Former Crossville Councilman Wendell Kerley dies, was father of Jerry Kerley and Grandfather Jesse Kerley

The City of Crossville has announced the passing of former Crossville city councilman Wendell Kerley.  Kerley, 80, served on the council from November 1998 to November 2000.

Kerley's grandson Jesse Kerley also served on the city council and Wendell's son Jerry Kerley is the long-time director of water resources.

There will be only a private service and  grave side service for the family. No public service is planned. The family thanks all who have recognized their loss and expressed kind words for their loved one.

Councilman Wendell Kerley

in 2000

Wendell Kerley was appointed to the council for the remaining term of J. H. Graham's council term when Graham was elected Mayor in 1998.  Kerley ran for reelection in 2000 but was not reelected. 

Following the death of councilman Gene Turner, the council was deadlocked between appointing Turner's wife Ella and Wendell Kerley to fill Turner's remaining term eventually appointing Billy Logins.  Wendell Kerley also ran for Mayor of Crossville in 2002 but lost to J.H. Graham. 

Flags at Crossville city hall have been lowered to half-staff in recognition and memory of Wendell Kerley. 

Kerley owned the Crossville music store Strings and Things and purchased the Hotel Taylor where the music store was located for many years.  Kerley worked to restore the old hotel while operating the music store.  The building is currently home to numerous businesses and medical offices.  

The Top News Stories of 2017 included People, History, Eclipse, Lawsuits and more.

While 2017 was a busy news year for Crossville, the stories that readers read the most included both good and bad news and some history too.

Crossville Eclipse Diamond Ring Effect

Photo by Jim Young

One of the biggest events to come through Crossville was the total eclipse of the sun and with several stories published on the blog leading up to the event, the subject of the eclipse was the most read topic on jimyoungreporter.blogspot.com and the most read single story from 2017 was the story about the new president of the Crossville Tennessee College of Applied Technology Cliff Wightman.

Link to story

The second most read single story was a recent one about a pedestrian, 85-year-old Vertie McNeeley being struck and killed by a semi truck on Main Street in November.  Link to story

The third most popular story was a history flashback story that incldued photos of the lost art of Joe Ed Hodges and Crossville Elementary School. Hodges was the husband of Principal Maureen Hodges and the long time art teacher at the school. Over the years Mr. Hodges had created art on the walls of the halls of the school. All the art was painted over when the building became the school administration building. Link to story

Other big stories from 2017 included protests as a white supremacy group held a meeting at the state park, the death of Crossville police dog K-9 Cain, Downtown Crossville events like Friday at the Crossroads and Rock the Block continue to be very popular.

Huge Turnout for October's 

Friday at the Crossroads.

Other stories that received a lot of readership included controversial items like the Shooting Sports Park, changes to Garrison Park and the First Amendment lawsuit filed against the city of Crossville by J. R. Blankenship and a suit filed against the city by former police chief Rod Shoap. Both men's suits also name former council member Jesse Kerley as a defendant. .

Early in 2017, the Crossville city council was interviewing candidates for city manager and fired interim manager Steve Hill after several incidents including an embarrassing series of emails and internal text messages were revealed between Marketing Director Billy Loggins and the secretary for Parks and Recreation Director Tami French. French filed complaints after the information was revealed.    

CROSSVILLE FLASHBACK: Recapping one year since interim police chief Rod Shoap's resignation

It's been one year since interim police chief Rod Shoap resigned after saying he was tired of waiting on the city to hire him as the full time chief. The original story of Shoap's resignation at the link just below remains the most read story ever posted on the Jim Young Reporter news blog

Rod Shoap Resigns. 

Former interim Crossville Police

Chief Rod Shoap

Following Shoap's resignation, Major Mark Rosser was sworn in as interim chief. After serving in that position for 6 months, the city hired back previously retired police chief David Beaty. As of June 30, exactly one year after Shoap's resignation, Rosser retired from the city and taken a position with Fairfield Glade Security.

Mark Rosser sworn in by Mayor James Mayberry

Rosser sworn in as interim chief. 

The day following Shoap's resignation, both then councilman Jesse Kerley and interim city manager Steve Hill reacted to the resignation and comments made by Mr. Shoap. Mr. Kerley stated that he wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Shoap got the city sued. Ironically, Mr. Shoap ended up suing the city and Mr. Kerley in federal court for age discrimination, libel and slander. The case remains under litigation.

Hill and Kerley comment on Shoap resignation.

Former city councilman

Jesse Kerley

Former interim city manager

Steve Hill

Kerley phone call following Shoap resignation. 

Shoap posted an open letter about his resignation on his Facebook page including a reference to texts from Councilman Jesse Kerley.  

Shoap Facebook Statement on his resignation

On July 3rd, Former city manager David Rutherford speculated that a big part of the reason he was fired was because he proposed to hire Shoap to the police chief position full time. Rutherford said his decision to try and hire Shoap as full police chief led Kerley to demand the city manager's resignation.

Rutherford speculates on why he was fired suddenly

Former city manager David Rutherford

Then in August 2016, interim city manager Steve Hill was asked in followup about the investigation that he and councilman Jesse Kerley claimed was started against Rod Shoap concerning treatment of a female police officer. Hill stated at that time that there was no investigation that he knew of and called it simply “talk.”

Steve Hill responds to question on alleged

Shoap investigation

Interim city manager Steve Hill responds to questions about "Shoap investigation." . 

