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Resident raises transparency, conflict-of-interest concerns about town manager applicant
Summary
A resident who said they had applied for the town-manager job told the board they were denied access to applications and alleged a possible conflict of interest involving an applicant with ties to a contractor. The resident said redaction of applications for seven days and direction from two named officials contradicted the TCA.
A resident who identified themself as an applicant for Bluff City’s town-manager post used the meeting’s public-comment period to raise concerns about transparency and a possible conflict of interest in the hiring process.
“I had applied for the position of town managers, and I want you all to know that...I have only had the interest of this town at heart,” the resident said, adding the intent of their remarks was to inform the board, not to advance a personal interest. The resident told the board that one applicant scheduled for interview “is an employee of a contracting organization that the panel is contracting,” and called that circumstance “a conflict of interest.”
The resident also said they had tried to review applicants’ materials but were told the records were not available and later were told the files could not be viewed for seven days until redacted, “and that was by direction of Pete Parker and Paul Fry.” The speaker said that direction “is not in alignment with what the TCA says.” The transcript does not record a response from the board about those statements.
The resident said they had requested the applications via text message and in person and that staff initially said the records keeper did not have the files. The board did not make any formal ruling or take action in response to the public comment during the meeting.
Board business at the same meeting later moved to structured interviews of finalists and a vote to advance a top-scoring candidate to a background- and credit-check stage; no final hire was made that night. The resident’s public comment and the board’s hiring steps occurred in the same meeting but during distinct agenda items.
The resident named two officials — Pete Parker and Paul Fry — as directing the seven-day redaction; they also referenced “the TCA.” The transcript does not identify an official reply or provide documentation of the redaction decision. The board did not cite statutory authority in response to the comment on the record.
