Doyle-ing It Out
Arp The First Year

It's only prudent for the voters to be aware of the actions of their elected officials. Time has a way of proving predictions and promises. Mr. Arp has now had is feet under the mayor's desk for a little more than a year. It would be fair to take a close look at his actions thus far.

Arp's first order of business after moving in the county building was to lock it down. Mr. Arp spent thousands of dollars to put a security lock on the main entrance door of the county offices followed shortly by video cameras. Anyone wishing to visit any county office first has to check in with him.

Arp's next big event was an attempt to keep the public out of public records. Price tag to the tax payers for this little adventure was about 50 grand or more thus far. In the process Mr. Arp brought scorn, ridicule and embarrassment on Loudon County from across the state.

Arp "dogged" commission into being the surrogate animal shelter for his buddy, Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham, because Blount County no longer wanted to pay Maryville to handle their stray animals. The short term deal, now approaching a year, for Blount county is still ongoing with no end in sight and costing Loudon County tax payers rather than Blount County tax payers.

On Arp's recommendation, the commission voted to enter a remodeling of the county office building. Original estimates of under twenty thousand dollars quickly ballooned to two hundred thousand as Arp took further steps to batten down the hatches and gain complete control of the facilities. Now nicknamed "Fort Arp", Arp has now embarked on a mission to evict the Loudon County Board Of Education from his empire. Estimated cost to relocate the BOE to the old Tech Building in Lenoir City about a million dollars.

Arp finally eliminated long time County Attorney, Harvey Sproul. Sproul had been seen as taking far more money from the county than his services were worth. However the elimination of Sproul didn't save the county any money. Arps new attorney, Robert Bowman,  turned out to be much more costly to the county than Sproul with even less legal talent than Mr. Sproul.

Arp did manage to help settle the law suit brought against the county by Sessions Court Clerk, Lisa Niles. Niles had sued the county for more help in the sessions court office. The commission agreed to give her one new position in the office. Of course Arp's daughter-in-law got the job.

Arp has managed to create numerous new positions within the county. He has openly and consistently violated the open meeting laws. He has allowed questionable contracts to his close friends to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars. He has mostly eliminated board appointment recommendation from the commissioners. Mr. Arp has recommended the needless spending of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars and by all accounts is out of the office far more than he can be found at work. It would be hard to find a single action by Arp that has been beneficial to the citizens of Loudon County other than his friends and family.

Doyle Arp has turned out to be what could be one of the greatest disaster ever to befall Loudon County. And that's just in his first year.

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