Ultimately, Rod Shoap filed a law suit against the city and councilman Kerley claiming age discrimination along with slander and libel as a result of the actions and comments.  The lawsuit remains unresolved.

Shoap sues city and Kerley.

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BREAKING NEWS/EXCLUSIVE: Blankenship files lawsuit in federal court against City of Crossville, Jesse Kerley and Ivy Gardner

A second lawsuit has now been filed against the City of Crossville in federal court. This lawsuit filed by J. R. Blankenship for the violation of his first amendment rights also names former city councilman Jesse Kerley and Ivy Gardner as individuals.

The suit stems from the charges of distributing unsigned fliers that resulted in a citation to Crossville city court alleging a violation of a city ordinance that led to a $1500 fine levied against Blankenship by city judge Ivy Gardner. The suit points out that such a charge was determined to be a violation of the first amendment in a case decided before the US Supreme Court in 1960. Crossville's ordinance was approved sometime after the 1960 decision.

J. R. Blankenship expressing his opinions in mid 2016

The flier that lead to Blankenship's charges

Jesse Kerley

Ivy Gardner

The 18 page complaint begins by outlining a series of events that lead to the filing of the suit. The story begins with an incident that took place January 2015 at a convenience store involving a dog tied up outside the store and in distress according to Blankenship. Blankenship discussed the dog's situation with the store clerk who, it turned out, owned the dog. The clerk took offense at Blankenship's observation and the ensuing argument lead to a 911 call to police by Blankenship. According to the suit, “the police officer rudely accosted Mr. Blankenship as being the aggressor.”

Blankenship wrote a letter of complaint about the incident to each member of the council in March of 2015 and attended council meetings but his complaint was never addressed. Blankenship addressed his complaint at a March 2016 council meeting and was again ignored according to the complaint. The lawsuit states, “Frustrated that the council ignored his complaint, Mr. Blankenship published a flier in which he offered a $500 reward for photos of any elected or appointed Crossville official doing wrong”

The complaint alleges that then councilman Jesse Kerley sought to have Mr. Blankenship cited under the unconstitutional ordinance and claims that then police chief Rodney Shoap was ordered to do so. The complaint cites Shoap's federal lawsuit that says “on multiple occasions, Kerley demanded that (Shoap), without sufficient evidence or probable cause arrest James Blankenship.” Following an investigation into the flier, Blankenship was cited to city court under the unsigned flier ordinance.

An initial court date on the citation was set for May 10, 2016 was continued to June 28 at Blankenship's request and on June 2 while the case was pending before city judge Ivy Gardner, Gardner appeared in General Sessions Court as an individual seeking a restraining order against Blankenship for “a pattern of conduct to harass and unnecessarily alarm” Gardner. The suit sates that at the time Blankenship did believe he had ever seen or met Gardner and that he believes Gardner's complaint against him was made at the suggestion of Mr. Kerley.

The suit states that the action of Gardner was to retaliate against Blankenship for expressing his free speech and free press rights and to intimidate him. The action is also described in the suit as a “conspiracy with defendant Kerley.” The suit also states that Blankenship believes that Kerley spoke to Gardner between March 24 and June 28 concerning a significant fine for Blankenship.

The suit states that Gardner is not being sued for any of her actions as city judge but only for actions she took as an individual outside of her courtroom.

Blankenship appealed the fine as excessive and that the city's ordinance was unconstitutional that violated his right to free speech. The fine and conviction were dismissed with prejudice by the Circuit Court on November 17, 2016. It should also be noted that since this action took place the city has takne action to remove the unconstitutional ordinance from its books.

Blankenship also appealed the restraining order given to Gardner and filed interrogatories and requests to produce documents to provide information to support her claims of his harassment. Those discovery requests were never answered. Two weeks before a hearing on the appeal was scheduled, Ms. Gardner filed a motion and order of non-suit withdrawing her complaint against Blankenship.

The suit reads, “The issuance of the citation, persecution and conviction of Mr. Blankenship for an unconstitutional and unenforceable Crossville city ordinance caused Mr. Blankenship embarrassment, anxiety, time and money. Defendant Crossville is therefore liable to Mr. Blankenship for the violation of his civil rights under color of law.”

“The first amendment right to criticize public officials is well established and supported by case law and it is also well established that a public official's retaliation against an individual exercising his or her first amendment rights is a violation,” says the lawsuit.

Blankenship's suit is requesting a “declaratory and injunctive relief to declare the earlier actions illegal and enjoin defendants and their agents from otherwise retaliating against him for exercising his first amendment rights either by arresting him or threatening to arrest him and specifically so that he may publish fliers and circular them in Crossville, even if critical of public officials.”

Damages listed in the suit include legal and court costs, embarrassment, mental anguish and anxiety, fear of future reprisal, being deprived of his right to exercise First Amendment freedoms of speech and press and attorney and litigation costs of these proceedings. The suit asks that a jury award damages to compensate his harm in a reasonable amount.

The suit asks for punitive damages against Mr. Kerley “because his actions were malicious and done with intent to intimidate and harm Mr. Blankenship.”

The law suit is filed on behalf of Mr. Blankenship by attorneys Edmund J. Schmidt III and Joseph H. Johnston, both of Nashville.

June Interview with J. R. Blankenship  

EXCLUSIVE: City marketing director Billy Loggins questioned on emails, describes recent news reports as bad publicity for city

Even though his name was part of some of the recent bad news reports reflecting on the city, Crossville marketing director Billy Loggins said he felt that those news reports could have harmed the reputation of the City of Crossville.

