Commission delays vote on county attorney
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- The Hamilton County Commission was supposed to decide on whether or not to appoint a new county attorney on Wednesday.
However, they threw a curveball in the process.
Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp has long wanted to appoint a new county attorney, and named attorney Janie Parks Varnell to take over for current county attorney Rheubin Taylor when his contract expires in June.
However, the transition plan proposed by the mayor is causing commissioners to state that they’re hitting pause.
Commission Chairman Jeff Eversole said, “We were handed a resolution last week and not all commissioners have been communicated to about a future appointment.”
Chairman Eversole says his concern about Mayor Wamp’s appointment was shared by other commissioners.
Varnell was introduced as the nominee last week, as Mayor Wamp said he wanted to get her in the building beginning in January to start a six month transition.
However, Attorney Taylor said this last week that seemed to challenge this plan.
Taylor stated at that previous meeting, “I will tell you that the resolution that is presented, the two resolutions in front of you, is in violation of our contract, and ethically I don’t think I should say any more. I want to put that on the record.”
In response to that, the Commission has retained John Kovalinka, the same attorney they used in 2022, to deal with this situation since Attorney Taylor cannot be the counsel.
That was not brought to a vote before the public, and we asked Chairman Eversole if it had to be, to which he said it did not.
Chairman Eversole says this decision on Wednesday was necessary to make sure all of the proper steps are followed.
He said, “I’ve never in my career, and I’ve been in the business world for 40-41 years, and I’ve never had an experience where we put someone’s name out there where their name is going to be what their pay is going to be, what their structure is going to be, those questions to be decided, that really puts the individual in a really awkward situation.”
Chairman Eversole hopes that the extra time can bring about an amicable solution.
He said, “I’ve never had a situation where we put the cart this much in front of the horse. The goal today of this 11-0 vote is to stop, stay in our tracks, put things in order so we get the horse back in front of the cart and make sure that we’re making the right decisions for the county number one, and also for Mrs. Varnell. I mean we need to make sure she has some protection in this thing as well. She has a say so. “
We have reached out to Mayor Wamp for a response to the commission’s decision, but he has not responded to the decision as of Wednesday evening.
The new vote has been scheduled for the next Commission meeting on January 8th.
