Closed executive session called by city attorney.

The City Attorney will be holding a closed executive session to discuss pending litigation at 12:00 on Wednesday, December 21, that will last about 10 minutes.  Following the closed session, the work session on the shooting sports park will be held.

Story on work session.

All legal actions dropped against J. R. Blankenship on fliers and restraining order.

In a quiet move, Crossville city attorney Will Ridley has signed off on an agreed order on behalf of the city of Crossville that vacates all charges against J. R. Blankenship over the distribution of “unsigned fliers” and removes the $1500 in fines assessed in city court by city judge Ivy Gardner.

The charges arose when some fliers (and no one seems to be able to determine exactly how many) were found posted on downtown Crossville businesses the morning following the March city council meeting offering “a reward” of up to $500 for photos of any city elected or appointed official doing something wrong. The flier promised anonymity for the informant and that the evidence would be published. The flier was signed “Sam at the Daily Bull” with a phone number.

Blankenship's flier

Following an investigation establishing Blankenship as a suspect, a single citation issued by the Crossville police on the charge of distribution of unsigned fliers was heard in city court by Judge Ivy Gardener. The number of charges was increased to 30 counts by Judge Gardner resulting in a total fine of $1500. The highest fine a municipal court can asses is $50 and the only way the fine could be higher is if the number of charges was increased.

Blankenship filed several actions through city court and eventually appealed the fine and charges to Chancery court. The initial filing was on his own and Blankenship eventually secured the services of Nashville attorney Joe Johnston.

Agreed order page 1

Agreed order page 2

The agreed order does away with all charges against Blankenship who garnered the attention of city councilman Jesse Kerley and members of his family including his father Jerry Kerley, director of water resources for the city who, along with another man, was charged with stealing signs posted by Blankenship in a yard on Mockingbird Drive. Both men charged in the sign theft, Jerry Kerley and William Harwell took pre-trial diversion in the sign theft case last month.

Blankenship is also known for signs displayed in his truck while parked outside Crossville city hall during council meetings. Blankenship's signs were targeting Jesse Kerley and his actions and garnered a request from Kerley to former interim police chief Rod Shoap to charge Blankenship for vehicle registration and insurance violations that turned out to be false.

J. R. Blankenship with political sign in front of city hall

The ordinance against distribution of unsigned fliers was originally approved by the city council sometime in the 1960's and Blankenship appears to be the first person ever cited under the ordinance. Crossville city council will consider abolishing that ordinance at their upcoming meeting as it appears to interfere with a citizen's free speech rights.

The agreed order on the flier charges states that “the judgment of the city court be vacated along with any fines or fees ordered by the city court.” The order further states that “the case is dismissed with prejudice.” That means that charges can not be refiled at anytime in the future. The order was entered in the record on November 17 and filed with the court clerks office that same day.

The agreed order also says that the city agrees to pay the costs on the case, if any.

In the course of the reaction to the case, Crossville city judge Ivy Gardner filed a request as an individual for a restraining order against Blankenship earlier this year in General Sessions court saying she felt threatened by him. A permanent restraining order was signed by General Sessions Judge Larry Warner on July 7 2016 after Blankenship did not appear for a hearing because his mother was hospitalized just before she passed away.

The restraining order action was also appealed by Blankenship to Chancery Court and Blankenship initially represented himself pro se. A list of interrogatory questions was submitted by Blankenship to be answered by Gardener that specifically asked, among other things, to “describe in detail each and every verbal and/or written threat, which you allege has been made against you by defendant James R. Blankenship.” Blankenship's interrogatories were submitted on July 25, 2016.

Interrogatory questions from Gardener to Blankenship were submitted on August 17, 2016. The questions included questions on any arrest and/or convictions as well as any involvement in any lawsuit. The following day, Nashville attorney Joe Johnston filed a notice of appearance in the Gardener case to represent Blankenship.

Blankenship's new attorney also filed a motion for continuance from the initially set court date of August 28. An answer to Gardener's complaint was filed with the court August 26 and the answer states that the defendant Blankenship denied ever having “said or done anything that would constitute a pattern to harass and unnecessarily alarm the plaintiff Ivy Gardener ans her complaint had stated.

