When Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett appointed Burton Webb as the next Knox County Finance Director. The Editorial Board issued this editorial on April 4 with a veiled threat that if anything went wrong they would hold the Mayor accountable. The Mayor discovered new information and Webb's appointment was quickly rescinded.
The Big Metal Shed on the Hill editorialized here on April 11 supporting the Charter Review Committee proposing having the County Mayor appoint positions like Law Director, Trustee, Property Assessor and others. The bottom line is that the Big Metal Shed on the Hill only likes appointments from the County Mayor when they agree with the individuals that are appointed otherwise they do not like it. Hypocrisy at it's best or actually worse.
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Burchett knows he looked the other way and disregarded the obvious on the Burton Webb disaster. The Shed Heads knew how bad the commercial carnage was with Tennessee Log and Timber Homes that they simply threw down the gauntlet, knowing full well there were a half dozen lose ends that would fully encompass Knox County's Finance Director sooner rather than latter. For them it was a chip shot from 85 yards and Burchett put himself in this no win position not the Shed Heads. Prior to the Burton Webb fiasco, Burchett probably had a clean pass to appoint and argue for the appointment power of a revised charter form of government and appoint the Law Director, the Trustee, the Property Assessor and the Register of Deeds, but he went nuts and appointed a person everybody knew was going to be an extremely problematic hire that would soon be consumed by the litigation and protracted legal issues associated with the failure of Tennessee Log and Timber Homes. Point the finger at Burchett and his advisors, not the Shed Heads and their barrels of ink.
The interim guy should be OK, but I'd bet the position will be posted, circulated, interviewed, and fully vetted after Burchett has exhausted what remaining political capital he has available for use. Webb was 10 times the PR disaster and potentially a mortal political wound for Burchett compared to Lobsterboy Hospitality Account manager John Werner was under the Ragsdale administration.
Troyer's new gig at Alcoa pays a little bit more that what he pulled at Knox County, but the entire City of Alcoa budget, including schools in less that a tenth of what the Knox County Schools budget really is. He could probably do the math over there with his eyes closed.
There should be qualifications to each of these elected positions, but it's just the good ole boy system still. I truly hope that they make them elected positions with a list of qualifications just like any other job with the county. It would cut out a bunch of this bulls*** and waste of money.
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