Crossville Marketing Director Billy Loggins

Loggins made those comments Tuesday morning in an interview where he was asked about some unusual emails that were part of those requested in connection with the recent personnel complaint that included intercity instant messages and emails between some of the parties involved.

Personnel board story

In a review of the emails between former interim city manager Steve Hill and Mr. Loggins several troubling discoveries were made including an email from Hill to Loggins in July 2016 that had an image of Mayor James Mayberry with the wording underneath saying, “Mayor Methberry is he high or just incompetent or both.” According to Loggins the email came from a council member to Mr. Hill who forwarded it on to Mr. Loggins' city email. The email was not sent from Hill's city email but a personal Gmail account identified as Mr. Hill's.

Image attached to email from Steve Hill to Billy Loggins in July 2016

Similar to ugly signs put out after November city election

Link to photo of anonymous sign put up following city election. 

Loggins stated that at the time he verbally said that he thought the image could create bad publicity for the city. He added, “To be honest Jim, some of what you're doing is bad publicity for the city.” Loggins continued, “You know those emails were absolutely ridiculous. And if anybody thinks they can make some mileage over those, well good luck to them.”

Loggins also complained about the council meeting Monday that lead to the removal of Steve Hill as interim city manager saying, “Why didn't they just go to Steve privately and just say 'Steve, come on, why don't you just go on now.' Why just keep the circus in town? I don't get it.”

Loggins addressed the move of the Palace Theatre to marketing and that it was a big topic of discussion at the personnel board meeting, “but that's exactly where it needs to be. No questions about it.” Loggins was asked if he would feel unhappy if some of his responsibilities were removed from his control without ever speaking to him about it prior to such action and he agreed that he would.

Loggins added that if there had been a marketing department at the time the city took over the Palace that it should have gone there. In addition, Loggins stated that there was no additional money involved to him in the move and that he sponsors events at the Palace all the time.

One email that was from Loggins to Steve Hill included an attachment that appeared to be a proof of a proposed billboard created by Flynn Signs Co. The billboard only listed three of the 5 city council members stating that “City Council Members Jesse Kerley, Pamala Harris, Danny Wyatt Proudly supports FFG (Fairfield Glade) Community & state golf championships.”

Sign proof that includes only three memebers of city council

Loggins was asked why there were only three members listed on the sign and what was the plan to use the sign? He said one of the council members, and he said he couldn't remember who, wanted something put up after one of the votes concerning funding of golf tournaments and that council member planned to pay for it. “Nothing ever came out of it,” according to Loggins.

The third email in question set up a meeting between several people involved in recognizing the late Boyd Wyatt with an award in his name at the Crossville airport. During the airport fly-in in September 2016 when the award was presented, then candidate for council J. H. Graham III acted as the emcee for the program.

The email set up a meeting at a local coffee shop that included consultant Don Napier, interim city manager Steve Hill, airport manager Chris Bennett, councilman Danny Wyatt, Loggins and Graham.

Loggins was asked how that came about. He said “It was just decided between several people that nobody knew Boyd any better then J. H. as he had worked with him for years.” He also said that Mr. Wyatt's widow Camilla Wyatt had sort of requested that. In addition according to Loggins Mayor Mayberry was aware of the plans and the award.  

Former interim police chief Rod Shoap files $200,000 lawsuit against Crossville and Jesse Kerley

Former interim police chief Rod Shoap's federal lawsuit names the city of Crossville and Jesse Kerley as defendants in the suit filed last week over employment practices.

The city and Kerley have 21 days to respond to the suit.

The lawsuit claims Shoap suffered age discrimination, breach of contract as well as slander and libel.

Rod Shoap

The suit claims that then councilman Jesse Kerley approached Shoap with a list of improper demands and illegal demands “from the beginning of (Shoap's) employment.” Shoap believed that Kerley could affect his transition from interim chief to permanent police chief. And when Shoap refused to acquiesce to Kerley's demands, he threatened to email Shoap's supervisor, interim city manager Steve Hill, district attorney Bryant Dunaway, various other city council members claiming that Shoap was “insubordinate, ill equipped for the position and committing felonies.”

The lawsuit outlines a list of demands made by Mr. Kerley including investigation of director of schools Donald Andrews, an action out side of Shoap's jurisdiction. The suit states that Kerley made numerous demands for action against councilman Pete Souza alleging assault but “without having sufficient evidence or probable cause.” Kerley contacted DA Dunaway on the matter to have Shoap removed and charged with misconduct.

Jesse Kerley

The suit outlines a number of attempts by Mr. Kerley to have J. R. Blankenship arrested after he spoke at a council meeting and was charged with distributing unsigned fliers. Kerley sought to have Blankenship arrested and jailed several times including alleging his vehicle was not properly registered or insured when it was and seeking to have Blankenship's mother arrested for lying to police.

Shoap reportedly brought these action to interim manager Steve Hill as they arose, including his reasons for not complying with Kerley's demands. It is unknown if Hill ever addressed these issues with Kerley.

Steve Hill

Shoap's lawsuit alleges that he was originally hired by city manager David Rutherford who had offered Shoap the full time chief position shortly before Rutherford was fired by the city council. Shoap believed that the offer of employment would be honored by interim manager Hill but the hire date kept being delayed putting Shoap's employment status “in limbo for approximately six months.”

