Burchett to host Friday luncheon

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett once again is hosting lunch – hosting, folks, but not paying – in his never ending question to eat with everyone, this time at the Original Freezo on Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The restaurant is located at 1305 N. Central St. in North Knoxville. The place will offer a “meat and two” special for $4.99. 

Notes, this place takes coin and folding paper only. That means, no checks, credit or debit cards.

These "lunch with the mayor" shindigs are a byproduct of the mayor's hugely successful cash mob initiatives that garnered national attention, despite the best efforts of some. 

As always, this sucker is Dutch treat. Mayor cheapskate pays for no one.

Heh.

Low voter turn out and the write-in

Unbeknownst to some folks (even now), there is a certified write-in candidate in the Knoxville elections. His name is Carl Lansden and technically he faces off against 4^th District incumbent Nick Della Volpe and Rick Staples.

You can read a kick a$$ story by WBIR’s Jim Matheny (it came out last week), right smack here.

In fact, next Monday’s election commission meeting will focus on the dude as officials certify all the fancy ways a voter can erroneously misspell the guy’s name. (This way if it gets misspelled it still counts.)

And, hey, maybe the guy could win. Say he gets 300 or 400 of his buds to show up in this super-low voter turnout election and he comes in second place (which means he automatically goes to the general election). 

Stranger things have happened in Knox County/Knoxville politics.

In the meantime, 187 people so far have cast votes through the first four days or early voting.

No word on how many of those are for Lansden.

As always, the ol’ Porch doesn’t care who wins. But the folks who sit on it would chuckle if it was Lansden.

Whoever he is.

Heh.

Employees gather for Walls' send-off

Knox County employees on Tuesday said goodbye to Richard Walls, who served as the county’s internal auditor for more than a decade. Here’s a couple of pictures that were sent to me.

To the upper left, Jim Sams, who works in the PBA, shakes hands with Walls. The guy on the other side is Shane Weaver, a  former employee who came back to see him off.

Left, Karen Briggs, a city of Knoxville worker, talks to Walls.

As you might recall, the Knox County Commission worked out a deal with Walls, letting him retire with a $31K severance check. The board will have to decide later this month whether to replace him or outsource the gig.

My guess is that they'll at least take applications for the job. Then they'll probably hire one of their buddies. Kidding. Heh.

Summitt PSA to air on Regal screens

Every Regal Entertainment Group movie screen throughout the country will air a 30-second public service announcement about Alzheimer’s disease during this month. The PSA will include UT basketball legend Pat Summitt as well Kara Lawson, honorary co-chair on her Foundation’s advisory board, and some guy named Peyton Manning.

“We are tremendously grateful to Regal Entertainment Group for this significant and very generous contribution that will further the work of the Pat Summitt Foundation on a national level,” said Summitt in a released statement.

The PSA is designed to raise “significant awareness” about the disease and “the critical need for research funds to find a cure,” noted Greg Dunn, president and COO of Regal in a released statement.

“Pat’s efforts are a source of encouragement and support to the 5.5 million Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers in America,” he added.

You can find the full release, right smack here.

More on Seven Islands land transfer

The Knox County Commission later this month is expected to approve a resolution to transfer almost 391 acres in the Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge to the state to use as state park. 

The ol Porch initially reported about this right smack here, but we’ve got a little more info.

The land is located in the 8^th and 9^th districts, which are east and south – find some fancy maps right smack here – and the plan will be to build some cabins and a bridge over to the island.

“I think it’s another fantastic feather in South Knoxville’s cap and I think it will bring a lot of folks out to the area,” said Knox County Commissioner Mike Brown, whose area includes South Knox County. “It’s a beautiful area with lots of birds and wildlife. We also should be able to get a lot of traffic off that and traffic means business.”

Commissioner Dave Wright, who represents East Knox County agreed, calling it “a big deal.”

“This is going to be a jewel,” he said. “It looks like the state and county are going to move on with plans that were just dreams a few years back.”

Knox School board picks new chair

The Knox County School Board unanimously picked Lynne Fugate to serve as its chair for the next year, and Gloria Deathridge to serve as vice chair.

Fugate replaces Karen Carson.

I'm not really sure what this means. The commission just picked Brad Anders to lead it, and R. Larry Smith to serve as vice chair. Anders says he'll work a little more closely with the school board, but they all say that.

Heh.

We'll see. The Education Committee meets tomorrow.

Bring a book. Or pillow.

Knox to issue $39 million in bonds

The county on Friday will issue almost $40 million in bonds, which will fund work for number of projects tied to schools, roads and government buildings that officials hope to complete during the next couple of years.

Officials initially thought about issuing $17 million last year, and $22 million this year, but by holding off and issuing everything at once, the county will save roughly $250,000, according to Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett.

(The savings is essentially issuance fees, kind of like closing costs on a house. He said the savings will go back into the general fund.)

You may ask: "Well, Tim you always talk about paying off the debt, but aren’t you adding to it? Not really. The mayor says if the county continues to pay off more and issue less coin, then it still saves money.  

You can click right smack here for the 2013 capital improvement projects officials want to do and right smack here for this year’s stuff.

