Knox County seeks stay of 180 days on judge's ruling

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 6/21/6 | MICHAEL SILENCE

[SmithL]

Knox County is asking a chancellor to put on hold his decision voiding the county charter, saying in part that a commissioner's appeal a day earlier has no standing.

The county is asking that Knox County Chancellor John Weaver place a 180-day hold, or stay, on his 59-page opinion issued on June 9.

If that stay of the decision is not issued, the county's request says, "significant and substantial problems will arise."

Those include governing of the county employees' pension plan, personnel policies and procedures, purchasing procedures, the Sheriff's Department Merit System Council, and fire and emergency services at the Forks of the River Industrial Park, to name a few.

The county's request to Weaver comes one day after Commissioner John Schmid filed an appeal with the state Court of Appeals, seeking to have term limits enforced.

Weaver ruled earlier this month that the charter is "incomplete, invalid and ineffective," which is allowing commissioners previously thought to be term-limited to seek re-election.

In his ruling, Weaver said the charter did not outline all the responsibilities of government and asserted that the term-limits provision was overly broad. He also said county officials apparently failed to register the charter with the Tennessee secretary of state's office.

The week's events have added another episode of confusion to an already complicated series of political maneuvers and legal jousts in the run-up to the Aug. 3 general election.

The Knox County Law Department filed a request Monday afternoon simply seeking a stay of Weaver's ruling until appeals are exhausted.

In the filing Tuesday, the county says a 180-day stay of his opinion would allow the county to correct deficiencies identified by Weaver. Those are a failure to file the charter 16 years ago, not defining other offices and a lack of clarity on term limits.

The filing also notes the county has already asked the Election Commission to seek certification of the charter "in order to remedy this procedural defect identified by this court."

Additionally, absent a stay, the charter would expire and the county would have to craft a new one, the filing notes.

Schmid said he had little comment, in part because he had not read the county's filing. But he did say he was not trying to thwart any efforts by Knox County.

"I'm representing the will of my constituents who voted for term limits," he said.

He also said he welcomed the county's move: "We're basically in agreement with them."

Mayor Mike Ragsdale said Tuesday this move would hopefully allow the county to focus on restoring term limits.

County spokesman Dwight Van de Vate said the county took this approach, as opposed to going to the Court of Appeals, in hopes of quickly "repairing the minor deficiencies in the charter." He said there's a possibility the Court of Appeals would send the case back for trial, extending the time involved in restoring term limits.