Farragut board calls special meeting after agenda error
Instead, they used the meeting to address issues concerning a proposed hiring of an economic development director.
Town administrator David Smoak said the agenda that was published in the farragutpress was dated April 9 when it should have been dated April 23, “although all the agenda items are properly noticed; they’re on the agenda.
“Out of abundance of caution, I would just ask that we defer tonight’s items that the Board was going to be voting on for the next meeting or for a special called meeting,” Smoak said.
Mayor Ron Williams made the motion to hold a called meeting, and it was seconded by Alderman Joe LaCroix.
Then, Williams brought up a subject “that needs to be discussed. This is as good a time to go ahead and do it since we don’t have anything else that we’re going to be talking about.
“Before our April 19 meeting, the Board had a workshop to continue our budget discussions, including proposed new staff positions,” he said. “These workshops, just like those we’ve held since February, exist so Board members can raise concerns, ask questions and offer suggestions.
At the April 9 workshop, among the proposed staff positions, Board members discussed the proposed economic development coordinator.
“Throughout that discussion, Alderman [Alex] Cain offered no comments, no questions, no concerns, no feedback on the role … responsibilities or the cost,” Williams said. “That’s why I’m surprised to open the April 15 farragutpress to find a letter from Alderman Cain outlining the extensive concerns about this very position.
“This letter included detailed assertions about the role, assertions that were not raised during our workshop and several statements that, in my view, mischaracterize the duties of the economic development coordinator,” the mayor said. “Some of those misstatements, since then, have been circulated on social media.
“To ensure the public receives accurate information, I believe this Board should revisit this discussion in open session,” he said. “If the job description needs clarification, this is the appropriate venue to do it.
“And given Alderman Cain expressed his concerns, I ask that he share with the Board and the community the specific details and reasoning behind his position,” Williams said. “To do so would allow us to correct the record and provide clear, factual information about this important role.”
“After we looked at it, I went home and thought about it some more,” Cain explained. “That’s why I wrote the letter like I did because I felt that this exactly was what was needed for this type of position was a discussion in a public forum.
“A workshop is great, but it’s not available to people that can’t make it,” he said. “They can’t see it at home. They may not be able to make it at 5 o’clock, and I felt that this was going to be the best spot to debate and discuss this position.
“At that point, I felt it was necessary that people understood what was being proposed,” Cain said.
One resident, Dian Hall (and candidate for North Ward
alderman), addressed the Board during the Citizens Forum segment at the end of the meeting, asking that the Board’s workshops be recorded for people, like herself, who cannot attend.
“I’m surprised that we’re going to bring this up like this tonight,” Cain said. “I do think that we need to have a good, open discussion about it because it’s an awful lot of
money to be put into the budget for a position, a staff member,” he said in regard to the $115,936 annual salary proposed for the economic development coordinator.
“And then, if you turn around and look at the mission of the Farragut Business Alliance and the mission of the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce, they fall in almost the same type of professional work as the general definition of this job description,” he added. “We provide them with a lot of money out of our budget to do exactly what this job entails,” Cain said.
“I think we need to give Mr. Smoak and staff clear guidance on where the Board stands and where we need to go,” Alderman Joe LaCroix said.
“I think there’s been a discombobulated effort for business development in Farragut for a while,” Vice Mayor Scott Meyer said. “I think this position meets that need.”
He said he sees the position as a point of contact
for businesses to reach out
to get through the Town’s
departments.
Williams related the Town’s economic development history and added Farragut Business Alliance and Chamber do not recruit businesses into Town, and the Town’s Tourism Department recruits visitors.
“So we haven’t had anyone to get out there and sell Farragut,” he said. “Us being a sales tax-based town, it’s critical that we have constant income coming in from the sales tax.”
