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Hamblen County commission approves attorney bills in road commission lawsuit after heated debate
Summary
Commissioners voted 13-0 Jan. 23 to accept and pay attorney invoices tied to litigation involving the county road commission after questions from Commissioner Edna Green about alleged overpayments and restitution.
The Hamblen County Commission voted unanimously Jan. 23 in Morristown to accept and pay attorney bills tied to litigation involving the county road commission, after several commissioners pressed for clarification on whether previous payments had been improper.
Commissioner Edna Green told the commission the payments appeared to violate a private act that required road commissioners to attend meetings in order to be paid, and said "they were not attending. They got paid illegally. They took money illegally." Green also said two people named in the dispute had not repaid any of the alleged overpayments.
County Attorney Capps responded that while the road commission is a separate county entity, the county itself had been named as a defendant in litigation and that is why the county is defending the suits and paying related bills. The mayor and other commissioners said legal questions remained but that some defendants were in the process of reimbursing the county.
The attorney invoices had been pulled from the consent calendar for discussion. Commissioner Rodney Long made the motion to accept the bills as presented; Stan Harville seconded. The motion passed on a recorded voice vote of 13 yeas, 0 nays.
Commissioners who raised the issue asked staff to continue efforts to collect any repayments, and several said they wanted the legal questions resolved in pending litigation. No additional formal action was taken to change how those bills are billed to county funds at this meeting.
