The County Commission on Wednesday overruled four vetoes by County Mayor Weston Wamp of commission resolutions related to his attempts to fire County Attorney Rheubin Taylor.
County Mayor Wamp had issued the vetoes on Monday at the end of his time for doing so.
Unanimously overruled were vetoes on:
- A resolution to protect and insure the integrity of the county attorney's office
- A resolution to insure the continuation of all government operations and contracts
- A resolution to establish a civil service system for employees of county general government
- A resolution for a moratorium on any termination of employees until the civil service system was in place.
The commission, after overturning the vetoes, proceeded to rescind the two resolutions on civil service. They did so after attorney Dee Hobbs of the county attorney's office said county general government employees are already under a form of civil service. He said it might be possible to do some tweaks to that system.
Commissioner Steve Highlander said he did not favor the commission moving to "a full-blown federal-type civil service system."
County Mayor Wamp urged the commission not to go forward with enhancing civil service, saying it would be "the first Republican body in decades to do so. Please do not take us further toward civil service."
At the start of a lengthy discussion, County Mayor Wamp said, "I am very hopeful we can get to a resolution of this issue. We were not elected to be at odds with one another or to be lawyering up."
He said, "I don't want to be adversarial. A couple of the vetoes came at the request of several members of the commission."
Attorney John Konvalinka, who has been advising the commission, issued a three-page opinion defending the validity of the four-year contract given County Attorney Taylor by the prior County Commission in 2021. He cited a section of state law from 1983 saying that such contracts could be awarded past the term of the current commission.
County Mayor Wamp said he was relying on opinions from CTAS and a Knoxville attorney saying the contract could be held invalid in court.
County Attorney Taylor has filed suit in Chancery Court against the county mayor on the issue.
Commission Vice Chairman Joe Graham praised County Attorney Taylor, saying, "He is an honorable man. I would trust him with my wife and my billfold."
He said he had always understood that the county attorney and the auditor "were half the county mayor's and half ours." He said one possible resolution would be for County Attorney Taylor to work for the commission and for County Mayor Wamp to hire his own attorney.
Vice Chairman Graham said former County Mayor Claude Ramsey had hired Mike Carter for his attorney.
Commissioner Jeff Eversole said there should be a "moving on" from the Wamp-Taylor standoff. He said, "We spent the first hour and a half of this meeting on this. We've got pressing business to take care of."
Commissioner Greg Beck raised the issue of the county mayor having seized contents of the Taylor computer, having instructed the sheriff to block him from going into the office, and stopping his health insurance. Attorney Konvalinka said the County Commission has oversight of county buildings.
Commissioner Gene-O Shipley said he had hoped for a resolution of the dispute, but "we have made very little progress today. The longer this goes the more it is going to fester." He said he hopes it is resolved in the next few weeks.
County Mayor Wamp said the Taylor office "has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. It is not the most efficient county office."
He said, "I would not have made the decision I did (to fire the county attorney) if I was not certain I would win in court."
The Konvalinka cost was put at $10,000. Commissioner David Sharpe asked the county mayor's office for information on how much an attorney for the county mayor was costing.
County Mayor Wamp said contract extensions for the county attorney go far back. He said those were entrenched "and it has worked pretty damn well" for the county attorney.