Mayor bristles at blog criticism

Lenoir City Mayor Tony Aikens addressed Lenoir City Council during the March 13 regular meeting about a local online blog he said contained half-truths and lies.

Aikens told council he met March 9 with City Administrator Amber Scott Kelso and Street Superintendent J.J. Cox about some online content a street department employee found that criticized the moving of dirt from Kingston Street Laundromat by city workers.

Cox and other employees were getting dirt from the construction site of an addition to the business for use to fill a sinkhole, Aikens said.

Aikens said during the meeting that he was told March 9 someone in a truck had come by the site to take a photo of the dirt removal. Aikens said he then asked City Attorney Walter Johnson to look into the matter.

The mayor indicated the online material was posted March 12 but declined to identify the writer.

The blog in question is maintained by Loudon County Commissioner Van Shaver. The specific material in question was posted March 13.

During the council discussion, photos of a sinkhole on Adesa Boulevard were shared. Aikens said Cox called the contractor of the Kingston Street project and asked them what they planned to do with the dirt. Obtaining unwanted dirt is nothing out of the ordinary for the street department or Lenoir City Utilities Board, Aikens said.

“So J.J., as J.J. always does, trying to save the city’s money goes out and loads this dirt up and then, unfortunately, somebody didn’t like that and chose to put it out there on social media,” Aikens said. “But I just wanted city council to know and I know everyone of you knows as I do, J.J. Cox has been a city employee for over 40 years. He’s got an unblemished record. … I know J.J. is not going to do anything to jeopardize his job or jeopardize the city’s reputation, and I commend you J.J. for trying to save the city’s money, as you always do.”

Aikens then turned the discussion over to Johnson.

Johnson said a section of the municipal code indicates he is the ethics officer for the city, so he met with several individuals about the situation.

He said he discovered Cox had already filled the sinkhole with concrete and rock and was at the point he needed to finish the job. Cox could have bought dirt, but the construction site on Kingston Street had unwanted dirt, Johnson said.

Johnson said the construction manager told him the company had previously given dirt to the city for a ball field and swimming pool.

If the sinkhole had not been filled, it could have caused an adjacent roadway to give way, which would cost a large amount of money, Johnson said.

“I looked at everything involved in it and found that there was no impropriety on the part of Mr. Cox or anybody else in the city,” Johnson said. “In fact, the city administration knew nothing about it. There would be no reason for them to. Mr. Cox was acting within his authority as the superintendent of the street department, has done (it) many times before. ... He did absolutely nothing wrong. No improprieties at all. In fact, what he did was beneficial to the city.”

Johnson even later commended Cox for his performance in the situation.

After the meeting, Cox said the sinkhole has been a problem for years but worsened after recent rains. He said the project to repair the sinkhole was at the point he needed fill dirt and the regular practice is to take unwanted dirt. Several contractors in the area who want to give away dirt will contact him, Cox said.

“If we can source them for free, I’ll say save our taxpayer dollar here,” he said.

During the public comment period of the meeting, Randall Brown asked council to have abandoned vehicles removed from the city.

Brown said he has seen two such vehicles in his city neighborhood. He said the vehicles are an eyesore, have been there over a year and no one is attached to them as far as he can tell.

Director of Public Safety and Lenoir City Police Chief Don White said the city does have an ordinance on vehicles, specifically those with flat tires and expired tags that do not operate.

White said the procedure is to tag the vehicles and give owners 72 hours to either move them, get them in compliance or risk towing.

“After 90 days we would try to, through certified mail, reach the owner and then after that we would, at the six-month mark, we would go to the state of Tennessee for forfeiture on the vehicle,” he said.

White said most individuals who have their cars tagged either move them or get them into compliance. He said the department is usually flexible about vehicles in driveways because cars will break down.

“I think that the city leaders at whatever year they decided to pass that ordinance … we want to have a clean, beautiful city for our residents and visitors to live in and come to and so if we don’t police our garbage and we don’t police our abandoned vehicles and abandoned homes and overgrown yards then our city would start to go the wrong direction,” White said. “I think it’s just a good policy to make sure that if we have a person that doesn’t want to clean up after themselves we just help them out.”

White said he noted the address and location of the vehicles and would send officers to check.

The only item on the meeting agenda was to fill a vacancy in the street and sanitation department. Council passed the measure unanimously.

The next council meeting will be 6 p.m. Monday at the Lenoir City Municipal Building.