I agree with Mark.

I think this notion comes from the same misconstruing of the definition of "quorum" as did Owings' proposed defense of this case.
Clearly, Fansler was talking about the number of commissioners needed to constitute a quorum when only 11 are lawfully seated. He was not advocating vote, swear-in, seat; vote, swear-in, seat -- he was saying that SIX is the only sensible quorum for an 11-member body rather than the usual 10. But evidently, however, there's no legal bar to prevent the appointees from running upstairs one-by-one and finding someone to swear them in, a la Bolus.
Realistically speaking, it might be tough to find a judge to do this, given the beating Fansler took in the rumor mill, though. Not many Hutchison allies in the local judiciary that I know of.

"§2.08. VACANCY., of the Knox County Charter provides that in the event of a vacancy in the office of a
member of the Commission, the remaining members of the Commission shall fill said vacancy. §2.05 of the
Knox County Charter defines quorum as a majority of the membership of the Commission. Membership is
commonly understood to mean the total number of members in a group. At present, with eleven members, a
quorum of the Knox County Commission would be six members.

This does not mean that for purposes of conducting business a quorum would be the majority of those present.
When a seat is filled, the person holding the seat is a member of the body. When the seat is vacant there can be
no member. It would be an absurdity to treat the vacant seats as if they were held by a phantom member for
purposes of determining the majority of the membership. Additionally, defining a quorum as a majority of
nineteen in these circumstances would in effect render the Knox County Commission ineffective inasmuch as
it would require ten votes of the eleven remaining members to conduct business."

Betty and Rachel, I'm sure Mayor Ragsdale agrees with you.

But Scoobie won't, will he?
I know you don't like Ragsdale, Chad, and you have good reasons. But what about the merits?

Betty, you're off a bit. I don't like some things Mayor Ragsdale and his staff have done. He has done some good things as well. I certainly have nothing against him personally. I had hoped for more from his administration. That is a sentiment shared by many Ragsdale supporters. There are enough enemies out there. You only increase their numbers when you make enemies out of friends. The reverse seems to work better. Just ask Bill Haslam.

It's not a bad idea because Ragsdale disagrees with it. It's bad for one because the 4th would be unrepresented in every appointment. The vacancy law doesn't take Knox County's form of government into account. It was also never intended to replace 12 at one time, but that's a dead dog I've beaten too much. Other districts are over/under represented through the process. As that can be cured, it should be. There is nothing to prevent someone who is appointed from being sworn in and taking a seat to vote.

I also think having all 19 consider the 4 county wide offices at a later date is a smart move. Those interested can submit resumes, participate in meetings and make speeches. The public will be better informed. I say make it all as fair and open as possible.

And Betty, as for the politics which will be at play here, you would agree that Ragsdale has the majority of influence if the 11 make all the appointments, yes?

I'm not sure what I'm for or who I'm for here in the 1st.I do know these 11 commissioners need to put the county's interest over any personal interest.Well at least 6 of them..anyway.Plus any plan the commission comes up with they should take to the judge for advisement.

Mayor Ragsdale needs to start fixin his probems...stay out of it.let the commission do whatever it is they are going to do...& work with the newly appointed members.If the Mayor plays politics it will blow up in his face.

I can't see anyone really helping themselves by trying to be too smart or trying to get an edge on someone else in this process, for their own advantage, or the advantage of their faction, at the expense of the general common good.

That's why I think the best thing is to create a process where a vote of the people selects the replacements, and this can be easily done, IMO, so long as you don't call it a "special election" and the Commission appoints the vote winners to fill the vacancies.

I think they would all be smart to go the "vote of the people" route.

Would a caucus work?
Could the commission hold district caucuces & a county wide cauccus run by the commission?
They set the rules..pass a will of the caucus resolution.

Why yes, Bill, we could caucus, have meetings, hold a special election and whatever else which would maximize the citizens voice (some of which isn't presently consistent with the law, but I digress). Call me cynical, but despite the lawsuit, verdict and judgment, I don't think we're quite 'there' yet. I'm not saying there will be any private meetings or agreements. I'm just saying there will always be politics involved.

Nothing prohibits the executive branch, interest groups (developers and others) and lobbyists from trying to get an upper hand with folks more friendly to their cause. And, I'm betting they'll all be doing just that. I guess we'll see how much impact the process for public input and citizens have on the decision(s). Just because there is no open meetings violation doesn't mean Commissioners will not have made up their mind. I mean, if Amy Broyles wants it will Mark Harmon vote any other way? Will Pinkston vote for Tramel? The list can go on.

It is a new day in many ways for Knox County. This lawsuit and judgment definitely mean something. I'm just not sure we know exactly what...yet.

I have a question on fee offices. Are the folks who got appointed collecting a county paycheck after 12:01 p.m. last Friday? Some were deputies before, but put others in those jobs. Now, they're just out of a job. No insurance and other benefits either, right? I wonder if these folks are still showing up for work(?).

The lack of a paycheck and insurance might drive some of these folks to place a call to their favorite Commish asking to make those new appointments asap.

BTW, I'm assuming we're only paying and providing benefits for 11 Commissioners too.

One other thing, I heard Herb Moncier on TV yesterday say he didn't get paid for this trial. Any bets on whether Herb or the KNS hit the county up with an attorney fee request? Will the cost savings of having a number of folks out of a job pay even 10% of the fees requested?

CBT

Guess I should have checked the KNS online. Story this afternoon...Witt, Jones and Sisk all re-hired as 'deputies'.

I'd suggest anyone who wants to have some input into this process show up at the October 15th County Commission meeting where they are going to discuss how to go about filling the empty seats. Unfortunately I won't be able to be there, but I hope some citizens show up and speak up.

My personal feeling is that absent some kind of special election whereby the public gets to say, only the 11 who were elected have the right to appoint the empty seats.