Bailey Hufstetler introduces Moderator Calvin Sneed
Full capacity crowd attended the question and answer session to hear the County Executive Candidates
Six of the seven candidates for Rhea County Executive squared off Monday night in the Historic Courthouse in front of a full capacity crowd. From left to right are Jim Vincent, Rusty Rogers, Dustin Henderson, Brittany Fisher-Dean, Marty Revis and Adam McRorie
Calvin Sneed greets the people at the Rhea County Courthouse after the County Executive question and answer session
Facing a capacity crowd in the main courtroom of the historic Rhea County Courthouse, six of the seven candidates for county executive squared off against each other in an hour and a half question and answer session.
In the same arena that William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow faced off in debating evolution in 1925, the candidates gave 90-second answers to questions that had been submitted by the public.
Bailey Hufstetler, local real estate agent, put on the event which was moderated by Local 3’s Calvin Sneed.
The veteran newscaster is retired from News Channel 9 as the 6 and 11 anchor. He has also worked for WKPT in Kingsport, Tn.
Candidates drew for order of how they would answer the questions. Interim County Executive Jim Vincent led off with County Commissioner Rusty Rogers following. Newcomers to politics Dustin Henderson and Brittany Fisher-Dean followed. Local housebuilder Marty Revis came next and Dayton Assistant Fire Chief Adam McRorie was the last contestant. Jeremy Horton did not attend the event.
Questions ranged from:
- If you are elected county executive how do you plan on growth while keeping Rhea County's small-town appeal
- For years residents on the north end of the county have felt a disconnect from the south end. What are your plans to bridge that gap?
- Whether or not you know what the job of county executive involves
- Lots of citizens feel there has been a lack of transparency in local county government for quite some time. How would you solve this?
The one question that sparked a lot of comment and a follow-up question came on the issue of the landfill. The original question to the candidates was the recycling program some citizens feel has not been a priority for some time. They were asked: What are your views on recycling and do you have plans to revitalize the program?
All candidates agreed that the county needs to ramp up the recycling program, but it was Marty Revis that brought up the landfill in response to the recycling program.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done at the landfill. The recycling program I believe is stalled because of those problems. What are we going to do when our landfill is filled up with other counties' garbage? We need to bring the landfill home," said Mr. Revis.
Moderator Sneed then asked the question, “Not being from Rhea County, is the landfill in danger of filling up?"
Final question brought a humorous answer from candidate Revis. Mr. Sneed challenged all six of the candidates to tell the audience something about themselves "that we have not heard before." When it came to Revis’s turn to answer he said, “If you look up here on the stage you will see some fine people. If they were not running for county executive, they would be voting for me.”
This brought a large applause from the audience.
Each candidate is running in the county general election to be held on Aug. 4. They will be replacing former county executive George Thacker, who resigned in April after being indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of wire fraud. He has plead guilty and will be sentenced on Sept. 22. He had been the county executive for the past 12 years.