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The commission took six roll-call votes to pick a replacement for the 4th District, seat B, position — and then took a recess when the voting failed to produce a winner. To be appointed, a candidate needs 10 commissioners’ votes. The commissioners nominated six persons — Elaine Davis, James Smelcher Jr., Scott Davis, Lee Trammell, William Daniels Jr. and Ed Shouse. Then, in the first four votes, the candidate who received the fewest number of votes was bumped off from the next round of voting. Removed from the list, in order, were Shouse, Daniels, Davis and Smelcher. The left Trammell...

Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison will have to turn in his badge. Eight members of County Commission - including its only woman - will cast final votes. The trustee, register of deeds and county clerk will leave their jobs in the hands of untried successors. In a sweeping decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld Knox County's charter and its term-limits provision. County officials, with the exception of school board members, court clerks and judges, can serve no more than two terms. That means a dozen elected officials - Hutchison, Register of Deeds Steve Hall, Trustee Mike Lowe,...

Sheriff Tim Hutchison, eight of 19 county commissioners and other officeholders must leave office under a ruling issued today by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court upheld the county’s charter and its term limits provision, which was approved by voters in 1994, for all government officials except court clerks and school board members. Politicians who have served more than two terms therefore must leave office. Affected officeholders include Hutchison, Register of Deeds Steve Hall, Trustee Mike Lowe, County Clerk Mike Padgett and commissioners Mark Cawood, John Griess, John Mills, Diane Jordan, Larry Clark, Billy Tindell, Phil Guthe and John Schmid....

It was a packed house for a historic court case. But if folks came in search of clues to how the state Supreme Court justices might rule on the validity of Knox County's charter, they left empty-handed. The state high court's five justices - Gary Wade, Janice Holder, William "Mickey" Barker, Cornelia A. Clark and the retiring Riley Anderson - fired off plenty of questions for the slew of attorneys arguing various points on the charter, term limits and application of term limits. None of those queries, however, revealed the justices' leanings in a case that some contend could rend...

Knox County's entire form of government is being put to the ultimate legal test today. The state Supreme Court will hear this afternoon arguments for and against the validity of Knox County's charter, the guiding force for the way citizens in Knox County are governed. Also on the Supreme Court platter will be the validity of an amendment to the charter that created term limits. Up in the air is whether the high court will go farther and opine as to which officeholders those term limits would apply if valid. As rare as the issue before it is, it is...

Term limits stand as they were passed in 1994, and they apply to all elected officials with the exception of judges. That’s the conclusion today of a committee established to fix deficiencies that a Knox County chancellor found in the county charter. After a three-hour meeting, the committee voted to adhere to the term limits provision passed overwhelmingly by voters in 1994. The charter committee made its final recommendations on how to fix the county charter that was ruled invalid by Chancellor John Weaver. That's under appeal to the state Supreme Court, which has agreed to take up the matter...

Despite an ongoing controversy over term limits, Knox County voters Thursday appear to have returned every incumbent but one to the county commission. In the 2nd District, Democrat Mark Harmon outpolled incumbent Republican David Collins, a former commission chairman, in the race for Seat A. Harmon, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Tennessee, garnered 55 percent of the vote to Collins' 45 percent. The results aren't official, but if they hold up the Republicans will hold a 14-5 advantage on commission. At an election-night party with Democrats at Shonos in City on Market Square, Harmon pumped his...

Voters in November would be deciding which offices term limits would apply to under a proposal discussed today by members of the Knox County Charter Review Committee. If approved by the committee in two weeks, each office would be listed separately on the November ballot. Committee member Mike Hammond, a county commissioner, made the suggestion saying people would likely want to vote on each individual office, such as sheriff and mayor. The committee is looking at ways to repair the county’s charter pending an expected ruling from the state Supreme Court. If the court upholds the finding by Knox County...

The state Supreme Court on Monday agreed to snatch up a ruling striking down Knox County's charter and put it under the court's high-powered appellate microscope. In a rare move, the state's highest court exercised its so-called "reach-down" authority, power limited under the law to only a handful of cases "of unusual public importance." Justices will hear the case in September. The court's decision will allow the Supreme Court justices to review a ruling by Chancellor John Weaver that Knox County's charter was invalid instead of waiting for the case to travel first to an intermediate-level appellate court. Monday's announcement...

Knox County attorneys today asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to hear their appeal of a chancellor's decision to invalidate the charter. The motion asks the justices to intercede in the lawsuit of five county commissioners seeking to overturn term limits for public officials. Chancellor John Weaver last month ruled the charter was "invalid, incomplete and ineffective." In a separate opinion, he gave the county 180 days to amend its charter. Also last month, Senior U.S. District Court Judge James H. Jarvis used the power of his federal bench to ask the state Supreme Court to decide if the charter is...

