I have had an opportunity to find out some new information related to the area of Ethics, Ethics Policy and how they should be handled in Blount County.

Under the Ethics legislation in the State of Tennessee there are only 2 areas that can be addressed in a counties Ethics Policy and those are:

1. Perceived Conflict of Interest
2. The acceptance of gifts and other things of value

A complaint in one of these areas should be for an alleged action that has occurred in the past.  According to the County Technical Advisory Services legal staff, the person or committee, whatever structure or individual that is assigned the duty of hearing these complaints should be prepared to dispose of a complaint in 1 of 3 ways.

1. Pass the issue to either the District Attorney or County Attorney for the proper legal action
2. In the event that it is about a employee of one of the elected officials of Blount County, the appropriate office holder should be advised that the employee has broken the County Ethics Policy and in which area.
3. Publicly declare the complaint has no standing and why, then dispose of the complaint by voting according to the previous statement.

Based on the information that I have received, many on the questions I did have, most are no longer applicalble.

More to come.....

mike@commissionerwalker.com