Ethics Committee Minutes, April 6, 2009

BLOUNT COUNTY ETHICS COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, April 6, 2009 - 6:00 p.m. Room 315, Blount County Courthouse MINUTES Members Present:

Roy Crawford, Jr., Gary Farmer, Ron French, Joe McCulley and Wendy Pitts Reeves

Members Absent:

None

Others Present:

Joe King, Linda King, Carol Ross, Rhonda Pitts and others

1. Call to Order Chair Wendy Pitts Reeves called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call Rhonda Pitts called the roll. 3. Approval of Minutes Ron French made a motion to approve the minutes of the January 5, 2009, Ethics Committee meeting. Joe McCulley seconded the motion. A voice vote was taken with Chair Reeves declaring the motion approved. 4. Public Input on Items on the Agenda There was no public input on items on the agenda. 5. Old Business a. Committee Membership The Ethics Committee discussed the addition of citizen members to the Ethics Committee. Chair Reeves reviewed the previously distributed draft membership proposal regarding adding citizens to the Ethics Committee. Roy Crawford explained a proposal he had drafted concerning changes to the Ethics Policy, Section 5, Ethics Complaints. He asked if the committee might consider recommending to the full Commission the addition of 2 citizen members now and to be appointed through September, 2010; and in September of 2009, appoint 3 additional members with 2 year terms. He stated the Mayor would nominate and the Commission would appoint. Mr. Crawford stated the members could not be employees or officials of Blount County Government, nor could they have direct relatives who were officials or employees of Blount County Government, with direct relatives defined as spouse, parents, or children. Mr. Crawford stated until September, 2009, there would be 7 members; and after that, there would be 5 members on the Ethics Committee. The committee discussed making the term limits for all members a maximum of (2) two year terms. The committee discussed removing the words “each year” from the third line of the first paragraph of the proposed policy for Section 5 of the Code. The committee discussed turning in the applications and resumes to the Human Resources Department to Betsy Cunningham for review before the applicants’ names and information are given to the Mayor for nomination. Chair Reeves summarized the procedure as follows: 1.) The application would be published on line. 2.) The openings for citizens to serve would be announced in the newspaper. 3.) The Human Resources Director would accept the applications and review as needed. 4.) The Human Ethics Committee Meeting Minutes – April 6, 2009 – Page 1

Resources Director would forward the applications and resumes to the County Mayor. 5.) The County Mayor would recommend the appointments to the County Commission. 6.) The members’ terms would be for two years. 7.) The term limits would be (2) two year terms for all members. The Committee agreed to use the draft for the “Request to Serve Application for the Blount County Ethics Committee,” with the following changes in the draft: The last sentence of the first paragraph of the draft application would be changed to read, “If you have questions, you may call Betsy Cunningham in the Human Resources Department at 865-273-5781 or send an e-mail to [email protected].” The words “Home Street” would be changed to read “Mailing Address.” Commissioner French made a request for all applications and resumes that are submitted to the County Mayor be included in the Commission meeting packets. Gary Farmer made a motion to approve the changes as discussed, and to recommend to the full Commission at its May meeting a resolution with the changes. Ron French seconded the motion. A voice vote was taken, with Chair Reeves declaring the motion to have passed. 6. New Business There was no new business. 7. Next Meeting The Ethics Committee agreed to meet again on July 13, 2009, at 6:00 p.m., in Room 430 at the Blount County Courthouse. 8. Adjournment Commissioner Farmer made a motion, which was seconded by Commissioner French, to adjourn the meeting. Chair Reeves declared the meeting to be adjourned. The Ethics Committee meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. on April 6, 2009.

Ethics Committee Meeting Minutes – April 6, 2009 – Page 2