A federal judge today asked the state Supreme Court to decide whether Knox County’s charter is invalid. Using a federal lawsuit as a legal basis, Senior U.S. District Court Judge James H. Jarvis has sent what is known as a "certified" question to the state’s highest court. That question is simple: Was Knox County Chancellor John Weaver correct when he struck down the charter? Jarvis added a second question should the Supreme Court justices opine that Weaver is right. If the charter is invalid, Jarvis asks the justices to determine if there is any other legal mechanism to prop up...

Nine of the 12 incumbent Knox County commissioners facing disqualification by term limits won their party nominations anyway, according to unofficial returns released late Wednesday. Among them were all five commissioners who have challenged the validity of the Knox County Charter - David Collins, Diane Jordan, Phil Guthe, John Griess and Billy Tindell. Guthe said the citizens who overwhelmingly voted for the at-risk incumbents sent a clear message that they want to keep their representatives. "That's a pretty loud statement," Guthe said. At least six of the 39 write-in candidates prevailed in their primary races. The Election Commission has nine...

The Knox County Election Commission certified the results of last week’s primary elections today. Chairwoman Pam Reeves emphasized that the move only confirms the votes cast, but it is not a decision on whether the nine term-limited county commissioners who won their parties’ nominations are qualified to run in the Aug. 3 general election. "At this point we are just doing what we are instructed to do by state law," Reeves said. A lawsuit filed on behalf of five of the commissioners argues that the county charter, and its term limits provision, is invalid. Though no hearing has been scheduled...

It's a scenario that Knox County politicos would rather not contemplate: Appeals drag out the term-limits lawsuit beyond the Aug. 3 general election. The ifs follow like lemmings. If the incumbent candidates subject to term limits win re-election; if the final court decision upholds the charter and its term-limits provision; and if the decision extends term limits to other officeholders, then the Knox County Commission - not the voters - would select the sheriff, trustee and nine commissioners. "Whenever a countywide county office becomes vacant for any reason, the County Commission would appoint a replacement until a special election is...

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...

Dissolving the Knox County charter would gum up the government's purchasing machine and wind up costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars because of computer upgrades, an increased workload and personnel costs. Deputy Law Director Mary Ann Stackhouse outlined the problem to Knox County Chancellor John Weaver during a hearing Monday morning on the legal fate of the charter, which Weaver ruled invalid June 9. While listing the effects of dissolving the charter, Stackhouse told Weaver the procurement code would be invalid if his charter ruling becomes final. Right now, she said, the procurement code allows purchases of less than...

A federal judge said today he would cut through the confusion surrounding the Knox County charter by asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to rule on the charter's validity as soon as possible. Senior U.S. District Court Judge James H. Jarvis said he wants the state Supreme Court to settle the matter once and for all so he can hear a lawsuit challenging the county's adult business ordinance. Though a federal judge, Jarvis can ask the state's highest court to intervene to settle a matter of state law that is crucial to the federal lawsuit. Under court rules, Jarvis can send...

They have called. They have written. And, boy, are they mad. "They" are the residents of Knox County, and they haven't been shy about registering complaints about the charter fiasco that threatens to scuttle ordinances and torpedo term limits. They've been contacting Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale's office with comments during the week since Chancellor John Weaver ripped up the county charter. "They're angry over the charter verdict and they're angry over the term-limits issue," Ragsdale spokesman Dwight Van de Vate said. Weaver ruled last Friday that the charter, including its term-limits provision, is incomplete and wasn't properly filed with...

Confusion over the validity of Knox County's charter spilled over into its courtrooms Wednesday, with one lawyer alleging an appointed General Sessions Court judge shouldn't be allowed to preside over cases. It's the first direct challenge to a county government action since Chancellor John Weaver tossed out the charter Friday. In papers filed late Wednesday afternoon, lawyer Gregory P. Isaacs argues that General Sessions Court Judge Jimmy Kyle Davis shouldn't hear cases because he was appointed by County Commission under the authority of the charter. Weaver tossed out the Knox County Charter on Friday, ruling that it was "incomplete, invalid...

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale said today he would most likely ask Chancellor John Weaver to stay his ruling invalidating the county charter so officials can address any insufficiencies in the document. If that doesn't work, the county could appeal Weaver's ruling, he said. Either way, he's asked County Commission Chairman Scott Moore to call a special meeting of commissioners on Monday to chart a course of action. "We want to work with commission to keep the charter form of government," Ragsdale said. Any tack they take apparently won't have an effect on the August general election, however. The same...