Commission votes to appoint Jeff Allis to Cumberland Utility District after executive withheld earlier nominations

Roane County commissioners appointed Jeff Allis May 11 to the Cumberland Utility District board after the county executive explained he had rejected earlier nominee lists while a comptroller’s criminal investigation into the utility district was ongoing.

County Executive (self-identified in the meeting) told commissioners he had been advised by the district attorney and the comptroller’s office to avoid appointments that might jeopardize an investigation and therefore had rejected three lists submitted previously. The executive said he spoke with Jeff Allis to clarify that rejecting the nomination was procedural and not a reflection on Allis.

At the commission meeting, the body opened nominations from the list of eight candidates the utility district had submitted. Commissioners nominated Allis and took a voice vote; the motion carried with no recorded opposition in the transcript. The county attorney had earlier advised the commission that, under Tennessee Code Annotated §7-82-307, when the executive rejects three lists the appointment responsibility shifts to the county commission and the commission is required to choose from the names provided.

The commission’s appointment resolves the immediate statutory deadline for filling the board seat; the transcript records the appointment but does not include an extended discussion of Allis’s background or the county’s vetting beyond references to submitted resumes and prior contact with candidates. The county attorney advised commissioners that failing to act could leave the appointment to uncertain judicial remedies, since the statute provides no explicit alternative.