lettertotheeditor
Reader defends Cain, sharply critical of Povlin couple acts
In the last Farragut (Municipal) Planning Commission meeting on July 17, chairman Ron Pinchok could not attend, so the vice chair Louise Povlin (former Farragut Vice Mayor) chaired the meeting.
Povlin did not read the e-mail from Aldermen Alex Cain and David White to the Planning Commission as requested. Louise Povlin has resorted to a false cover story through her husband’s words that it was a Sunshine Law violation as the reason she did not comply with the instructions of two elected Aldermen.
I thank the farragutpress for making this e-mail public. Ironically, many more people are aware of this serious issue than if the e-mail had been read into the record on the Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission is an un-elected advisory board that is subordinate to the elected Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Povlin refusing to read the e-mail into the record was an act of insubordination.
Louise Povlin is neither a chancellor nor a judge. She had no authority or standing to disobey the elected Aldermen. As the former Vice Mayor of Farragut, she knows this better than anyone.
Povlin simply did not want the public to know the contents of the e-mail because it reflected very badly on her conduct and the conduct of others on the Planning Commission.
This cover-up is ridiculous because the Sunshine Law distinguishes the difference between a discussion, which is allowed and happens all the time, and a deliberation on an agenda item, which is not allowed by state law.
The subject of the e-mail Povlin refused to read into the record was about “the 2024 re-branding of the Turkey Creek Greenway Project” to the “Turkey Creek Multi-Modal Road Improvement Project” in an effort to circumvent state law on using eminent domain to seize land for greenways.
Aldermen Cain and White both had enough of the word games and sent essentially a cease and desist warning to the Planning Commission. A warning that was rejected and rebuked.
This 2024 rebranding to evade state law has not been, and is not scheduled to be on any Planning Commission or Board of Mayor and Aldermen agenda, so a Sunshine Law violation is impossible.
Another way to think of this is to ask how a Sunshine Law violation is cured. It is cured by a re-vote of the agenda item of the violation. There was no agenda item in either body, meaning there was no violation.
The Letter to the Editor last week from Jay Povlin, the husband of Louise Povlin, is bereft of fact and meaning. It has no foundation in law.
Jay Povlin falsely claims “Alex Cain and David White violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act (Sunshine Law) by privately discussing and agreeing on a vote outside of public view.”
There was no vote because there was no agenda item, so there can be no violation. Jay Povlin’s letter and claims are false and contrived. They are malicious libel and slander. Jay Povlin demands, “FOIA requests for all communications between the Aldermen and a potential civil complaint in Knox County Chancery Court.” There is no legal basis for this bogus threat. It is only misdirection from the serious conduct of Louise Povlin defying the instruction of two elected aldermen.
Louise Povlin should be removed from the Planning Commission for insubordination and conduct unbecoming a Planning Commission member.
Mike Mitchell, Farragut
