Oak Ridge Today

County Commission to continue budget discussions July 15

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Anderson County Commission in June 2014

The Anderson County Commission is pictured above during its Monday night meeting. (Photo by Sara Wise)

 

CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission voted on Monday to continue considering the county budget proposed by Mayor Terry Frank. A special meeting for budget review will be held July 15, ahead of that month’s regularly scheduled meeting on July 21.

The budget proposal came to the County Commission after the budget committee’s recommendation to increase the minimum fund balance by $500,000, to $4 million.  That measure would require a supermajority of the County Commission—or 11 of the 16 commissioners—to approve any expenditure that would take the so-called rainy-day fund under the $4 million mark.

Frank said the budget is “not an exciting budget,” as there is little change from the last fiscal year, “but it is a budget that allows the people of Anderson County to keep more of what they’ve earned.” She also asserted that the county government would maintain stability and services through the proposed budget, which balances at $25 million and maintains property tax levels. [Read more…]

Residents file ouster petition against Anderson County law director

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Twenty-two Anderson County residents have filed a petition in Chancery Court seeking to remove Law Director Jay Yeager from office, alleging misconduct that includes perjury, forgery, and having pornography on a county computer.

The ouster petition was filed Friday afternoon in Anderson County Chancery Court in Clinton. It alleges Yeager, who became law director in September 2006, committed perjury on his sworn application to become law director eight years ago, forged the signature of retired Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Avery Johnson two years ago, and had a pornographic image on a county computer that was found about three years ago.

The petition asks the court to immediately suspend Yeager from his official duties pending a decision by the court, and it requests a trial. If Yeager is guilty of one or more of the charges, the petition said, he should be ousted from office.

“I’m devastated,” Yeager said Friday evening. “It’s just another assassination on my character and on my good reputation and all I’ve done for Anderson County.”

He said he thinks the ouster suit is politically motivated, and he called it “baseless and unwarranted.” [Read more…]

Sexual act offered to investigator during prostitution investigation, sheriff says

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Young Hwa Park

Young Hwa Park

An employee at a spa in Anderson County offered a sexual act to a Sheriff’s Department investigator in exchange for money during an undercover prostitution investigation on Tuesday, authorities said.

Two women from Duluth, Ga., were arrested and charged with prostitution offenses, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a Wednesday afternoon press release.

The investigation at the recently opened “spa” called King Accupressure on Andersonville Highway started after the Sheriff’s Department was notified by the Law Director’s Office, White said. The investigation led Sheriff’s Department officials to believe that prostitution activity was occurring, White said.

An undercover operation was conducted Tuesday, and an employee of the business offered a sexual act to an investigator in exchange for money, the sheriff said. [Read more…]

Jail’s workhouse designation allows some inmates to keep jobs

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Anderson County Detention Facility Expansion

The 212-bed expansion of the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton is pictured above while still under construction in December. The expansion allows the county to declare the jail a workhouse, which lets some qualified low-risk offenders keep their current employment.

CLINTON—Some qualified low-risk inmates will be able to keep their jobs even after sentencing now that the Anderson County jail has been declared a workhouse, officials said Monday.

When a judge agrees, the inmates could continue their current employment, stay at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton when they’re not at work, and pay $15 to $17.50 per day for their jail time.

Female inmates judged to be low-risk offenders might be able to spend a few hours at home with their families and children, Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager said.

The Anderson County Commission unanimously declared the jail a workhouse after a brief discussion during a Monday night meeting. Yeager said the designation has been allowed for some time under Tennessee law, but Anderson County is only able to use it now because the jail is being expanded, giving deputies more room to house and segregate inmates. [Read more…]

Anderson mayor used lawsuit agreement to settle scores, sheriff says

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Anderson County Detention Facility Expansion

The salary dispute between the Anderson County mayor and sheriff focused on the spending to hire up to 36 new jailers to staff a 212-bed expansion that is still under construction at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

CLINTON—He had reserved comment until a judge signed an order resolving a staffing dispute, but then Anderson County Sheriff Paul White accused Mayor Terry Frank of using a lawsuit agreement to try to settle perceived political scores—and he came to the defense of the two county officials that Frank attacked Friday.

