Fri
Jul 13 2018
06:48 am
Early voting starts today, Democrats have choices for a change
By: R. Neal

Early voting starts today in the most important election since the last one. Democrats have more qualified candidates on the ballot than we've had in recent memory. I don't know whether to credit Mary Mancini or Trump. Anyway, vote like your life depended on it, because it very well could.

Here are the Knox Co. early voting locations and times. Here's the sample ballot.

For Blount Co., here are the early voting locations and times, and here's the sample ballot.

Make sure to bring an approved photo ID.

You can look up your registration status here, which includes info on your districts.

There is still time to request an absentee ballot. Persons 60 and older can vote absentee, no questions asked. Here's the Knox Co. application, and here's the Blount Co. application.

Finally, here's the list of Democrats on the ballot with links to their info.

Topics:
jmcnair's picture

Knox County Charter Amendment?

Submitted by jmcnair on Fri, 2018/07/13 - 10:29am.

That was the first I've heard of the charter amendment. Is it important? What are the two replaced sentences?

Mike Daugherty's picture

I just read the sample ballot

Submitted by Mike Daugherty on Fri, 2018/07/13 - 10:05pm.
(in reply to jmcnair)

I just read the sample ballot with charter amendments. There is never enough publicizing about the language and specifics in proposed charter amendments. Most people do not vote in local elections. That makes it even more important to educate the public on the consequences of charter amendments. Most voters do not give amendments much thought. Many proposed charter amendments have long lasting effects and implications. It is not very difficult to get an ill advised charter amendment passed.

R. Neal's picture

2.02.B last two

Submitted by R. Neal on Sat, 2018/07/14 - 7:26am.
(in reply to jmcnair)

2.02.B last two sentences...

No individual certified public accountant or firm of certified public accountants shall be employed to perform the audits for more than eight (8) consecutive years with an initial four (4) year term. At the end of the four (4) year term, Commission shall issue a Request for Proposals for the next four (4) year period.

Would be replaced with...

An individual certified public accountant or firm of certified public accountants shall be employed to perform the independent audits of the County as required under law. Upon employment by the County, the independent auditor shall serve at the pleasure of the Commission upon the recommendation of the Audit Committee. The hiring and replacement of an outside auditing firm shall require an outside auditing firm to submit a response to a Request for Qualification (RFQ) to the Audit Committee for review and recommendation to the Commission.

It appears the amendment would remove the 8 year (two four year) contract limit. It also changes the selection of the outside auditor from being made by Commission to being made by the audit committee.

Full text of 2.02: (link...)

jmcnair's picture

Down the rabbit hole.

Submitted by jmcnair on Sat, 2018/07/14 - 10:42am.
(in reply to R. Neal)

Thanks for the legwork, R.

So the four-year contracts are the only mechanism I see to require any change in the accountant contract award. Were the changes approved, there would be no scheduled review of the performance of those auditors, right? I can see that issuing RFPs and evaluating RFP responses every four years could be boring/tedious and rejecting (term-limiting) a competent CPA every 8 might not be necessary, but at some point that was written into the charter, presumably for a reason.

It looks like the immediate effect would be to allow continuance of the Pugh CPAs' contract. (they authored the reports for 2012-2017 - (link...) ) Was KPMG reporting too strict? Too lax? Too expensive? Did they not want more than a four-year stint?

I like to (and want to) trust that the people who know and work with that charter and audit have good reasons to suggest such changes so I'll probably vote yes, but still would like more information before I'm convinced it's necessary. Like Daugherty says "Many proposed charter amendments have long lasting effects and implications. It is not very difficult to get an ill advised charter amendment passed."

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