When Shoap resigned the interim position, he alleges that numerous defamatory statements were made about him alleging that Shoap resigned because he found out he was under investigation. Shoap said that he received a text message from Kerley stating so. In addition, Kerley repeated the same claim to local news media. A follow up story included a quote from interim manager Hill that there was no investigation.

Other claims made by Kerley against Shoap include allegations he had taken an guitar from police evidence for his personal use, allegations Shoap had an extramarital affair and shared that information with local media. The suit outlines allegations of Kerley's harassment of Shoap including references to “old men” and derogatory statements concerning his faith.

Shoap states that due to all of the reasons outlined he was forced to resign his position and even though he has applied for several positions, he remains unemployed. The suit also claims protection under the whistle-blower act of Tennessee relating to Kerley's orders to Shoap to commit alleged illegal acts.

The lawsuit seeks $200,000 in damages, that the city cease and desist in engaging in or facilitating discriminatory practices, that the city shall halt its employees from operating under the color of law and the defendants pay for attorney's fees and expenses as well as cost and fees in the matter.

City attorney Will Ridley is out of town at the time of this story but has been requested to comment on the matter. We also left a message for interim manager Steve Hill.  

YEAR IN REVIEW Part 2: In local politics, 2016 was the year of the sign...

Continued from PART 1

With the upcoming city election, a number of candidates began to qualify for the race and the city continued to take applications for the position of city manager. Councilman Pete Souza announced he would not seek reelection to the council. One popular place for political signs turned out to be the property across the street from city hall that belongs to Wendell Kerley, a former councilman and father to Jerry Kerley and grandfather to councilman Jesse Kerley. Following the August county general election, a sign popped up concerning Mr. Souza's run for tax assessor.

Tax Assessor sign story 

Many of the 2016 city election political signs were the kind you would expect at the link here.

As the campaign continued, signs in favor of J. H. Graham appeared in the yard across from city hall belonging to Wendell Kerley. They were substantially different from the signs at the same location only 2 years before when Graham was defeated in election for mayor of Crossville.

Kerley property signs in July 2014

"Some things are meant for extinction"

Kerley property signs supporting Graham

Kerley property signs  

Then, at the end of September, an incident occurred that included the theft of political signs at the Mockingbird Drive property. As the theft took place, a neighbor caught part of the incident on video and was able to get a tag number of the pickup truck involved.

Sign theft incident under investigation

Video capture of Mockingbird Dr. sign theft

The district attorney took over the investigation and suspects were established that included Jerry Kerley, the director of water resources for the city of Crossville and father of councilman Jesse Kerley. The second man involved was identified as William Harwell who works at the Crossville airport. Investigation by this reporter discovered security video from the airport showed just before and just after the sign theft incident that the truck in question left from the airport and then returned to the airport. District attorney Bryant Dunaway confirmed that the stolen signs were recovered at the city owned airport.

Airport security videos shed light on alleged sign theft incident

In mid October, possibly the strangest sign story of the year came about when city council candidate J. J. Brownstead discovered several of his large political signs were missing and when he reported them stolen he was very surprised to be told someone else had reported them stolen. That person turned out to be councilman Jesse Kerley who tried to claim that the signs had come from his father's property off of Vanderver Road.

It turned out that the Cumberland Co. Sheriff's department had picked up the signs until the matter could be straightened out. This was surprising to Brownstead who knew that the signs had been repainted after they came from councilman Pete Souza's garage. Councilman Kerley had also submitted a list of “suspects” who he suspected of stealing the signs that included Mr. Brownstead, councilman Souza and this reporter among others.

It took 3 days, but the signs were then returned to Mr. Brownstead who put them back up.

Political signs reported stolen by two different people?

Just over a week before the November election as early voting was coming to a close, an incident occurred in Crossville on the courthouse lawn when a man who said he was tired of the politics walked through the signs that had been posted kicking them and knocking them down. The man was taken into custody and charged with damage to the signs.

State Rep Cameron Sexton inspects sign damage

Man angry at politics takes it out on signs.

Then, just few days after the election, the political signs got very ugly. Two signs were set up, one on Lantana Rd, and the other in front of Kroger.

And after the election again, the case against Jerry Kerley and William Harwell made it to court and both men took pre-trial diversion on the charges and agreed to serve 6 months probation, pay fees and court costs.

Men accused in political sign theft accept pre-trial diversion. 

In early December it was revealed that the city had agreed to drop all charges against J. R. Blankenship for his “unsigned fliers” and the removal of the section of the city ordinances he was charged under was unanimously approved by the new city council. The charges can not be brought back up and the $1500 fine assessed against Blankenship was set aside.

All charges dropped agaisnt J.R. Blankenship.

We may yet here more news about signs in the new year. Stay tuned.

If you missed part 1 of this story you can find it here. 

YEAR IN REVIEW Part 1: In local politics, 2016 was the year of the sign...

(Editor's note: 2016 was one of the strangest years politically in this reporters over 30 years of covering Crossville. A popular city manager was removed, a popular police chief resigned, two council members were caught on video in an altercation leading to charges that were eventually dismissed. In addition, a city department head was charged with theft of property while reportedly on city time and the stolen items recovered from the city airport. This city employee reportedly received no reprimand for his action. While new members of city council may make the council meetings less volatile, there are leftovers from 2016 that the city will have to deal with into 2017.)

In Crossville, 2016 will go down as the year of the sign. This was especially true in the matters of city politics. Political signs made news numerous times during the year and lead to anger and even criminal charges and threatened criminal charges.