The appeal hearing, scheduled to be heard November 29 by Judge Jonathan Young for November 29 was not held because the request for a restraining order was “non-suited” or withdrawn by Gardener according to documents filed in the court clerks office.

Non-suit motion 

Previous related stories:

Sign posted outside Council meeting 

Interview with J.R. Blankenship 

Blankenship cases to be heard November 29  

Councilman Pete Souza files 13 count ethics complaint against Jesse Kerley, Steve Hill and Jerry Kerley

Councilman Pete Souza has filed an ethics complaint with the city that includes some 13 incidents he thinks need to be investigated that include accusations against councilman Jesse Kerley, interim city manager Steve Hill and one count names Kerley's father, city water resources director Jerry Kerley.

Crossville city councilman Pete Souza, author of ethics complaints

Councilman Jesse Kerley, the target of the majority of Souza's complaints 

Interim city manager Steve Hill, also a target of Souza's complaints

Crossville city attorney Will Ridley who acts as the city's ethics officer

The ethics complaint was presented to city attorney Will Ridley on Friday September 16. Ridley is the ethics officer for the city and has reviewed the complaint for it to move to the next steps. Ridley released the document to city clerk Sally Oglesby on Friday September 30 with a cover letter to Mayor James Mayberry.

Ridley's letter states that because he represents the council as a whole that he feels he has a conflict of interest that will not allow him to investigate the complaints or make any recommendation to the council as to the complaint's validity or merit.  Ridley suggests that the council hold a special called meeting because of the large number of complaints.  He adds that the ordinance does not provide a certain timeline in which complaints must be considered.

Two of the complaints (number 1 and number 9 below) relate to the pending criminal assault accusations between councilman Souza and Kerley that will be back in General Sessions Court on October 6.  Ridley says that those complaints not be considered until such time as the pending criminal matter is complete resolved.  After that the items could be considered.

The complaint that concerns city employee Jerry Kerley should be considered by the personnel board and not the council.  Ridley also provided a copy of a Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) opinion on procedures for the council to follow when considering an ethics complaint.  The MTAS opinion is dated September 21, 2016

 The complaint outlines some 13 events over the 10 page document. Those events range from the alleged assault by Jesse and Jerry Kerley against Mr. Souza, interim city manager Steve Hill interfering with the police investigation of the incident, and Hill's alleged misuse of city property before he retired from the parks department.

Additional items allege official oppression and abuse of office by Mr. Kerley including requesting certain people be arrested, releasing false information concerning an investigation into actions by former police chief Rod Shoap, and harassing citizens and city city employees.

The council/ethics committee is charged with determining if the complaints have merit, do not have merit, or require investigation. If investigation is needed and approved a lawyer from outside a 100 mile radius is chosen to investigate.

Councilman Kerley said earlier this week that he had not seen the complaint document but he still described the charges as "more lies."

The 13 items listed are described by Mr. Souza as events and a brief description of each one follows:

