In what has to be one of the most bazaar Lenoir City council meetings I've ever attended, five of the six council members voted to have Ms. Earlena Maples name removed from the ballot for the city council race in November.

Ms. Maples qualified last Tuesday to run for a seat on the Lenoir City council.

Council recessed their meeting Monday night to be continued to this past Thursday at 10:30 for the discussion of Ms. Maples candidacy. Mayor Tony Aikens reported to the council that since Ms. Maples is an employee of LCUB, she can not run for city council. Ms. Maples was not notified of or invited to the meeting.

Ultimately, council voted 5-1 to send a resolution to the Loudon County Election Commission to ask that Ms. Maples name be removed from the Lenoir City council election ballot for November. Bobby Johnson Sr. abstained on the vote. That letter was delivered later that day to the commission and briefly discussed at their meeting to certify the August election.

A hearing on the matter has been scheduled with the election commission for August 27, 7:00 at the county office building.

Lenoir City elections are what's known "at large" elections. That means there are no assigned seats. All candidates run for the open seats and the top three vote getters win the seats. Ms. Maples would be a strong candidate and running directly against three of the incumbents, Mile Henline, Buddy Hines and Jim Shields. All three of these candidates voted to have her removed from the ballot after reading a conflict of interest statement.

How great is that? You are a candidate for office and a strong opponent gets into the race, so you just vote them off the ballot. Wish I had known about this before my last election. Maybe I could have gotten the county commission to vote my opponents off the ballot.

As far as Ms. Maples being disqualified because she is an employee of LCUB, wouldn't that also apply to the rest of the incumbent council members running for re-election? They are also employees of LCUB as members of the Power Board. They receive pay and benefits from LCUB. Looks like if Ms. Maples is unqualified to run for council because she's an employee of LCUB, the others would be too.

The Loudon County Election Commission will meet next Monday to decide the matter. They could remove Ms. Maples from the ballot at Lenoir City's request then it would be Ms. Maples option  to challenge the decision in Chancery Court, or they could leave Ms. Maples name on the ballot and it would be up to Lenoir City to challenge the decision in Chancery Court, or they could remove all candidates employed by LCUB, or they could just pass the whole thing straight to Chancery Court and let a judge decide the matter.

Any way it goes, it promises to be high drama.  

Click Here To Read The Council Agenda

Click Here To Read Resolution Sent To The Loudon County Election Commission