As a citizen, I expect our local government to provide right-sized governance, minimal services without bloat, low property taxes, and to stay out of the way of business. Transparency and truthfulness in the allocation of public funds are paramount.
The investigative journalism piece published by the Times Free Press shows that Mayor Weston Wamp presented inaccurate financial data on the Gateway school project to the Hamilton County Commission. It appears that our county mayor may have intentionally misled our commissioners. If true, this cannot occur. Our public finances are not political schemes; there are bond issues and banking involved. Accurate financial data is required for our commissioners to make informed decisions.
Our mayor has never managed public projects of this magnitude. It is crucial that our elected mayor relies on the county staff with vast capital project experience. They must lay everything on the table, with no secrets. If a county mayor in Tennessee knowingly misrepresents a capital project cost to the Hamilton County Commission, there are serious concerns about his ability to act as our public funds fiduciary. The county mayor’s misrepresentation of the project cost is a breach of duty in his elected capacity.
I want to believe we can trust our mayor to adhere to the constitutional processes defined in Tennessee Code Annotated for county government operations. The county’s financial well-being depends on this trust. Our County Commission should immediately put the brakes on all spending and contracts related to the Gateway project until a financial fact-finding investigation is conducted. This is about financial decisions influenced by inaccurate information provided by the county mayor. Shut down the project spending and get the facts as fiduciaries of public funds.
Why didn’t the county mayor follow the process to ensure checks and balances and share accurate data with the elected boards involved? That needs to be examined. If the financial decision-makers or board members were provided with inaccurate information by the county mayor, a stay must occur on the project.
Hamilton County Commissioners, I strongly urge you to be the public fiduciaries you were elected to be by issuing a stay on the Gateway project and ordering the finance director to conduct a fact-finding investigation. Then report accurate financial information to the public. Where was the finance department on this matter? If the Hamilton County Finance Department was aware of this inaccurate cost of the Gateway project, why didn’t they speak up? A finance department cannot allow false representations that could affect bond rating and creditworthiness.
It is chilling that one elected fiduciary would be untruthful with the other fiduciaries that hold the power of final say. Trust was allegedly breached, and it will be difficult for the commissioners to trust our mayor after the newspaper report. Whatever the county mayor’s motive, Wamp cannot engage in omission of fact that misleads the legal review and approval processes with elected boards.
In closing, Hamilton County Commissioners, please stay the Gateway project and order the Finance Department to conduct a financial fact-finding investigation to establish what is accurate financial information and what is false before proceeding with this project any further. The prior commission approvals should be stayed without delay. We the people must trust the review and approval process governing spending and bond issues. The good news is the checks and balances system worked for the people due to open records, called sunshine.
We are blessed y’all. Isn’t it great that open records and free speech is alive and well. In some countries, open dialogue is not possible for personal saftey.
April Eidson