Williams, Spangler exchange barbs
Farragut Mayor Ron Williams said he stands by his comments regarding law enforcement coverage in the town after receiving a letter from Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler accusing him of lying.
“I wasn’t lying,” Williams told the farragutpress on Thursday, May 28.
In a TV news interview, Williams said, “We pay our property tax, and out of that property tax, we’re supposed to have police protection, and we have none.”
That statement prompted a response from Spangler.
“When you made that statement, you knew that Knox County Sheriff’s deputies were still patrolling your town in the same way they have for the last 25 years,” Spangler wrote. “You knew there had been no decrease in patrol officer numbers or patrol officer hours in your town.
“You knew these facts, but you chose to lie about police protection in the Town of Farragut.”
Spangler added Williams owed sheriff’s deputies “an immediate apology.”
In the same TV report, Knox County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kimberly Glenn said calls are dispatched through E-911 rather than through a precinct.
Williams said his comments referred to the loss of a dedicated officer assigned to Farragut.
“When I said ‘we have none,’ it means the one police officer, Capt. Brad Hall, that we had is still reassigned to the jail in East Knoxville, where he has been since September,” Williams said.
“We have no complaints with the type of protection we have when we have it,” he added. “It’s just that we no longer have the police out here like we had before.”
As for Spangler’s demand for an apology, Williams said he has nothing for which to apologize.
“I don’t think I have anything to apologize for,” he said. “Lack of communication is a big problem. They need to apologize.”
Williams said he sent a letter to Spangler in March seeking better communication and additional law enforcement resources but said he received no response for months.
“Then, when I get something back, it’s a negative letter,” he said.
Williams said he requested a meeting with Spangler in October 2025 after the West Knox Precinct closed its Farragut location.
“He did not show up,” Williams said. “But we did get [Chief Deputy] Bernie Lyon and [procurement director] Hugh Holt.”
Williams said Town officials asked for better communication and requested the return of the precinct.
Williams said Pinnacle/Crawford Square general manager Darryl Whitehead told him the sheriff’s office originally moved from Farragut Town Hall to Pinnacle about 10 years ago because it needed more space.
At that time, Deputy Ben Harkins was assigned to Town Hall. Williams said Harkins also monitored the Town’s red-light camera system before retiring. Three other officers later served in the role, including Hall, who was reassigned in September.
Williams said the sheriff’s office paid about $200 annually for space at Pinnacle under a year-to-year agreement. He said Pinnacle officials offered an alternative location in the same complex after another tenant expressed interest in the original space, but the sheriff’s office vacated the property within 24 hours.
“We were notified by Darryl when it happened, and that’s when we called to get an appointment with Sheriff Spangler,” Williams said.
During the October meeting with Lyon and Holt, Williams and Town administrator David Smoak asked what it would cost for Farragut to fund two officers dedicated to serving the Town around the clock.
“What we needed to know was how much it was going to cost,” Williams said. “Even though our property tax was supposed to pay for that, it wasn’t getting done, so we needed to know what the cost would be.
“They said they would have to get back to us, and that was in October.”
In his letter, Spangler said the dispute centers on the relocation of the West Knox Precinct.
“The actual cause of your irritation with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office is the movement of the West Knox Precinct from inside the Town of Farragut to Cedar Bluff Road,” Spangler wrote. “The new precinct will be less than 5 miles from the old; the services provided will be exactly the same.”
Spangler added the sheriff’s office was forced to leave the Farragut location because the property owner sought a higher lease rate.
“As you know, the owners of the location in Farragut notified us that they had another tenant for our space and that we had to leave or pay ‘market’ value for the space,” he wrote. “‘Market’ value was more than we have available in the sheriff’s budget.”
According to the sheriff’s office, the new precinct is expected to open within two weeks and will serve Cedar Bluff, Hardin Valley, Farragut and Choto.