Signs promoting the recall efforts against Crossville city council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris began to pop up along city streets in late April and early May. Some of those signs contained caricatures of both Wyatt and Harris being given the hook as they danced on a stage. In April, Harris described the signs as disturbing to see at first, but after looking at them she had to laugh as the signs really seemed pretty silly.

Signs posted by those seeking recall of city council members Wyatt and Harris

A new set of signs began to show up at the May regular city council meeting when a local resident named J. R. Blankenship set up a sign in the back of his pickup truck concerning actions by councilman Jesse Kerley. Blankenship was unhappy at what he felt was an effort by councilman Kerley against him personally that led to charges for distributing “unsigned fliers” in Crossville and Kerley efforts to have him arrested for other charges.  After Blankenship appealed the fine on the fliers the charges and fines were dropped.  More details on that in The Year in Review Part 2.

Mockingbird signs story 

A different sign showed up at council meetings for a number of months. In addition, a series of signs were put up in front of the house on Mockingbird Drive where Blankenship and his mother lived. The political signs ultimately led to more problems including eventual theft charges against Jesse Kerley's father Jerry Kerley and William Harwell who spoke up at one council meeting against the political signs including the ones on Mocking bird land. Both Jerry Kerley and Harwell took pre-trial diversion on the charges and were to serve 6 months probation.

Are recall signs political? (includes Harwell comments) 

One of the biggest stories of 2016 apparently had its roots in political signs. The alleged altercation between two council members following a work session meeting that was caught on tape included references to councilman Souza's alleged work on Blankenship's signs. Both Souza and Blankenship said they did not collaborate on the signs and that the signs were entirely done by Mr. Blankenship.

Story on Souza and Kerley altercation including the security video of the incident. 

Eventually the assault charges filed against Mr. Kerley by Mr. Souza from the incident went to trial and the charges were dismissed in general session court.

In mid June the recall efforts against council members Wyatt and Harris were withdrawn.

Recall effort ended story link 

There were a few positive signs during the year including the one posted in late July by a local church indicating they were praying for the Mayor and the city of Crossville.

Church posts sign offering prayer for the city. 

See part 2 of the 2016 Year in Review here.

Editorial: Kerley threats made against this reporter completely inappropriate.

In 30 years of covering local news and politics, I have occasionally sparked the ire of those I have written about. Sometimes it is been about things people would prefer the public not know, sometimes things hidden in the public records or actions that someone took and later regretted.

Usually those have been irate phone calls but rarely are they the kind of phone calls like the one I received from Crossville councilman Jesse Kerley on November 9. The phone call came in and Mr. Kerley said, “You've sure got some gall telling people a bunch of lies on me.”

He preceded to complain about comments I had made on the radio the evening of the election. I had been asked about Kerley's non-attendance at the October city council meeting and I commented that while Kerley did not attend the meeting, I'd had two eyewitnesses tell me they had seen his GMC-SUV that he drives for Swisher, the company he works for, in the parking lot of the law office across from city hall. One witness also reported that Kerley was in the vehicle.

Mr. Kerley said that I needed to get my 'damn eyes checked” because he claimed he was in Indiana all that week.

Then the conversation soon took a darker tone and Kerley made comments that I considered threatening.  After a short time I simply hung up on Mr. Kerley.

In addition to the phone call, there was the outrageous accusation that Kerley had made against me in an email to Crossville police on October 5 concerning the allegations of sign theft related to signs put up by council candidate J. J. Brownstead.

Story on J. J. Brownstead signs 

The story at the link mentions that Kerley had emailed a list of “suspects” to Crossville police officer O'Neal even though the alleged theft occurred in the county. I will not share other names on the list at this time, but one of the “suspects and known accomplices” in Kerley's email was listed as “Jim Young Reporter.”  At the time I wrote the story at the link above I had not seen the list of "suspects."  Kerley's email also states that the theft was done to provoke him and the signs posted in public to "boast."

Of course the signs were returned to Mr. Brownstead after proof was presented that the signs were never Mr. Kerley's property nor did the signs in question come from his father's shed as he falsely claimed. 

The point of this editorial is to shine the light into the backroom of local politics and hopefully citizens can see that there are issues that still need to be addressed in a way that takes the city forward in a professional direction and not continue to make it a laughing stock.

In addition, I wanted to let readers know that I do not bow to intimidation and will continue to report the news as I always have, truthfully. 

Crossville city council votes to move forward on hiring a new city manager.

A majority of the Crossville city council approved with moving forward to hire a new city manager without waiting until after the November council election as previously approved.

The agenda item on the special called meeting Friday July 22 was proposed by mayor pro-tem Pamala Harris and she said she had a comment to make at the start of the agenda item.

Council members Danny Wyatt, Mayor James Mayberry, Pamala Harris and Jesse Kerley

Said Harris, “It has come to my attention that there are rumors floating around regarding this agenda item. I will caution you not to listen to rumors. There are some people who thrive on rumors and conspiracy theories and who frankly have harmed our city by spreading misinformation and making accusations against this council and other citizens that are unfounded. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm tired of this nonsense. So I'm going to ask everyone to join me in rejecting the rumors and gossip. Let's get on with the business of this city and make Crossville an even better place than we know it is today.”

Harris did not specify who and what the rumor was she was discussing, but in one email that circulated prior to the meeting, councilman Pete Souza wrote in an email Monday July 18 that there was a rumor that J. H. Graham was going to apply. Wrote Souza, “That would truly be a coincidence. I look forward to see how this is going to play out, especially the reaction from our constituents.

