Commission splits on three issues
By Mike Steely
Senior Writer
steelym@knoxfocus.com
Political division spilled over into the regular meeting of the Knox County Commission last week as three issues were debated, and two of the issues were basically nullified by postponing a vote for 180 days. Chairwoman Gina Oster told the monthly meeting that 12 people had signed up to speak, and all but one spoke to the three issues.
A large crowd turned out for the meeting, and most speakers talked about a motion by Commissioner Rhonda Lee to honor the late Charlie Kirk. Other speakers took issue with resolutions sponsored by Commissioners Angela Russell and Andy Fox on tax dollars being given to non-profit groups and undocumented resident services.
In between the hotly debated issues, the commission also chose to honor WBIR’s late Bill Williams and Ken Schwall. In a roll-call vote, the commission also chose, 6-5, Commissioner Adam Thompson over Commissioner Fox to join the Audit Committee and selected Michael Biddle and D. J. Corcoran to join the Ethics Committee.
Charlie Kirk honors
The disagreement over honoring Kirk was over his not being a resident of Knox County, which is traditionally the requirement to receive such honors. Three commissioners, Damon Rawls, Courtney Durrett and Terry Hill, pointed to the lack of citizenship here and said the honor ceremony would lead “to division” politically.
Fox said Kirk engaged in peaceful debate and mentioned Kirk’s Christianity. Lee was joined in her proposal at the podium by members of Kirk’s Turning Point organization at UT and said the message he left was “respectful civil discord and respectful debate.”
A roll call vote after the commission members’ back-and-forth remarks brought a 7-3-1 win for Lee’s motion, and those commissioners voting “Yes” joined Lee and the Kirk supporters for a photo.
County Grants to Non-Profits
The disagreements then moved to the Russell motion on the distribution of county grants, a proposed amendment to the county code requiring an audit of non-profits applying for funds, as well as a statement from applicants that they would not use funding to help undocumented residents.
Russell, an accountant, said her proposal would help create “accountability and transparency” from non-profit agencies requesting county funds. Fox said that local government funds are “crowding out contributors” to non-profits. Commissioners in opposition to the Russell proposal at first moved to delay a vote for 30 days and noted the next time for local non-profits to apply for county funding is in 2028. Commissioner Rawls said that 30 days is not enough time to study the issue and proposed a 180-day postponement.
Fox called the 180-day delay “too long” and said the proposal is “going to fade away” during that time. Commissioner Larsen Jay noted, “It takes time,” and suggested workshops on the proposal. Russell then pushed for a 90-day postponement instead, but Chairwoman Oster said the commission “needs time to do that.”
Commissioner Shane Jackson asked Russell to form a special committee, and Commissioner Kim Frazier backed the 180-day delay, noting that the commission had only received the entire language of the proposal the night before the meeting.
The 180-day motion, by Hill and Durrett, passed in an 8-1-2 vote with Lee and Fox abstaining and Russell voting “No.”
Hotel-Motel Taxes
Another proposed Fox-Russell change to county code, to designate how the county’s Hotel-Motel tax money is spent, was also delayed for 180 days on a motion from Jay.
Hill moved to appoint Fox and Russell to create a special committee and set up workshops on the issue. Fox was proposing that no county funds go to any nonprofit without knowing how the money would be used.
The 180-day postponement passed 9-0-2, with Fox and Russell abstaining.
