The following memorandum contains background information on the county budget that might be of interest, particularly to anyone planning to attend any candidate forums, community meetings and so forth. Also, the full budget is available on line, here

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County

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TO: All County Commissioners

I'm going to seize the opportunity to hijack the discussion. After all, I work for the government.

If you, or someone you care about, has dealt with cancer at some point in their lives, comedian Robert Schimmel has a book titled Cancer on $5 a Day (*chemo not included).

It is NOT suitable for anyone with delicate sensibilities, but it's a pretty personal glimpse into his experiences, and is outrageously funny (and sufficiently profane that many would regard it as offensive). At the same time, it is often very, very moving. It's a good read.

Dwight Van de Vate
dvandevate.com

are now on line. P-cards are available here and T-cards are available here

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

The following is an e-mail recently sent to County Commission that contains information about what is available on Knox County's web site. Some of these items may be of interest to KnoxViews readers.

TO: All County Commissioners

FROM: Dwight Van de Vate

As we enter the New Year, I wanted to remind you that we keep substantial amounts of information available to the Commission and the public on the County's web site, knoxcounty.org. If you go to our home page and look on the right side, you will see a banner labeled "County Snapshot." Under it you will find the following links:

Purchasing card statements for the last two years. We began posting them monthly in early 2008, as a way to illustrate for the public the scope and effectiveness of the program. As you can see, almost a million dollars a month in goods and services are purchased on p-cards. When we began posting these, I would normally post a notice on a couple local blogs, (KnoxViews, KnoxBlab, etc), but eventually having the records available every month was sufficient.

Travel card statements for Knox County government are now available on line on the county website.

Travel cards are a new method to help individual departments monitor and reconcile travel expenses. If you have questions about a particular transaction, it should be directed to the department responsible for that card.

P-card statements are also available at Knoxcounty.org on the right hand side of the home page, under "County Snapshot."

Dwight Van de Vate

Really just not sure what to say about this.

I expect our host would say either "Now, then." Or he might stick with the understated classic "Heh."

The following remarks were made today by Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale in response to the report published by State Attorney General Robert Cooper:

I’d like to begin by offering my deepest personal thanks to the following:

State Attorney General Bob Cooper and his qualified staff;
Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Bill Bright;
Our own District Attorney General Randy Nichols; and the
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
They have been capable and professional in every respect. They have risen above political hysteria and personal animosity and they have served the citizens of Knox County with distinction.

Three attorneys, seven investigators, 59 witnesses and a review of over 10,000 documents have revealed that there are, and I quote, no “facts to warrant the institution of criminal proceedings against any public official in connection with county purchasing cards, use of the mayor’s hospitality fund, community grants, and the stock ownership of IdleAire.” This investigation also found no evidence that any of the p-card holders intended to deprive Knox County of either property or money.

I was pleased that the examination of the Knox Hospitality fund found that the account was used in an open and public manner and that there was no evidence that contributions were made by donors with the intent to secure some preferential treatment. It has been very difficult during this time to see the motives of many of our community’s non-profit organizations and our staff questioned. This report found that there was no evidence that any benefits were provided to any public officials in exchange for awarding any of the grants that were identified in the audit report.

During all of this, we have kept our priorities. We have continued to focus on the things that matter the most: schools, jobs, economic development, public health and general county services.

Going forward, we are going to continue to keep our priorities and we are going to have our best year ever. By serving our families, our seniors, our students, and our veterans we are going to spend the next year working as hard as we ever have to make Knox County the best it can be.

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

The June p-card statements are now available here.

Also, we have placed two amplifications in the newsroom.

but the March purchasing card statement for Knox County is now available at knoxcounty.org

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

Here's what will hopefully be a timely reminder- information about the vehicle fleet of Knox County is posted on our website. The records were updated this week and have the most current information available to Fleet Management.

Also, the November and December 2008 p-card statements are now up on the web and available for your review. Simply go to (link...) and look on the right hand side of the home page. All this information is available under the "County Snapshot" section of the page. We also have the County Charter, the current budget and the latest bids awarded by purchasing (click the "Recent Awards" button). There is also a button labeled "Position Summary" which has salary information for all positions in the Knox County Human Resources system.

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

We have added a bit of new information about your government to knoxcounty.org (link...). On the right hand side of the home page, you will now see a section titled "County Snapshot." Under it is a row of buttons linking to information about the business of Knox County. While a number of these have been in place for some time, we added an additional one today, "Position Summary." This links to a chart listing all of the positions currently in Knox County's Human Resources system, along with related salary information.

Other buttons link to current p-card statements, fleet records and to purchasing information. The "Recent Awards" button lists all of the bids recently awarded to companies doing business with the County. If you have an interest in seeing how your tax dollars are spent, you really should take a look.

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Mayor's Office

at knoxcounty.org

P-card statements are on the home page, in a column of buttons on the right hand side. Please remember that the statements reflect the transactions for the prior month. The statement listed as September includes August charges totaling $703,478. The statement listed as October includes September charges totaling $677,293, for all departments and offices of Knox County Government.

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Mayor's Office

her July statement would now be on-line at (link...). Also, just as a reminder, fleet records, the Knox County Charter, the Knox Hospitality Audit, the Rodefer-Moss Human Resources Audit, and the Knox County budget are all available in the same row of buttons. We will be adding a button in the near future for "Recently Awarded," which will link to Knox County Purchasing and will provide a list of contracts let by the county.

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

Management's response to the draft "Review of Mayor's Hospitality Account" will be posted later this afternoon here (link...)

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

is now posted on the Knox County website. (link...)

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

Please check the Knox County website for the initial response of the Mayor's Office to the draft audit of the Knox Hospitality fund. It should be posted shortly. Our website can be found here

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Government

UPDATE: Mayor's office initial response.

We have posted a short article that outlines additional changes and improvements to the procurement card policy. The two key elements are that all General Purchasing (GP) cards will now be subject to annual review and approval, and all monthly procurement card statements will be available on the county website for review.

For more information, go to (link...)

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Mayor's Office

Purchasing Card Audit Response

WHO: Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale
John Troyer, Chief Financial Officer
Dwight Van de Vate, Chief Administrative Officer
Hugh Holt, Purchasing Director

WHAT: Mayor’s Presentation of Audit Response

WHEN: 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, 2008

WHERE: Small Assembly Room, City/County Building

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: County Mayor Mike Ragsdale will deliver management’s response to the review of Purchasing Card Charges and Expense Reimbursements (Procurement Card Audit). This will include comments by the Mayor and a brief overview from senior staff involved in preparing the response, concluding no later than 3:30 p.m.