Greenback alderwoman attorney re

Greenback Alderwoman Polly Evans and City Attorney James Scott reportedly resigned their respective posts in Greenback on Thursday as longtime Mayor Tom Peeler left office.

According to new Mayor Dewayne Birchfield, who took office Thursday after a tumultuous transition between the two mayors, Evans submitted her resignation effective Dec. 27, the same day Peeler left office.

“I can now appoint someone and they would have to be approved by the (aldermen),” Birchfield told The Daily Times on his first full day in office. “I will have to go through the charter to make sure of how this all works. This is all, of course, new to me.”

While Birchfield said Evans’ letter did not provide a reason for her resignation, sources close to the situation told The Daily Times that the alderwoman had decided before the election to leave her post if Peeler was defeated in the general election for mayor. Her replacement will serve the entirety of her unfilled term after Evans’ re-election Nov. 6.

Scott also reportedly resigned as Peeler left office, but without leaving written notice. According to Birchfield, Scott never told Birchfield he was leaving, but rather told Peeler.

To replace the city attorney, the new mayor said he will put out a bid to the public after the aldermen take their oaths of office at the Jan. 8 meeting.

These sudden resignations come in the midst of a Tennessee Comptroller inquiry into potential public meeting, ordinance publishing and public record requests violations by the embattled former mayor of 44 years.

Peeler and his wife, Norma Peeler, who served as the town’s treasurer, recorder and human resources director, left the mayor’s office this week, nearly two months after he lost his re-election campaign to Birchfield.

Neither Tom Peeler, Scott nor Evans responded to multiple phone calls from The Daily Times on Friday.