1. Conduct of Mr. Jerry Kerley, director of the water resources department for his action to participate in an act of violence with his son, councilman Jesse Kerley on June 2, 2016 in violation of the city personnel ordinance.
2. Interim city manager using his office to allow his friend and sponsor Jesse Kerley to interfere with a police investigation and to harass then police chief Rod Shoap.
3. Mr. Hill's use of municipal supplies for private use while head of the parks and recreation department.
4. Mr. Hill's unauthorized granting of himself and “a privileged employee” time off to play golf in violation of the personnel policy.
5. Mr. Hill, upon assuming duties as interim city manager acquired a utility vehicle that he utilized for his personal use.
6. That on June 3, 2016, Mr. Kerley and Mr. Hill, using their office approached the justice center to make sure no charges on councilman Kerley were passed through the magistrates office, described as an act of official oppression.
7. On July 3, Councilman Kerley and Mr. Hill released stories to the media concerning an investigation into police chief Rod Shoap that were not true. This is alleged to have been an act of official oppression.
8. Councilman Kerley, under color of office ordered police chief Shoap to arrest persons for the purpose of causing them harm.
9. Councilman Kerley stalked and assaulted councilman Souza on June 2, 2016 on city property following a council work session.
10. Councilman Kerley, under color of his office, actively interfered with a police investigation into the assault of councilman Souza.
11. Councilman Kerley and Mr. Hill used their offices to place false information with the press concerning an investigation for allegedly mistreating a supposedly gay city employee, claimed Shoap had an affair in Lee County Florida, and he had committed a felony for not filing a police report. Mr. Hill later stated to a reporter there was no investigation
12. Councilman Kerley used his office to pursue efforts to harass and cause harm to citizens of Cumberland County including former director of schools Donald Andrews and Randy Blankenship.
13. Councilman Kerley began harassing former city manager David Rutherford starting in January of 2016. In addition, Mr. Souza says that Kerley accused him of meeting with chief Shoap to have people arrested. Souza said he was only passing on information he received from citizens that resulted in drug houses being shut down and ways to help the department.

Souza's cover letter with the complaints ends by saying, “The decision to pursue this rests with the council., What is clearly evident is the acts listed in this complaint could not have transpired if open government existed on all levels. Now this council has the opportunity to bring in an unbiased investigator or shut this down and cover this up.”

Very busy called meeting agenda set for noon Friday July 22 includes city manager, sidewalks, shooting sports park

The meeting started out to be about moving up the process of hiring a new city manager rather then wait until after the council election in November but the agenda has grown.

The meeting will be held without councilman Pete Souza who previously advised he was unavailable to meet. 

In order to move up the city manager hiring time line the council will have to rescind a previous action agreeing to put it off until the city election is held.  No reason for the change in plans has been released.  Emails this week from one council member sought to keep the applicants secret though city attorney Will Ridley advised that was not allowed under the open records law.

Also on the agenda is appointment of two members of an oversight committee for the economic development funds to the Chamber of Commerce and two appointments to the health and education facilities board.

A discussion of the use of city office space by the non-profit group Cumberland Rising, the drug alliance that came from the Horizon Initiative has been requested by council member Pamala Harris.  The partnership group has a temporary space on the fourth floor used by its director.

Cumberland County mayor Ken Carey will be at the meeting to discuss topics to include the shooting sports park that was discussed just over a year ago.  Carey will update the council on the project.
2015 story on the Shooting Sports Park

Carey will also talk to the council about the pay for 911 dispatchers.  The county's recent salary study showed that the dispatchers are below the average pay for the classification.  The city and county share the costs of the communications operation.

The long expected council discussion of the downtown sidewalk project and how to handle it will also be part of the called meeting.  The project has been looked at for bidding by a contractor and a study done by city staff to see what the cost and time frame would be to do the project with a dedicated city crew.  City engineer Tim Begley and street supervisor Kevin Music are expeted to report to the council as they try to decide the best way to proceed. 

Council will also discuss the lease between the city and Downtown Crossville, Inc on the building known as the Snodgrass building.  The initial term of the lease expires October this year and DCI is requesting a three year extension.  The city and DCI worked on repairs and upgrades to the building and all those have been completed according to the letter from DCI president Bob Schwartz 

An item on a project to convert old council audio tapes to CDs

Council animosity still apparent in emails this week over city manager and chief of police. Kerley accuses Mayberry of charter violation

What started as a seemingly routine email communication concerning an important city personnel matter seems to have degenerated into sniping, accusations and further examples of the animosity that remains between some Crossville city council members.

Monday evening June 20, Crossville mayor James Mayberry sent an email to interim city manager Steve Hill pointing out that the interim police chief's contract was near its end. Mayberry wrote, “with no other applicants from within the department, and the excellent results with coordination of other agencies, and the overwhelming community support, I request the city manager to pole (sic) the council for their input on the appointment of Mr. Shoap as permanent police chief.”