While Mr. Souza advised the council that he would be unable to attend a called meeting scheduled for the week, the meeting was scheduled and Mr. Souza was absent.

Ms. Harris moved on with her item saying, “The hiring of a city manger is incredibly important. I personally would like to take my time when reviewing resumes and vetting candidates to ensure that who ever we hire is qualified, is a leader, and desires to work well with the full council, and I stress full council, and wants to become a part of our community.”

Harris moved to rescind the previous action of April 14, 2016 to wait until after the election to recruit and hire a new city manager. Harris' motion received a second from councilman Jesse Kerley.

Mayor James Mayberry asked city attorney Will Ridely on the necessary vote count to rescind a previous motion and Ridley told him because the item was properly listed on the agenda only a simple majority was necessary but under Robert's rules, if it was not listed on the agenda it would require a 2/3 majority.

Ms. Harris said that she did not know if the city could hire a manager before the election, but she wanted to start the process. Councilman Wyatt said that at least three members of the current council would still be on the council after November so he didn't see it as an issue.

Mr. Kerley said the only reason he supported a delay in looking for a manager was to see where the recall effort went. Said Kerley, “Since it failed miserably, I think it's time to move on.”

The motion passed with all members present voting in favor.

Harris then moved to move forward with contacting the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) for assistance with recruiting a city manager, and accepting resumes over the next 60 days, and to direct the city attorney to review and edit the current job description, and the council is to be given copies of the resumes as they are received.

Councilman Danny Wyatt gave the second on the motion and asked about using MTAS and Mayor Mayberry read from information provided by MTAS about the services they provide. Those services are listed below.

Motion was approved with all four council members present voting in favor.   

Video of the city manager discussion during the called meeting held July 22, 2016

SERVICES MTAS CAN PROVIDE TO THE CITY:

Advertisements  

• Offering suggestions on where to advertise 
• Placing notices on the MTAS website 
• Requesting other state’s city management associations to post job notices 
• Using MTAS consultants to help recruit former colleagues and current and past clients for positions 

Applications 

• Accepting applications 
• Handling application correspondence 
• Ranking applications 
• Supplying a ranking system of applications for the elected officials to use based on the advertisement and/or qualities the board desires to have in an administrator 

Interviews 

• Facilitating discussions with the governing body on narrowing the list of applicants to invite for an interview 
• Scheduling interviews with candidates 
• Writing interview questions specifically tailored for the town that address current issues, criteria specified in the advertisement, and core competencies 
• Supplying a ranking system for interviews 
• Conducting and ranking interviews with a senior staff member to assist the governing body in making its decision on who to bring back for a second interview 
• Supplying a list of generic interview questions for the governing body to select from 
• Proctoring interviews 
• Providing cost estimates of hosting interviews 
• Developing and proctoring assessment centers 

Employment 

• Providing sample employment contracts for the governing body to consider 
• Providing comparable salary and benefit information

Former Crossville city manager David Rutherford says his decision to hire Shoap as regular police chief led Kerley to demand his resignation.

Was the firing of former city manager David Rutherford actually because he proposed hiring Rodney Shoap as the full time regular police chief?

According to Mr. Rutherford, he believes that an email he sent out on March 29 lead to councilman Jesse Kerley demanding Rutherford's resignation around 36 hours later. That could explain the change in four weeks from Kerley voting against suspending Rutherford at a special meeting February 26, 2016 and saying the city manager needed to be given “clear direction” because that the council had failed to do that. Then on March 31, 2016, Mr. Kerley demanded the resignation of Mr. Rutherford in an email.

Kerley's email to Rutherford on March 31 began, “In sight of recent events, I have lost all faith in your honesty and ability to lead the City of Crossville.”

During the special called meeting held to suspend Rutherford on April 4, Kerley voted against the resolution because it granted Rutherford the 6 months of severance salary in his employment contract and Kerley wanted Rutherford out with nothing.

Former Crossville city manager David Rutherford:

“In my opinion, Jesse Kerley is completely out of control. He doesn't need to be a council member for the city of Crossville because he's not representing the individual citizen's of Crossville and you can quote me on that.”

In a phone interview Friday evening July 1, Rutherford explained about the hiring Shoap based on the conversations with outgoing chief David Beaty and outgoing assistant chief Darrell Sherrill saying that there was no one in the department at the time that was ready to take over. Rutherford said that by bringing in someone from outside, it was a way to “bring in new eyes, someone who can assess the situation and see what you've got and help make some decisions to move forward.”

Rutherford said that after a few months, the criticism of bringing in an outsider as chief died down because things were going so well and people were saying, “This is the best police chief we've ever had.” Shoap came to Rutherford after a few months asking if it was possible for him to apply for the full time regular chief's position. Rutherford said he told him that he could and that after the 18 month period, the city would put a regular chief in place.

In early March 2016, Rutherford said he put out an announcement that he would take applications internally from the Crossville police department for the chief's position. This was Rutherford's decision as the city manager. The decision to hire is not one that the council makes. The applications turned in came from Chief Shoap and Major Mark Rosser. Rutherford said that at the point of the deadline, Rosser asked that his application be withdrawn as he did not want to compete against Shoap, who he supported. Rutherford said that he met with Rosser at the time and told him that he felt Rosser needed a couple more years mentoring under Shoap. Rutherford added that he told Rosser he had seen a lot of improvement in him during the time he had worked with Shoap.

