Crossville council agenda item requesting action by DA pulled by councilman Kerley

The agenda item that had the potential to create the biggest controversy during last week's special called Crossville city council meeting was pulled quickly by proponent, councilman Jesse Kerley.

Councilman Jesse Kerley requested the item seeking action by the DA 

but pulled the item without any discussion.

In addition, one item discussed at some length during the regular council meeting and one of the reasons given for having the special called meeting, the hiring of a city comptroller, was not even on the agenda.

When the final item on the agenda, listed as “Request for action by the district attorney's office,” was called Councilman Jesse Kerley who requested the item to be placed on the agenda said he was pulling that item. He then quickly moved to adjourn the meeting.

The item was reportedly concerning allegations of extortion against councilman Pete Souza over derogatory items that had been in interim city manager Steve Hill's personnel file but have since removed from his file by Mr. Hill.

Interim city manager Steve Hill's term has been controversial

District Attorney Bryant Dunaway confirmed that the issue had been discussed at a meeting with him, Mr. Kerley, Mr. Hill and then police chief Rod Shoap. Dunaway said that the information and complaint that he received on the matter did not come to a level that warranted any charges.

The item concerning the hiring of a city comptroller was pulled from the agenda by councilman Danny Wyatt who said he did not have support for his proposal.

Before the meeting was adjourned Mr. Hill asked the council about the deadline on city manager applications. The recently set deadline was October 15. That date falls on a Saturday and Hill asked the council if they wanted to cut off applications the Friday before or the Monday after. A quick poll put the deadline at Monday October 17.  

Immediately following the council meeting, Mr. Kerley's and Mr. Wyatt's vehicles were spotted together at the Beef and Barrel restaurant.  

Mr. Kerley's vehicle on the left and Mr. Wyatt's pickup truck are parked nose to nose following Friday's noon called council meeting.  If the two councilmen discussed any city business, they were potentially in violation of the Tennessee sunshine law.