“Sheriff White regrets that Mayor Frank has used the settlement of the salary suit, which (she) could have used as an event to set a more civil tone in Anderson County politics, as an opportunity to attempt to settle perceived political scores with Law Director Jay Yeager and Anderson County Commissioner Myron Iwanski,” the sheriff said in a Monday afternoon press release, after the lawsuit order had been signed by Knox County Circuit Court Judge Dale Workman. “Sheriff White cannot express how much he believes that Director Yeager and Commissioner Iwanski are decent and selfless public servants and that the people of Anderson County are lucky to have such competent and dedicated individuals working for the efficient operation of their government. [Read more…]

Mayor, sheriff reach agreement on salary suit, but war of words follows

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Anderson County Detention Facility Expansion

The salary dispute between the Anderson County mayor and sheriff focused on the spending to hire up to 36 new jailers to staff a 212-bed expansion that is still under construction at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

CLINTON—The Anderson County mayor and sheriff reached an agreement Friday that could end their five-month-old legal dispute over an annual salary agreement, possibly closing one expensive and contentious chapter in local government even as it opened a new war of words between top officials.

Knox County Circuit Court Judge Dale C. Workman could sign the agreement Monday morning.

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and Sheriff Paul White said the agreement allows the sheriff to hire 15 full-time permanent deputies and additional temporary deputies when the sheriff deems appropriate as he prepares to open a 212-bed jail expansion. But the hiring must stay within the spending limit approved by the Anderson County Commission this year, and the temporary employees cannot work more than six months.

Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Frank and White announced the agreement in a one-page press release distributed Friday. The case had been scheduled to be heard in Knox County Circuit Court on Monday morning. [Read more…]

Small fire causes minor damage at Anderson County jail expansion

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Anderson County Detention Facility Fire

A small fire Monday morning caused minor damage to a section of the Anderson County jail that is being expanded. (Photo courtesy Larry Davidson/Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

CLINTON—A small fire Monday morning caused minor damage to a section of the Anderson County jail that is being expanded.

A construction worker on the roof of the 212-bed expansion was welding with a torch at about 11:15 a.m. Monday when it set insulation on the outside of the building on fire, Anderson County officials said. The insulation was between vinyl siding and concrete block, said Larry Davidson, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department captain and acting chief jailer.

The fire was contained to the outside of the Anderson County Detention Facility, and no one was injured. There was no water or smoke damage, but the fire burned a small hole in the side of the building, Davidson said. [Read more…]

AC Commission to consider sheriff’s salary suit in special meeting

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Anderson County Detention Facility

A legal dispute between the Anderson County mayor and sheriff largely revolves around funding to hire enough jailers to staff a 212-bed jail expansion at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton. (Photo courtesy Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

Information from WYSH Radio

After failing to discuss the ongoing legal dispute between the Anderson County mayor and the Anderson County sheriff last month, the County Commission will take the matter up during a special-called meeting at 6:30 p.m. today (Wednesday).

The meeting could include a closed-door executive session during which commissioners are expected to hear an update from Law Director Jay Yeager on the status of the salary suit filed by Sheriff Paul White against Mayor Terry Frank over her refusal to sign his salary agreement for this fiscal year. The salary dispute is scheduled for a hearing on Dec. 9 before Knox County Circuit Court Judge Dale Workman.

Some commissioners have publicly expressed their concern about the cost of the ongoing legal battle to taxpayers, as both sides have retained outside counsel. [Read more…]

Johnson Gap Road bridge repair, replacement under study

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Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager has offered an update on the status of the Johnson Gap Road Bridge, owned by CSX Railroad and closed since earlier this year due to structural concerns found by the state during a routine investigation.

The bridge is owned by the railroad, and it is the only entity that can legally make the repairs and get the bridge back open. Many people in that area, which is northwest of Clinton, depend on that bridge to get to and from their homes.

The latest update, according to Yeager, is that the bridge replacement or repair is under analysis by CSX’s property asset division. No decisions have been made. Yeager says that he has spoken to railroad officials three times by telephone and in several emails. [Read more…]

Anderson commissioners approve new jail fees for inmates, new costs covered by Time magazine

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Anderson County Detention Facility

The Anderson County Commission on Monday approved three new sets of fees for inmates, including charges for supplies ranging for pants and shirts to toothpaste and toilet paper. (Photo courtesy Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

CLINTON—Anderson County inmates could soon pay for items such as pants and shirts, bras and underwear, and toothpaste and toilet paper, with costs ranging from three cents for soap to $24.65 for a coat.

The new fees were approved with no opposition by the Anderson County Commission on Monday. The money would be deducted from the inmate’s jail trust account or any other account or fund set up for the prisoner. The fees would not be added to court costs.

The supply fees were one of three new sets of inmate fees approved by commissioners on Monday. [Read more…]

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 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…]