Rutherford said he got a call in March from councilman Kerley asking why retired assistant chief Darrell Sherrill couldn't apply as an internal candidate for the police chief's job since he was still on the city's health insurance and being paid for the buyout. Rutherford said he answered that Sherrill was retired and didn't work for the city. Rutherford said he told Kerley that he would ask the city attorney Will Ridley for a ruling on the question and attorney Ridley said he couldn't find anywhere that a similar situation had happened and ruled that Sherrill didn't qualify as an internal candidate.

Rutherford said that at the end of March he sent out an email saying that he was ready to hire Shoap and that the question of Sherrill's applying were in the hand's of the attorney. He requested the council to give him some direction on the matter.

Rutherford wrote in the email (the full text of this email is below), “I need direction from the Council as to what they would like for me to do on this matter. I have a candidate who meets all the qualifications and has 18 months experience with the city. I can do a national search for police chief as I did earlier. I think we have made significant improvements in our police department and its efficiency. The feedback that I receive from the community is all positive.”

Rutherford said in a phone interview Friday, “The next thing I know is I get a request for my resignation. That's how it all falls out. Jesse wants to be in control. He doesn't like Shoap because Shoap didn't do a couple of things that Jesse wanted him to do.”

Rutherford continued, “In my opinion, Jesse Kerley is completely out of control. He doesn't need to be a council member for the city of Crossville because he's not representing the individual citizen's of Crossville and you can quote me on that.”

Rutherford said he had a good run in Crossville and he felt like he put some things in place that hopefully will be beneficial to the community if they stay on the track. “In my line of work, what happened to me happens all the time. It's either one of two things that happen, Jim. Either you're doing a good job and someone hires you away or your doing a good job and you piss somebody off, but either way, you're gone.”

I feel really sorry for the community because there is so much potential for Crossville and Cumberland County, but they can't seem to get focused on the positive things, cause they want to stay focused on what's the next headline.”

An attempt was made to reach councilman Kerley for comment on this story and he replied to a text saying, “Why should I call you after you have printed all this trash? Shoap has used you like Souza has used the media.”

Below is the complete text of the email David Rutherford sent to the city council members about the hiring of a full time police chief March 29 2016 at 3:07 PM:

I have been questioned about the recent posting of the police chief's position.  As you may recall, when David Beaty chose to take the early retirement incentive I explained to some of you who asked me what my intentions were for filling the vacant position.  I made a statement to you and the police staff that I felt the City needed to have "new eyes" at the police department since there had been the same chief in office for 20 years. I spoke to Assistant Chief Darrell Sherrill about him taking the position of Chief.  He questioned my statement of "new eyes" and I shared with him the possibility of bringing in a consultant to assist him with a department review if he wanted the job. He and the consultant could determine what needed to be changed. His position was that he wanted to go ahead and retire "out of respect for Chief Beaty".

At the time I did not feel there was anyone in the department that was ready to step into the chief's position.  This thought was confirmed by both Beaty and Sherrill when I met with them to discuss whether there were any candidates ready to be promoted.  With this situation, I constructed a plan for an interim chief to come in and assess the department, review staff, and their training, and determine if anyone was ready, or could become ready, with additional training and mentoring.   I proceeded to advertise for an interim chief that would serve for 18 months.   At the conclusion of 18 months, a new internal advertisement would go out for a permanent chief.  We are approaching that deadline, July 31, 2016.

An internal posting for police chief was posted within the department in early March 2016 . At the time of posting, Chief Shoap distributed a letter to the department, and possible candidates, encouraging them to apply for the position if they wished. Chief Shoap and Major Rosser were the only candidates to submit resumes.  Major Rosser met with me before the deadline and stated that he was applying just in case others from the department apply.  Rosser stated that if he and Shoap were the only resumes, he wanted his taken out of consideration.  On Monday morning, Major Rosser sent an email to the attention of HR requesting his resume be withdrawn from consideration.

The question has been raised concerning retiree Darrell Sherrill and his ability to apply for an internal posting for the chief's position.  This question has gone to the city attorney for an opinion.

I need direction from the Council as to what they would like for me to do on this matter.  I have a candidate who meets all the qualifications and has 18 months experience with the city.  I can do a national search for police chief as I did earlier.   I think we have made significant improvements in our police department and its efficiency.  The feedback that I receive from the community is all positive.  

Please respond to me only when replying to this email. Do not hit "reply all" .  You can discuss issues with me and not violate open meetings or I can place this item on the agenda for April's meeting.   Please advise. 

Interim Manager Steve Hill and councilman Jesse Kerley respond to Shoap resignation controversy

Interim city manager Steve Hill talked Friday about the latest controversy in Crossville's operations and said a bit about what he felt led to the resignation of Crossville Police Chief Rod Shoap.

According to Hill and documents he provided, the interim chief position that Shoap held was only to be an 18 month position, a term that would have been up at the end of July. Hill said he had hoped to keep Shoap in the interim position until after the election to try and take some of the politics out of the situation, though he admitted it would be impossible to take all the politics out of the situation.

Hill said that while he had discussed Mr. Shoap's position with some of the council members, they all expressed opinions on the position but none ordered him to either fire or hire Mr. Shoap for the position full time. Previously Hill said he had discussed with Shoap staying in the position until after the election was over and Shoap said to him he didn't want to wait and he asked Hill to “either hire me or fire me.”

