Oak Ridge Today

Legal fees add up as officials try to ‘stop the bleeding’ in dispute between mayor, sheriff

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Anderson County Detention Facility

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and Sheriff Paul White are engaged in a legal fight over a two-page salary agreement that includes, among other things, six months’ worth of funding for 36 new employees at a new jail pod at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton. (Photo courtesy Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

CLINTON—The legal fees might already exceed $20,000, and they could continue to mount in a bitter dispute between the mayor and sheriff over a $7.7 million salary agreement for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

Efforts to “stop the bleeding”—and avoid extra expenses for Anderson County residents—were unsuccessful after a lengthy, heated debate on Monday night. During that debate, Anderson County commissioners rejected several proposals to cover some legal fees of Mayor Terry Frank in her response to a salary suit filed in July by Sheriff Paul White. Among the rejected options were proposals to pay Frank’s fees so far but no more, capping them at $40,000, or covering all expenses until the matter is resolved.

Frank has refused to sign the salary agreement, saying it includes about $1 million more for salaries and overtime than was approved by commission in June. But the Sheriff’s Department has said the salary agreement is routine and was drafted according to state law, and actual spending will be closer to the $6.6 million approved by the commission as part of this year’s budget. [Read more…]

Anderson County agrees to buy Lake City bank building for coal mining museum

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Bank of America Lake City

The Anderson County Commission has agreed to buy this former Bank of America building in Lake City for a Coal Mining Museum, storage space, and satellite county offices.

CLINTON— The Anderson County Commission agreed in a 13-1 vote on Monday to buy the former Bank of America building in Lake City for a Coal Mining Museum.

The two-story brick building will be purchased using $100,000 from the sale of property in the David Jones Industrial Park. Lake City will own the former bank, and it could also be used to store excess county supplies and as a satellite office for county departments. Organizers hope to open the museum eight months after Lake City receives the building.

Most of the initial revenue for museum operations would come from Lake City’s lodging tax. The Lake City Council has agreed to use one-third of that hotel and motel tax for the museum for at least the next three years, said Stephanie Wells, director of the Anderson County Tourism Council. [Read more…]

Emory Valley Road land could be donated for Oak Ridge sewer system tank

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Emory Valley Equalization Basin

Anderson County commissioners have endorsed donating up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road for an Oak Ridge sewer system holding tank.

CLINTON—Despite a few concerns about whether the tank would be an eyesore, Anderson County officials on Monday endorsed a request to give up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge for a sewer system holding tank.

The tank would be east of the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center, and it would be used to help Oak Ridge stop all sewer system overflows by 2015, as required by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order.

The Anderson County Commission endorsed the land donation in a voice vote Monday night. [Read more…]

Anderson County Commission considers coal mining museum tonight

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Bank of America Lake City

Bank of America has agreed to sell this two-story brick building on Main Street in Lake City for $100,000 for a Coal Miners’ Museum and county storage space and satellite offices.

The Lake City Council on Saturday developed a plan for operating and maintaining a coal mining museum, a proposal that will be presented to the Anderson County Commission this evening, a nonprofit organization said this weekend.

The Commission will consider buying the former Bank of America building in Lake City as a home for the Coal Miners’ Museum during a meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday. [Read more…]

Lake City picked for PlanET demonstration project

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Information from WYSH Radio

It has already been a banner week for Lake City.

On Monday, the Anderson County Commission’s Operations Committee voted to recommend purchasing the old Bank of America building in Lake City for $100,000 using part of the proceeds of the pending sale of county-owned land to the Hollingsworth Company for $303,000. The remaining $203,000 would be used as seed money for the start-up Anderson County Economic Development Fund. Supporters of the bank building purchase foresee using it as the new home of Coal Miners’ Museum as well as for storage and use as a satellite office for some county government entities.

Now, PlanET, a regional partnership of East Tennessee communities in Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Union counties, has selected Lake City as one of its so-called Demonstration Project sites. The program will be funded through the Plan East Tennessee Grant and leverage in-kind services from the East Tennessee Community Design Center, or ETCDC, and the University of Tennessee School of Agriculture. [Read more…]

Anderson committee recommends buying Lake City building

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Information from WYSH Radio

On Monday, the Anderson County Operations Committee voted 5-2 to recommend purchasing the former Bank of America building in Lake City for use as the new home of the Coal Miners Museum and some county government operations. The bank is asking $100,000 for the property, which supporters say will find a new purpose as not only the home of a museum honoring the area’s rich coal mining history, but also as a storehouse for excess county supplies due to its vault and as a satellite office for county departments, which would be able to make use of the existing drive-thru window.

