Knox County ethics subcommittee opens review of county code, opts to use CTAS model as starting point

Knox County — The Knox County Ethics Committee’s subcommittee on review of policies and procedures opened a formal review of the county code of ethics and agreed to collect proposed changes from members for discussion at future public meetings.

At the meeting the chair emphasized the goal of setting the subcommittee’s scope and invited members to submit suggested edits and model policies to Rhonda Bennett, the clerk who will forward documents to the group. The committee agreed to compare the county’s current code, last referenced in meeting materials as adopted or amended in 2018, with the County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) model policy from 2022 as a starting point.

Legal counsel David Sanders warned about legal constraints the subcommittee must respect. “There’s a state law on point that says the term ethical standards does not include personnel or employment policies,” he said, and added that allegations of criminal conduct would fall to the state attorney general or comptroller rather than the county ethics committee. Sanders also explained that if the county departs from CTAS model rules it would need to submit proposed policies to the state ethics board for review before county commission action.

Members discussed public engagement and document-sharing options. Committee members and an IT representative described possible approaches including a shared committee inbox or a test web page on the county site, and one member offered to create a OneDrive folder for large files. Sanders cautioned that some tools used by the full county commission may have cost and feasibility constraints and that redlined, multi-person collaborative documents exchanged outside a public meeting could constitute an unlawful deliberation.

The subcommittee conducted routine business by voice vote: Byron Wood was approved as vice chair and Mister Goodpastor was approved to serve as secretary; both approvals were recorded as voice votes with the chair announcing “the ayes carry.” No numeric tallies were provided in the meeting minutes.

Public comment yielded no registered speakers; an attendee in the room spoke briefly to encourage public participation and noted the meeting was being streamed. The chair closed public forum and reiterated meeting dates for future sessions — Friday, Nov. 7 at 8:30 a.m. and Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 8:30 a.m. — both to include opportunities for public comment.

What’s next: Committee members will send proposed redlines, reference materials and other suggested edits to Rhonda Bennett for public dissemination ahead of the next meeting. Counsel advised members to avoid commenting on or replying to committee-related social-media posts to prevent creating an inadvertent private deliberation.