The county's ethics committee met this
morning to go ahead and rubber stamp the reappointment of two sitting
members.
And this hasn't gone over too well with
a couple of folks.
You see, 25 people applied for the two
open spots (five didn't bother showing up to today's meeting) and, quite
frankly, it appeared that no one – other than the committee members
– really had a shot.
I'm not saying that's the case, but,
you know . . . appearances and all that.
One person called it “a farce” and
another person said “the whole thing was disgusting.” A third
walked out of the room, mumbling that “it was a monumental waste of
time.”
And several have now dubbed it the
“unethical committee.” (Yes, I know. Not real original.)
Soooooo . . . . what happened?
Glad you asked.
The committee has three open spots –
two that it gets to fill and one that the Knox County Commission has
to fill in the upcoming weeks.
The 20 people – including board
chairwoman Elaine Davis and board member Mae Killebrew-Mosley – each
were given two minutes to state why they should get the pick. (Board
members said they reviewed the applications/resumes before the
meeting.)
During the first round of nominations,
the board picked Davis and Killebrew-Mosley. Now keep in mind that
only the board – no one from the public – can make nominations.
Davis in a 5-1 vote was picked. And
yes, she voted for herself. (Killebrew-Mosley also voted for herself.)
In the second round only
Killebrew-Mosely received a nomination.
As one person told me: “They didn't
even make it look good.” Heh.
Just before the meeting closed, Davis
said: “I'm incredibly amazed and appreciative of the number of
people and the quality of people who have shown up today.” She
suggested that the committee increase its size. (They've
been talking about making like this for almost two years.)
In the meantime, officials said they'd
turn the remaining applications (and there are some good ones in the batch by the
way) over to the county commission to look through. The person who
had the post that's set to expire is not applying for it.
3 comments:
The solution of a larger body is unrealistic. Knox County residents don't like the idea of any governmental body expanding its size, and I don't think it would be a good idea either.
The solution is (1) limit members to two terms and (2) don't allow members to vote on their reappointment. I have asked the Commission to take up he issue of modifying the Committee rules to make these changes.
And for the nay-sayers, I don't care who gets the open posts, I just know today was wrong, and the rules have to change if the Committee is to every have any level of respect.
Respect? That died the day that Norman and Smith were elected Chair and Vice Chair with the assistance and nomination in Smith's case of a guy that got diversion letters from Norman and Smith.
Ah, well, I was talking about Ethics Committee, not Commission. With problems in the Ethics Committee, how could you hold Commission accountable to what you feel was improper?
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