Commission, mayor debate who should get to hire county administrators

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- There is an ongoing debate within the Hamilton County government over how it should be structured.

The topic of debate on Wednesday at the legal committee of the Hamilton County Commission is who should get to choose who picks various administrators.

Hamilton County Commissioner David Sharpe believes state law from 1941 gives commissioners that right.

However, Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp and other commissioners say that law has been overridden.

Currently, administrators are selected by Mayor Wamp and his Chief of Staff, Claire McVay.

An older example of an organization chart attached to a proposed resolution.(From: Hamilton County Government)

An organizational chart from Hamilton County Government shows how they are directly numerous county departments.

Meanwhile, county commissioners only are able to hire legislative staff for themselves.

However, Commissioner Sharpe believes that should change, as he has drawn up a new organizational chart that would put the chief of staff under the Commission’s purview, not the Mayor.

He argues the commission should be working to limit the power of the Mayor.

Sharpe argued, “As this Commission over the last how many years it’s been has abdicated its power, our ability to correct a wrong is just limited to having a cooperative mayor.”

Mayor Wamp and other commissioners cite a 1978 amendment to Tennessee state code that gives a county executive the right to create offices and positions not specified in state law, otherwise known as private acts.

One of the main criticisms from Sharpe and a few other commissioners is an increase in the county budget to over a billion dollars because of new positions created such as chief operating officer,  which has been filled by David Roddy.

The current county organization chart. (From: Hamilton County Government)

However, Mayor Wamp says these changes will save county taxpayers money in the long run.

He said, “I won’t apologize at all for the fact I did come into office believing that we needed more staff and manpower in order to do the job as well as possible, and in order to take full advantage of an opportunity we saw to save taxpayer money by negotiating aggressively on behalf of county taxpayers.”

Most commissioners say they want an legal outside opinion before making a final decision, although several indicated they do not support Sharpe’s proposal.

Commissioner Lee Helton said, “I tell you what, it’s making us look like the rear end of a donkey to the entire state of Tennessee… I will not be supporting this resolution under any circumstances.”

Commissioner Gene-O Shipley asked, “Who would the Chief of Staff answer to? All 11 of us? Where would she go? Who would she deal with?”

The commission plans to vote on which organizational chart they want to approve after receiving an opinion from the Tennessee Attorney General’s office.

The proposed organization chart from Mayor Wamp’s office delegates responsibilities between the chief of staff, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer, for hiring across various departments.

The proposed county organization chart by Chief of Staff Claire McVay. (Courtesy: Hamilton County Government)