Tom Salter, who had previously started work on a Knox County Charter amendment banning nepotism among other things, has joined forces with the One Question organization.

The One Question is: "What changes, if any, do the citizens want to make to the form or structure of Government in Knox County?"

Tom notes that the group has been incorrectly tagged as a "metro government" group, which it is not. Instead, it is intended to begin a public input process regarding what changes are needed in Knox County government in light of recent events and prepare a report for the public.

The group's first meeting will be Monday, May 14, 2007 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Halls High School, 4321 E. Emory Road, 37938. Public participation is invited. More info and the schedule for the remaining meetings can be found at the Knox County One Question website [1]. Read Tom's announcement with more info after the jump.

In related news, don't forget the Town Hall Meeting on Knox Government Ethics [2] tomorrow, Tuesday May 1st at 7PM at the East Tennessee History Center Auditorium.

Read more about One Question...

From Tom Salter....

Dear Friends,

For some of you this is new information, for others it is an update. Earlier this year I had begun working with a small group of friends to explore a possible citizen petition drive to amend the County Charter to deal with nepotism, conflicts of interest, etc. During that time I learned of other similar citizen-driven efforts. One of those efforts has become the group Knox County - One Question. The group wants to answer the question: What changes, if any, do the citizens of Knox County want to make to the structure and function of local government? There have been some news reports on this group. I am working as a volunteer with that group now and urge you to look at the opportunity now before us.

A public official who recently pushed the idea of talking about unified government has already tried to undermine the work of Knox County - One Question, incorrectly branding it as a pro-metro group and that the outcome is pre-determined. I can tell you that there is no agenda for or against any ideas. Knox County - One Question is not for or against metro or consolidation. It is a real information gathering process.

This group will do this:

1) manage a public input process to record the opinions of citizens on the structure and function of local government, and

2) take those opinions along with the results of a study of local government best practices by the UTK Howard Baker Center to prepare a report to the public on what options we have as a community for the future of our government.

Some public officials have already gone on record saying this is not a role the public should take and that our current elected officials can take care of such things. Nothing could be further from the truth. Private citizens can do this and I believe we have an obligation to speak our mind about the future of local government. Citizens, under the current charter, have the power to create any form of government we want.

What can you do?

Attend the public input sessions and bring your friends. Tell everyone on your email list, your co-workers, neighbors, club members, family members, etc. about the public input sessions. You can also follow the story of Knox County - One Question in the news and contact editors with your thoughts on the process.

Here is a link to the Knox County - One Question website [3] with information on all the meeting dates, times and places.

Once the results of the public input session and Baker Center Study have been made public the group will disband. The citizens of Knox County can then use the report as the basis for further action to change the structure or function of local government if desired.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Tom Salter
wtsalter@gmail.com [4]
691-1056 (home)