Looking Back102824

I have mentioned several times how back in 2016, Lenoir City mayor, Tony Aikens, engineered himself a massive raise and tried his best to keep it a secret. I understand there are still some who don't believe it's the truth.

Below are two articles from back in 2016 about the big raise, one I wrote and one from the News Herald.

It really happened.

Foot Note: This was passed just before Jennifer Wampler was appointed to council.

Above Board??
October 2016

There's no way I can let this full time mayor thing pass without making at least an observation or two.

Let me be perfectly clear, I have no idea if Lenoir City needs a full time, paid mayor and a full time administrator but apparently five city councilmen felt they did. I have no idea if a full time Lenoir City mayor should be paid $68,500 per year but apparently five city councilmen did. They could have made the salary a half million dollars if they had wanted to. That's not the purpose of this article. I just need to make a few clarifications and cry foul on a couple of points.

First of all, council did not vote to create the position of full time mayor. The Lenoir City mayor's position has always been a full time, elected position. All the council did was make the salary of the mayor $68,500 which is within their authority as written in the city charter. All duties and responsibilities of the office of mayor are spelled out on the city charter. The council has no authority to change or alter the duties of the mayor. In fact if the council decided to, they could give themselves raises.

Mayor Aikens will be retiring from his chief deputy position with the county sheriff's office at the end of December, current pay $62,200, and will begin receiving the new mayor's salary, $68,500, January 1, 2017.

Now let's talk about "above board".

I noticed Mayor Aikens went to great lengths in the News Herald article to explain how he wanted to be upfront and open with the voters. He was quoted in the News Herald story saying that he just wanted everything to be "above board".

So in order to be "above board" the council added the resolution that would increase the pay of the mayor from $600 per month to $68,500 per year to their agenda at the meeting without any discussion of what the resolution was about only identifying it as Resolution 2016-10-24-2146. Council voted unanimously to add this item to the agenda.

Then at the end of the meeting, a motion made by councilman Mike Henline, seconded by councilman Buddy Hines then passing unanimously still with no discussion of what the resolution was about. Had it not been for the News Herald's reporter asking questions, no one would probably still know what had happened.

The second curious issue with the decision is that, again according the the News Herald article, the first vote that took place to to increase the mayor's pay was back at the first of August by the purchasing committee. This was before the end of the candidate qualifying deadline for anyone to run for mayor and it was never mentioned again till last Monday night's meeting long past the deadline. Who knows, if the word had gotten out that the mayor's job was going to pay $68,500, there might have been others who would have wanted to run for the office. Begs the question, if this had only been discussed in one committee meeting three months ago and hasn't been discussed at any other public meetings, how did all the councilmen know the details of the proposal well enough to vote for it?

Click Here To Read Resolution

Let me say again, I do not care what the Lenoir City mayor's salary is. That's strictly a decision for the council. But when I hear political poppycock, I have to call it what it is. Kind of like when an elected official (TA) says, "I've never voted for a property tax increase" or "I'm all for annexation".

To my friend Tony Aikens, congratulations on your upcoming retirement and congratulations on your new financial position as the city mayor.

Lenoir City Council creates full-time mayor October 2016

Jeremy Nash News-Herald.net

Lenoir City Council voted Monday to make the position of mayor full time Jan. 1.

The resolution for the change passed unanimously without discussion at the end of Monday’s regular meeting. The item, simply listed as a numbered resolution, was added to council’s agenda just before the meeting began.

The change means Mayor Tony Aikens will take on a larger role in city government. The position’s salary will increase to $68,500 on Jan. 1. Aikens currently makes $600 a month in a part-time role.

“I didn’t want to do it after the election, I wanted to do it before,” Aikens said Tuesday. “I thought it was important to send a signal that obviously we’re trying to be above the board. I didn’t want people to have any negativity out there toward it, and I thought it just looked better to go ahead and get it done and obviously it’s not taking effect until January of ’17, but ... obviously, Mr. (Harry) Wampler voted for it in the budget process and something that he wanted to see happen. I just, again, I think it looks better that we do it.”

Aikens said the position change was approved in August by the city’s purchasing committee, which is comprised of Councilmen Eddie Simpson, Mike Henline and Wampler, who died Thursday of heart complications.

Minutes from the Aug. 4 purchasing committee meeting confirm the position change was discussed and approved, with Simpson providing the motion and Wampler the second.

Qualifying for the mayoral election ended Aug. 18.

Aikens said he plans to retire at the end of the year from his job as chief deputy with the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office.

Maggie Hunt, with the Lenoir City Recorder/Treasurer’s office, said funding for the position will come from money that would have been used for an assistant for City Administrator Amber Scott.

“We’re in the 21st century and there’s some people out there, particularly businesses, that may want to come into the city, they want to talk to the mayor, they don’t want to talk to the city administrator,” Aikens said. “Again, we’re having a lot of growth and it’s a very busy place. I’ve been invited several times to attend meetings (with) mayors in the region and not being able to go due to job restraints.

“(I) still, as you know, have an obligation to the sheriff’s office and seen an opportunity to — when this was discussed at the budget committee — seen an opportunity that I thought would benefit the city and was able to retire at the end of the year,” he added.

During Monday’s meeting, Henline made the motion to approve the resolution, with Councilman Buddy Hines seconding. The vote passed 5-0. The resolution indicates the city’s growth as a factor for making the change, and stipulates the person holding the full-time mayor’s position cannot have another full-time job.

Simpson said Tuesday that the committee and council in general had considered making the position full time for “several years.”

“We have probably 8,000 residents in the city now and I just think that their city’s big enough to — especially with all the potential that we have — I think it’s the perfect time to do it, and that’s how I felt about it when I thought about doing it or had a concern about doing it,” Simpson said. “We just felt like it was time and I think the average Joe out there, our constituents, they feel the same way.”

Aikens said he wanted to get the position approved before the election to prevent residents from believing the city did anything “underhanded.”

“There might have been some negativity out there after the fact saying that, ‘Well, they was trying to do something underhanded, or if I would have known that I wouldn’t have voted him or I wouldn’t have done this,’ and we don’t want to imply that whatsoever,” Aikens said. “This way the voters know it before the election. I think the voters are very satisfied with the way city government has been ran. Honestly, it shows by not having an opponent and it shows that people are very satisfied and shows that we’re committed of doing things the right way and open and above board.”

Vice Mayor Jim Shields said Tuesday that Aikens assuming the job full time would be “good for the city.”

“I feel like it’s good for the city to have someone there full time that if there’s something going on he can attend and be there in person to represent the city and not have to send someone else to fill in for him,” Shields said. “I think the time has come that — and I think council feels the time has come to make it a full-time position. Now it was in the resolution that if for some reason it didn’t work out or we felt like it didn’t pan out or what have you that we can rescind it by two-thirds vote and put it back to part time.”