And, here’s a snapshot of some stuff just in case you’re lazy:

• Parkside Drive improvements: $6 million
• The Juvenile Court Building expansion: $3 million
• Karns Senior Center $ 1 million
• Karns Connector $4 million
• City County Building improvements: $500K
• AJ Building improvements: $475K
• School security: $3.9 million
• Safety Center:  $1million

In addition, about $15.8 million in bonds will help the school system for a number of projects including overall physical plant upgrades and work on Belle Morris Elementary, Chilhowee Intermediate and Gresham Middle (just to name a few of the schools)

WBIR to unveil new website tonight

Tonight (or is it technically tomorrow morning) at 3 a.m. WBIR will debut its new website.

And no, this is not in response to the Knoxville News Sentinel. In fact, both outlets had planned to do this months ago, but, you know, stuff happens.

Besides, despite what a bunch of local know-it-alls think, we're not putting up a pay wall.

Anyhoo, from what I understand (you know I really don't pay attention to this tech stuff), it's supposed to look like USA Today, which you can find right smack here. It's certainly a different look, but better than what we have now.

The new site will allow us to highlight the most important news of the day, blah, blah, etc. Also, from what I understand, we'll be able to "stack" stories, meaning they won't drop off so quickly as new stories go online.

My colleagues will have more information out later, and they'll probably be able to explain this better than I just did. They'll also have some navigation tricks.

As always, straight from the heart. With maybe a kick in the groin.

Heh.

Early voting starts for Council races

Early voting kicks off today for two Knoxville City Council seats, and the county yawns. (Technically, five are up for re-election, but only two - have challengers.)

Nick Della Volpe (4th District) faces Rick Staples and Daniel Brown (6th District) faces Pete Drew.

The two top vote-getters move on to the Nov. 5 general election. The races are nonpartisan and early voting runs through Sept. 19. The primary is on Sept. 24.

You can get the times and schedules, right smack here, (and a copy of the ballot, right smack here), although I'm not sure why anyone will show up as all of the candidates are going to advance anyway.

UPDATE: Elections stud Cliff Rodgers reached out to Knoxviews this morning, letting the site know that since there is an official write-in candidate, there is reason for an election. Cause, you know, a write-in candidate actually has a snowball's chance.

Mayoral pandamonium set for zoo?

So, I normally don't like this cute stuff, but, heh, you'll see why I'm running this one as it:

The nominations are in, and it’s time to choose names for Knoxville Zoo’s red panda cubs!  After receiving more than 1,000 submissions, the zoo has narrowed the field to four pairs of finalists.  Now it’s up to the public to vote on what the male and female siblings will be officially christened.  

You can read the entire release, right smack here. 
The naming options are:

• Tabei and Tenzing (some first pioneers to reach the summit of Mount Everest)
• Madeline and Tim (I am not making this up!)
• Shyla and Beaumont (something to do with the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee)
• Summitt and Neyland (in honor of Pat Summitt and General Robert Neyland)

Voting ballots are $1 each and votes can be cast online right smack here or in person at the zoo.  The first pair of names to reach the $5,000 mark or receive the highest number of votes by Friday, September 13, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. will be chosen as the cubs’ official names.  All funds raised will go to support Knoxville Zoo’s world-renowned red panda conservation program.    

I betcha Lord McIntyre is upset right, and Tom Ingram is probably getting a little nervous.

Heh.

Knox to give Seven Islands to state

The county is expected to turn Seven Islands over to the state, which will then turn it into a state park.

Gov. Big Bill will make the official announcement Sept. 20 during the Legacy Parks leadership luncheon

In the meantime, a number of officials have confirmed the news to the ol’ Porch.

We also caught up with Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett who said “we’ve just got to sign the papers” and it’s a done deal. (The commission also will have to approve the land transfer.)

When asked why the county would turn over the land, the mayor said that it “could be managed (and promoted) better by someone else.”

Fair enough. Someone told me earlier today – and I haven’t verified this yet – that Knox County is the state’s only county without a state park right now.

Anders to serve as commission chair

Brad Anders (by Dan Andrews)

Knox County Commissioner Brad Anders was picked Tuesday in a close vote to serve as commission chairman, a position he sought this time last year and narrowly lost.

He’ll replace Tony Norman, who stepped down from the spot but will continue to serve as a commissioner.

Anders, who will wield the gavel for the next 12 months, said one of his top priorities include reaching out to top leaders on the Knox County School Board “and try to have open dialogue and improve the public perception of ‘us against them.’”   

He added that he would continue holding monthly work session and monthly commission luncheons, which give officials a chance to meet with department heads and other local leaders to talk more about county business.

The board picked Anders over R. Larry Smith, the vice chairman for the past year, in a 6-4 vote during its annual reorganizational meeting.

Commissioners Sam McKenzie, Amy Broyles, Anders, Mike Brown, Mike Hammond and Ed Shouse   supported Anders. Commissioners Dave Wright, Jeff Ownby, Tony Norman, Smith and picked Smith.

Commissioner Richard Briggs, a surgeon, was out of town on a medical trip.

 “Brad is going to do a great job and I look forward to working with him,” said Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett.

The commission chairman runs the meetings, sets the monthly agenda and oversees the board's three-member staff. The position also works closely with the county's law department, mayor, school superintendent and the chairperson for the Knox County Board of Education.

Click right smack here for the complete bad a$$ story.