed the 39-page report. The review indicated nothing particularly alarming about the results in the 19th-century era building.

"If I was an occupant, I would say that it was good, it was safe," said Mark Smith, director of the Environmental Health and Safety Unit for the University of Tennessee. "Unless I had some unusual health condition, I would say it would be safe for occupancy."

Foster Arnett Jr.

Smith, who oversees similar air quality tests for university facilities, said employees in the historic courthouse building are at "a far greater risk outdoors," and said the building's inside "didn't seem too bad."

"There were signs of moisture infiltration either in the past or the present, and there were surfaces that were damp, but the actual airborne levels of mold were low, which is good, and even the indicator organisms . . . those were all pretty good," he added.

He said the air samples the company tested "were good," but that the report noted some "humidity-moisture problems" that could eventually lead to mold problems.

But, he said "there was no visible colonized mold and the lift tape (a way inspectors test for mold) came back zero, which is good."

"Nothing stuck out," he said.

Rest of the story RIGHT HERE.

Some on BOE, law director question McIntyre's Broad grant acceptance

Knox County taxpayers are footing the bill for a Knox County Schools hire the county attorney says was conducted improperly.

Documents WBIR obtained show superintendent Jim McIntyre signed the grant agreement allowing for this hire, when County Law Director Richard "Bud" Armstrong believes McIntyre has no authority to do so.

The grant agreement is between Knox County Schools and the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, which runs the Broad Academy.

That, essentially, is a training program for people with executive leadership experience aspiring to become school district superintendents and other leaders within large education systems.

McIntyre himself was a participant in the Broad Academy, and now, some KCS Board of Education members say, he has created a pipeline for other Broad fellows to come take high-paying jobs with the district.

PDF: Law Director's Memo

In September of last year, McIntyre signed a grant agreement with the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems. In it, the Broad Center agreed to give Knox County Schools a grant totaling up to $29,700, to be put toward the Broad fellow's -- or Broad resident's -- salary.

In exchange, the district would foot the rest of the fellow's salary, plus pay benefits on top of that.

The baseline salary for a Broad fellow, according to the Broad Academy in its grant agreement with KCS, is $90,000. The Broad grant would pay for up to $29,700 of that.

That means KCS - and therefore taxpayers - have to foot the bill for not only the difference ($90k - $29.7k = $60,300), but also for the cost of benefits.

The Knox County Finance Department, Armstrong said, generally uses a figure of 30 percent of an employee's salary to calculate the additional expense for benefits and taxes.

That would put the Broad fellow's position at a total of $117,000. The center is paying for nearly $29,700 of that, putting taxpayers on the hook for the remaining $87,300.

BOE member Amber Rountree said that's a dollar figure that, roughly, could support two teacher hires.

"Is it the best way for us to spend limited funds?" Rountree said to WBIR in a phone interview Saturday afternoon. "We need to be making wise decisions with what little funds we have."

Armstrong, however, believes the contract is unenforceable, since he says McIntyre has no authority to accept a grant, especially one that requires matching funds.

In a memo to board members this week, Armstrong said, "The superintendent, under statute, is given no authority to unilaterally accept grants and to sign grant contracts. Further, the statute requires a resolution by the BOE and notification to the County Commission."

But McIntyre says he was acting in accordance with Knox County Board of Education policy and that the document he signed is "a grant agreement, not a procurement contract."

In an email to WBIR, he wrote, "Through written School Board Policy, the Board of Education has delegated the acceptance of grants, in some circumstances, to the Superintendent. In accepting this grant, I acted in good faith and in accordance with my understanding of School Board policy."

You can read the rest of the story RIGHT HERE.

Attorneys clash over Knox Co. Schools superintendent evaluation, law

Jim McIntyre

So, if I had a boss who told me just how I was going to be evaluated, the first thing I'd do would NOT be to run off and get a lawyer to argue otherwise. But, I'm not a superintendent.

Last night's story:

Attorneys for the Knox County Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre are at odds over who calls the shots about how to conduct the evaluation for the school system's top leader.

The disagreement comes as a superintendent evaluation committee, which is comprised of BOE members, is meeting to develop a new process to evaluate McIntyre for the next school year.

When Patti Bounds was elected to the school board last year, she said she wanted to see the board implement a more rigorous and data-driven evaluation in order to more accurately measure the superintendent's progress.

"The best solution is to come up with a very fair and rigorous evaluation protocol for Dr. McIntyre and future superintendents that he would agree with and that he finds acceptable to him, and then everything's OK," Bounds said.

A clause in McIntyre's contract states the board "shall evaluate and assess" McIntyre's work once a year, looking at job performance, student achievement, and his relationships with staff, personnel, board members and the community. The evaluation is an annual process mandated by Tennessee law.

Bounds chairs the committee tasked with recommending improvements to the evaluation process, which met for the first time in January and the second time Wednesday. Its third meeting is in May, and Bounds said she hopes to have a revised evaluation process recommendation to board members by August.

McIntyre's contract also says the evaluation "shall be in writing" and in a form that "is mutually agreeable" between the board and the superintendent.

When that came to Bounds' attention, she wondered whether "mutually agreeable" means McIntyre can reject an evaluation process he doesn't like, so she consulted Richard "Bud" Armstrong, the board's attorney and county law director.

As detailed in a memorandum to Bounds earlier this month, Armstrong concluded the clause is illegal and makes McIntyre a "super-majority of one."

"The effect of this contract clause is to grant a power to the Superintendent to veto an evaluation plan developed and passed by the Board of Education," Armstrong opined. "The Superintendent has no such power granted to him by statute."

State law, he said, gives the school board "the sole authority to create and implement" the superintendent's job performance evaluation.

The rest of the story RIGHT SMACK HERE.