Hill said he wasn't certain but thought that Mr. Shoap had a conversation with one of the council members and then indicated he was open to staying through the election.

Hill said he felt that a recent meeting he had with Mark Rosser may have precipitated the resignation. According to Hill, the meeting, requested by Mr. Rosser was held at his office and Hill said he felt Mr. Shoap found out about the meeting and thought he was interviewing Rosser for the full time position. Hill said that was not the case but added, “Shoap had a knee jerk reaction and decided to turn in his resignation before he was fired.” Hill said this was just his personal opinion on what had happened.

When asked about the meeting, Rod Shoap said the meeting had nothing to do with his decision and he had complete trust in Mark Rosser. “I'd trust him with my life,” added Shoap.

Hill mentioned a recording of former city manager David Rutherford speaking to the police department about Shoap's hiring and saying that Rutherford Shoap would be interim and would not be eligible for the full time position. Hill said he hadn't heard the recording but Hill was present at a staff meeting with Rutherford before Hill left the parks department that Rutherford said who ever served as interim would not be the full time chief and that the position was to train a member of the department to take over when Shoap left.

Shoap started January 28, 2015 in the position and when announced it was listed as a temporary position. At the time, some 10 applications had been received and three of those interviewed. Names of the applicants were not released at the time.

While Hill said that when he checked with city attorney Will Ridley, Ridley said that 18 month period was not binding, Hill felt the city needed to follow the arrangements as it might affect future such agreements.

The reports that Jesse Kerley told him to fire Mr. Shoap are not true according to Hill who added that Kerley told him it was his decision. “I know exactly how he and Mr. Souza feel about Shoap,” said Hill and he added that Wyatt, Harris and Mayberry have not discussed the position with him.

According to Hill, the problem Kerley had with Shoap was not that he wanted people arrested but that Shoap had not done a report on the two incidents involving Pete Souza. Hill said he couldn't argue with Shoap's contention that make a report would just put it out in the media, but added, “Jesse asked him for a police report.”

Hill said that while Rutherford was still manager, they had put out a call for applications for a full time position and Shoap's was the only application that was received and not withdrawn. A second application was put in from the department but was taken back when he and Shoap were the only two applicants. Hill said he wasn't sure how Rutherford planned to get around the original hiring as a temporary position, but Shoap was the only applicant at the end of the process.

Hill was asked about the failure of the city to pay for police chief's meeting that Mr Shoap talked about in a previous story. Hill said he found out about the situation from Mr. Shoap. When he checked on it he said the check was not sent by the finance department as that would have been right at the end of the 18 months and they felt if Shoap wasn't staying the city shouldn't pay for the trip. He added that if Shoap was staying they could always still send in the check.

“It wasn't me that put a hold on it, finance caught it,” explained Hill. He added that Shoap and Mark Rosser were signed up to go. As it stands now, Rosser will attend the meeting.

When asked about Hill's contention, Shoap said that was not the same information his questions about the situation turned up. He was told that the canceling of the trip came from Hill.

There are also some concerns over an incident that so far has not resulted in any action or complaint against the city. Both Councilman Kerley and Steve Hill talked about an alleged incident involving a Crossville police officer, their sexual orientation and an significant other. The story being shared is that Shoap spoke to the officer and said they needed to get rid of their significant other then was contact by the significant other. Hill said that there was another employee that verified such an incident had taken place. At this point no names of those involved have been discussed at all.

When Shoap was asked about the situation he said that the matter was related to a report that had come to the department from a professor at a Georgia college related to a paper written by the officer's roommate that mentioned using the Crossville resident's firearm to self inflict harm on the writer of the paper. According to Shoap the situation was a problem because the officer's roommate was a convicted felon and that was a policy violation. Shoap said he had no idea about the employee's orientation and he didn't care, but he said that the fact that Mr. Kerley was putting out the information in the public would be a much bigger problem.

Shoap said his concern about his officer was so that there wouldn't be a problem with any potential domestic violence that might happen where officer could lose their right to have a weapon and would then be unable to do their job as an officer. He added that he has dealt with those kinds of things for 30 years and is certified in training those kinds of situations for officers. Shoap said he recently run such training for the sheriff's department.

“Everything chief Shoap told you is a bunch of trash,” said Jesse Kerley, “he'll be lucky if he doesn't cause the city to be sued.” Kerley said. He continued, “I never asked that man to arrest anybody. I did ask him to check Blankenship's insurance card because he doesn't have insurance on his car. I asked him to file a police report on Pete Souza vigorously elbowing me in the back after the February meeting which he never filed. That's why Chief Shoap don't like me, he's protecting Pete and nobody sees it.”

Shoap explained that he had in fact checked on the registration and insurance of Mr. Blankenship's vehicle and everything was in order. Shoap added that the evening of the June meeting, he had passed that information on to Mr. Hill and asked him to pass it along to Mr. Kerley.

After discussing a situation that involved an attempt to set up a meeting between councilman Kerley, chief Shoap and school director Donald Andrews, a meeting that never took place as Mr. Andrews declined to set up the meeting, Kerley said that he did not tell employees to do stuff, but he had asked the city manager what I can and can't do because, “if you step outside of that charter you have personal liability and they can sue me for doing that and I know that.”

Kerley described Shoap as “a better politician then anyone sitting on that city council."

Kerley added, "You tell the public that I've never had my butt crawled so hard over an issue except when David Rutherford hired Chief Shoap when there was capable officers in that department that could have been hired.”