The full County Commission will consider the committee’s recommendation when it meets Monday, Aug. 19.

Anderson Commission to consider new fees for inmates

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Information from WYSH Radio

As the Anderson County Commission continues to try and find ways to generate sufficient revenue to staff the jail expansion scheduled to open early next year, commissioners on Monday will consider several resolutions drafted by the county law director assessing new fees for inmates incarcerated at the county jail. Law Director Jay Yeager says the new fees are in line with state law and would help take the onus of housing the inmates off of the taxpayers and place it on the offenders themselves.

Some of the proposed fees include charging prisoners for their jail-issued clothing and toiletries as well as instituting medical and dental co-pays and fees for having a jailer escort an inmate to the hospital to visit a sick relative or to the funeral of someone in their immediate family. [Read more…]

Letter: Coal Mining Museum board wants to buy former Lake City bank building

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Note: This is a copy of a letter sent to Anderson County Commissioner Robin Biloski, who chairs the Operations Committee. During a Monday, Aug. 12, meeting, the committee will consider a request to buy the former Bank of America building in Lake City for services on the north end of the county and to house a coal mining museum.

The Board of Directors of the Coal Mining Museum in Lake City would like to encourage the Anderson County Commission’s Operation Committee to approve the purchase of the building formerly occupied by the Bank of America in Lake City in order to provide county services to the residents of north Anderson County and a home for the Coal Mining Museum.

The Coal Mining Museum has been looking for a home for several years. It is currently housed in the Lake City Community Center, which does not provide adequate space to display all of the artifacts. [Read more…]

Public ceremony for ‘In God We Trust’ signs this morning

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CLINTON—Four pastors, including the father of an Anderson County commissioner, are scheduled to speak during an unveiling ceremony this morning for four new “In God We Trust” signs on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

The ceremony starts at 10 a.m., said Lynn Byrge, an Oak Ridge business owner who spearheaded the drive to install the signs inscribed with the nation’s motto. [Read more…]

After setbacks, workers start installing ‘In God We Trust’ signs at Anderson courthouse

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In God We Trust Courthouse Signs

Workers from Island Home Granite, Signs, and Monuments install the first of four black granite “In God We Trust” signs over the entrances at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

CLINTON—Several setbacks put the project behind schedule on Monday, delaying the work for several hours, but by Monday evening, workers from a Knoxville company began installing the first of four black granite signs emblazoned with the national motto “In God We Trust” over the entrances at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

Plans had called for completing the work by Monday night, but it wasn’t clear if that would be possible. Among the setbacks were rain, a traffic jam, a hydraulic hose that popped off a hydraulic lift, and a drill that ran into rebar in the rock-solid courthouse walls.

Still, those who supported the project—with the work being done by Island Home Granite, Signs, and Monuments of Knoxville—were pleased to see it was under way. [Read more…]

‘In God We Trust’ signs to be installed on Anderson courthouse today

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Public Hearing on In God We Trust Motto

Philip Warfield of Andersonville says county residents should be able to decide what goes on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton during a March committee hearing on putting the national motto “In God We Trust” on the three-story building.

New granite signs engraved with the national motto “In God We Trust” are scheduled to be installed on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton this afternoon.

The Anderson County Commission approved the signs this spring after hours of discussion and five meetings.

They will be installed above the four courthouse doors starting at about 1:30 p.m. today, the Anderson County Mayor’s Office said in a media advisory. The work will be done by employees from Island Home Granite and Signs. [Read more…]

County denies payment to attorney detained taking pictures near Clinton Middle

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CLINTON—With no discussion Monday, the Anderson County Commission denied a payment request from a local attorney who had allegedly demanded money before filing a lawsuit over an incident last fall where he was detained while taking pictures near Clinton Middle School.

Clinton attorney Phil Harber said he was photographing school buses that were parked on Marshall Street in Clinton on Oct. 10 when he was detained. The buses allegedly block the route to his home, and he was reportedly planning to use the pictures in a lawsuit against the city, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy William S. Lucas said in an incident report. [Read more…]