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 bleedingâ€â€”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.
On Monday, commissioners repeatedly expressed their disappointment that the two sides haven’t worked out a compromise, even after an Aug. 9 hearing in Knox County Circuit Court.
“I don’t understand why this is going to court,†Anderson County Commissioner Myron Iwanski said. “I think it’s unfortunate that we’re hiring a lawyer to sue ourselves, basically. I think we need to stop the craziness.â€
“This is making us look like idiots,†Commissioner Tracy Wandell said.
The Anderson County Commission is pictured above in April. From left are Parliamentarian Dusty Irwin, Commission Chair Chuck Fritts, Vice Chair Robin Biloski, and commissioners Myron Iwanski, Steve Mead, Mark Alderson and Steve Emert (both partially obscured), and Jerry White. Fritts was absent Monday.
Several commissioners said they were either unwilling to pay anything or, alternatively, cover any more costs beyond what they’re already “on the hook for.â€
“The mayor seems to be determined that she’s going to go to court, and that’s the only way it’s going to be resolved,†Commissioner Steve Mead said. “I am not willing to keep paying these lawyers.â€
Frank has hired legal help on two fronts, but she is only seeking reimbursement on one. Knoxville law firm Lowe, Yeager, and Brown is representing her in her response to the sheriff’s salary suit, and she is seeking reimbursement for that aid.
But Frank has also hired Memphis lawyer Lucian Pera to consider whether Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager has a conflict of interest in representing her. The mayor said the law director does have a conflict, and she will pay Pera on her own.
Yeager said commission likely needs to pay the mayor’s legal fees if he has a conflict of interest. But he said he believes the dispute could be resolved, and he raised questions about the reimbursement request for Lowe, Yeager, and Brown.
The law director said his goal is a successful mediation.
“I don’t believe that’s her ultimate goal,†Yeager said. “She doesn’t want me as her lawyer. My goals for this issue are divergent from hers. They’re almost totally opposite.â€
Frank and Yeager have also clashed previously.
Frank estimated her expenses so far at $13,000. She said White had a choice whether to sue her, and there are precedents for unsigned salary agreements. In 2011, the sheriff went a whole year without a signed agreement, and other agreements have been signed late in the year, Frank said.
In response to a question about her legal fees, Frank raised a question about the sheriff’s legal spending, saying he was using outside counsel also, rather than the law director.
“I was sued,†Frank said. “I did not do the suing.”
The mayor has said that if she signed the salary agreement, county commission would be committed to the new $7.7 million salary level under state maintenance-of-effort requirements, and that additional appropriation would require an eight-cent property tax rate increase in 2014.
But Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas has said the two-page salary agreement requires a calculation that envisions the department being fully staffed with 218 employees at full salaries for a full year. And that’s not expected to happen because the department is not likely to be fully staffed, some employees will earn less than full salaries, and 36 of the 218 workers will only be needed for six months to open a new jail pod after Jan. 1, Lucas said.
“We will never get to that,†he said of the $7 million salary level.
Iwanski said the legal battle is costing the county money and could lead to a tax increase. Besides incurring lawyers’ fees, the fight has put the struggling alternatives to jail program on hold and delayed a plan to try to house federal inmates at the Anderson County Detention Facility, a program that could bring in extra revenue, Iwanski said.
“I’m not in favor of continuing to pay lawyers,†he said. “I think we need the leadership of everyone involved to sit down and work this out.â€
Frank said she and White have a Dec. 9 hearing in Knox County Circuit Court with Judge Dale Workman, but she hopes for a temporary salary agreement before then. She has submitted a temporary salary agreement that would include current employees plus 15 new ones, but she hasn’t heard back from White, Frank said.
The mayor took more fire from commissioners than the sheriff did on Monday, but a few commissioners, primarily Dusty Irwin and Zach Bates, were sympathetic to her case.
