Commission asks judge to review Hamilton County power dispute

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – There has been an ongoing debate within the Hamilton County Commission over who gets to pick key administrative staff. 

To try and help and resolve this situation, the commission asked the state comptroller’s office to clarify a 1941 law.

This dispute has been the result of weeks long dispute over whether the county mayor’s office or the commission should have the authority to hire those folks.

Wednesday, an attorney with the Tennessee MTAS advised that some of a 1941 law on how county government operates is valid while other portions are not.

This leaves commissioners with no clear direction, as some wonder whether this is something they should be focusing on at all.

Commissioner Joe Graham said, “It’s the way we’ve been doing all the way back to 1978. So, in my mind, the 1941 act is in play, I don’t see why we need a judge’s opinion because we’ve passed an org chart and we’ve moved past that decision.”

Commissioner David Sharpe continues to argue the county mayor has been given too much power to hire staff. He argued, “We cannot overrule, override state law on resolution and conform to state law.”

Chairman Jeff Eversole believes that this situation ultimately needs to be handled by a judge.

“We’ve got county business to take care of. We’ve got things to do. We’ve got roads to fix, and we’ve got infrastructure to continue to look at, and this, we need to get this distraction taken care of and gone,” said Chairman Eversole. “We’ve asked that, and the mayor has agreed that if we put together a list of questions, and we submit them to the courts to give us a resolution on their opinion, and the courts to rule, yes the 1941 Act is in existence or no it’s not, then we move on from the point. If we do it in that fashion as a group, no taxpayer money is being spent on attorneys.”

Chairman Eversole hopes that Attorney Taylor has those questions ready for a judge by next Wednesday.