County to merge HR, risk management

Next Monday – with Knox County HR Director Frances Fogerson retiring – the county will combine its human resource and risk management departments. Deputy Veteran Services Officer Colonel Richard Julian will take over as HR manager and risk management director Mark Jones will oversee the whole shebang.

According to a county spin release sent out by the woefully underpaid Big “Michael Sexy” Grider (if you compare his coin to that of his counterparts in the city):

Jones has nearly 17 years of management experiences in Knox County alone, and he holds degrees in law, business and public health. His qualifications make him uniquely suited to head a combined HR-Risk Management department.

Col. Julian retired from the U.S. Military in 1998 after serving more than 30 years as a human resource professional, first as a Military Personnel Specialist. He later spent 17 years as a Military Personnel Officer and Human Resource Director with the 134th Air Refueling Wing.

Come back later for an interview with Fogerson. We'll run part of it in tomorrow's News Sentinel, but I'll post all of it here. It's a good read.