County Mayor plants seed for hir

The agenda for the Loudon County Commission meeting on Sept. 3 included an item for Mayor Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw to discuss hiring a full-time records custodian.

However, Bradshaw requested to table the subject, saying he needed to do some research before making the ask.

The topic was briefly discussed during the Commission’s Aug. 19 workshop, at which point Bradshaw said the role would be someone the public goes to directly to get requests answered in a timely fashion.

He indicated that the responsibility currently falls to various department heads.

“I’m not ready to make that presentation yet,” Bradshaw said during the workshop. “I do want to plant that seed for down the road.”

The number of requests per week varies depending on what’s going “in this room,” Bradshaw said from his seat at the Loudon County Courthouse Annex. Commissioner Van Shaver jumped in.

“At the risk of offending anyone, there are just a few people that make all the requests,” Shaver said. “So we’re looking at a potential $40,000 to $50,000 employee to handle the requests of about two or three people.”

Earlier in the workshop, resident Pat Hunter said that Shaver made a personal attack against her when the topic of possibly hiring a records custodian came up during a budget committee meeting. As a 43-year resident and as a taxpayer, she said she doesn’t deserve to be singled out by Shaver.

“He accused me, said Pat and her ‘little group’ — whatever that is — and he wanted to know if I was driving this,” Hunter said during public comments.

Hunter said she has a recording of Shaver saying, referencing her: “Don’t show her anything, don’t give her anything.”

“That’s against the law. Now, I would rather be very civil about this, but I will not have my 5th District Commissioner calling me out during meetings. I have asked the Mayor, ‘How do we address this? Do I ask Mr. Shaver to stop, or would you like me to go hire a civil rights attorney to address this issue?’” Hunter, a former county official, said. “I want it to stop. He calls me names, I ignore him, but enough is enough.”

WEBSITE WOES

Some have argued that there would be fewer records requests being made if the county’s official website were better updated. The website’s purpose, as stated on the homepage, is “to provide accurate, useful and timely information to the citizens of Loudon County as well as our many visitors.”

Yet, as of Sept. 8, the “overview” tab for the Commission featured a group photo that includes Harold Duff, who died in November 2022. His replacement, Commissioner Joe Morrison, wasn’t mentioned on that tab, although he was included on the related “contact info” tab.

In another instance, the most recent member list posted on the “boards and committees” tab was from 2019. The most recently posted Commission meeting minutes are from June 3.

During public comments of the Sept. 3 meeting, resident Blake Moore said citizens “deserve to know what is being discussed as it relates to any business of this county.”

“Several months ago, the mayor appointed a committee to review the current county website and to vet potential vendors to offer a different solution,” Moore said. “This committee did as it was asked, and the Commission dismissed those recommendations — (saying) they would look at a different solution of their choosing.”

According to Moore, Bradshaw said there were already staff members in the county offices with the bandwidth to perform updates as necessary.

“That was months ago, and none of us have heard anything about improving the information flow to citizens of this County from the commissioners,” Moore said.

Moore made three formal requests of the Commission. He asked that commissioners provide: “a factual analysis regarding the status of the current website and how that could potentially alleviate the need for what is stated as an overwhelming volume of records request”; to hold the Loudon County School Board “accountable to their due diligence and financial accountability” in adding details to their meeting minutes about the need for the new school and athletic fields as previously stated would be done; and that the commissioners provide evidence of the need for additional full-time records custodians before any further action is taken.

Also during that meeting, Hunter asked Bradshaw to specify whether the hire would be for a “records custodian” or a “public records coordinator.”

“There is a difference, and I think that needs to be addressed,” Hunter said. Bradshaw didn’t address it during the meeting.

“I think that if more information was on the (county) website, we would have less reference requests,” Hunter said. “I shouldn’t have to make a reference request for a budget committee packet; it should be included in the monthly workshop packet.”

Public records requests can be sent to publicrecordsrequests@loudoncounty-tn.gov or faxed to 865-458-1784.