“I agree that it was a conflict for the mayor to sign,†Irwin said of the salary agreement. The sheriff could also end the lawsuit, said Irwin, who unsuccessfully proposed providing funding for the mayor’s legal fees as necessary until the matter is resolved.
Read the salary agreement here: ACSD Salary Agreement Page 1 and ACSD Salary Agreement Page 2.
Andrew Howe says
OMG, yes this IS indeed an embarrassing situation.
I don’t know the details to know if Sherrif White really has a case, but I can tell you one thing: money in this economy isn’t flowing like it used to. One can expect salaries to drop, staff to get cut, etc, etc.
I grew up wanting to be Andy of Mayberry, myself. I have an ultra high regard for justice and fairness. I tried out for the force myself twice when I was younger (w/o going through the academy, to explain why I’m not a cop now).
I say this because I presently have an ultra LOW opinion of the present state of law enforcement. It’s not that the officers are bad, but the system itself. I haven’t had any interaction with Sheriff White or his dept, but in general law enforcement is less than they should be. This is endemic across the country as the police have gone from a paradigm of justice for justices sake to tickets for revenue sake.
A couple examples from my own life in the past 3 years.
You get burgled, find your goods yourself, find the perp yourself, had him to the PD on a silver platter, and watch them do nothing.
I know of an Anderson Cnty man nearly beaten yo death in my neighborhood a few years back by a home invasion. The PD didn’t do anything because the victim was a “problem” alcoholic. I understand it’s easier to do the right thing for some people than others, but this was “picking and choosing what crimes to investigate” at it’s worst. In that matter, a simple sting operation would’ve brought an end to the matter and put the perp in jail for a long time.
My point is, as a tax payer, I’d rather the money go to roads than police. Not because the police aren’t useful, just that for the past few decades ‘getting it done’ yourself has been MUCH more fruitful. If you have a domestic disturbance, they’re good. If they have to do much of any kind of secondary investigation, well, not so much.
Maybe Sherriff White and his dept is one of the good ones, one of the depts left that doesn’t care as much about speeding violations and cares more about serious crime. But the odds are against that because of the system itself, from the Fed level on down.
If the Mayor doesn’t want to sign the contract, well that’s just life in the present political-economic climate kiddies. We’re all going to have to get by on less. The days of milking the tax base is coming to an end.
Like I said, I don’t know the details, but I do know that Mayor Frank is fully against wasting tax payer money. If she thinks she shouldn’t be signing that contract, I trust that there’s a darn good reason for it.
Kevin Rice says
All I will say is we will see who is right when Judge Workman makes the call who is right!!! So get ready to watch how this all turns out!!!! I trust Sheriff White in his Suit!!! Anderson Co Has one of the best Dept it has ever had under Sheriff White an Chief Lucus !!!!
Denny Phillips says
John, the article says the Mayor says the salary agreement lists expenses as $7.7 million and the ACSO says the expenses are listed at $6.6 million.
Can you look at the salary agreement and tell us what it says?
johnhuotari says
I’ll try to scan in the agreement this evening and post it.
johnhuotari says
I have scanned in the agreement. It includes both numbers.
Paragraph H: “It is agreed this Letter of Agreement shall be for 218 employees and shall not exceed $7,668,912.00.”
Paragraph I: “It is agreed thirty-six (36) of the 218 employees shall be for six (6) months beginning January 1, 2014. It is further agreed in anticipation of employee turnover and probationary salaries, the amount budgeted for salaries and overtime by the Anderson County Board of Commissioners shall be $6,625,595.00.”
As I recall, Mark Lucas told county commissioners in July that the ACSD has to include that higher number (Paragraph H) under state law, assuming all positions are filled for a full year and employees are paid full salaries. The Sheriff’s Department has said actual spending would never reach that $7.7 million mark, as explained in Paragraph I.
Meanwhile, Terry Frank has said that signing the agreement would obligate the county to the higher $7.7 million spending level under state maintenance-of-effort requirements, and that could lead to a property tax rate increase.
It remained unclear Monday whether the two sides would be able to reach a compromise.