Mayberry continued, “The council is not authorized to hire or fire city employees. Being the interim city manager would cause reservations on the hiring and firing process and I'm sure cause concern. Therefore, I think council input is of utmost importance on the paramount decision for the city's future.”

That email generated a response email the next day from councilman Jesse Kerley asking that hiring a permanent city manager be placed on the July regular council meeting agenda and accusing the Mayor of violating the city charter by trying to interfere with the city manager's decisions. Since the council has not received any city manager candidate info from the city consultant MTAS, it appears Kerley's proposal may be to hire interim manager Hill permanently.

The following day, June 22, councilman Pete Souza sent his own email. Interestingly enough, Mr. Kerley's emails are blocked by Mr. Souza and Mr. Souza does not copy Mr. Kerley on their emails.

Souza wrote, “First of all the comment of councilman Kerley that the Mayor violated the charter is without merit. He made the same claim on me and I addressed this to the city attorney. It is our (the council's) prerogative to let the city manager know our desires not to be construed with ordering him to hire or fire someone. Mr. Ridley can feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I find it incomprehensible that councilman Kerley can bring up former assistant chief Sherrill but the mayor can't bring up Shoap.

Souza's email went on to praise the work of chief Shoap and his value to the community. He said he added his approval of Shoap with mayor Mayberry's and said while he couldn't speak for council members Danny Wyatt and Pam Harris he did say they had praised the chief in public meetings.

Souza's email continued, “Moving on to councilman Kerley's agenda item to appoint a permanent city manager, this was already decided in a motion. The selection would take place after the upcoming city council election with the help of MTAS.” Souza concludes, “So the question is how disruptive to the community does the city council and for that matter the interim city manager want to be?”

Based on looking at the email forwarding trail, councilman Danny Wyatt forwarded Mr. Souza's email to councilman Kerley and Kerley responded asking city attorney Will Ridley to advise on Article V Section 6 of the charter. Wrote Kerley, “I'm having trouble finding Souza's law degree license on the internet. It APPARENTLY is filed with the state along with his business license.” The last reference to an earlier squabble over Souza's electrical business. Kerley concludes with a political reference to Souza's race for county tax assessor adding in caps, “SIMCOX FOR ASSESSOR.” Mr. Souza was not included in the distribution list for Kerley's email.

City attorney Will Ridley responded to request for information on the charter and quoted the article and section in question.

“Except for the purpose of inquiry, the council and its members shall deal with the administrative officers and employees solely through the manager. Neither the council nor any member thereof shall give orders to the manager’s subordinates or otherwise interfere with managerial functions through such means as directing or requesting the appointment or removal of any of the manager’s subordinates…………..”

Ridley continued, “I can only provide information. I cannot make a decision as to whether an individual council member has violated the charter. To do so would violate my ethical duty to represent the council as a whole. Nothing in the above section prohibits a council member from giving their opinion or view point on an employee or department's performance. However it prohibits a council member from “directing or requesting” the city manager to make a particular decision.”

This reporter received some of these emails from Mr. Kerley in an email that opened with his opinion that, “FYI. This is a clear violation of article V section 6 of the city charter.” That remains to be seen.

Crossville council approves settlement in eminent domain lawsuit from 2011

Meeting in a special called meeting, the Crossville city council approved a settlement worked out over an eminent domain claim from 2011 and the construction of the Northwest Connector.

City attorney Will Ridley went over the legal matter with the council that started back in 2011 as part of the city securing necessary property to build the first section of the so-called Northwest Connector. The city offered land owner John Turner and his wife an initial amount of $33,360 based on an appraisal done on the property. Mr. Turner sought a total amount of some $109,000 for the property based on what he felt it was worth. About 2 acres of property was involved that included .9 of an acre purchased in fee simple, another .65 acre for easements and temporary construction use, .2 of an acre for drainage slope and .65 on an acre landlocked by the project without access to a road.

Previous city attorney Ken Chadwell filed the eminent domain action and putting the $33,360 on deposit with the court and allowing the city to use the property while waiting until later to settle on the final compensation. As a court date approached on the matter, the city council authorized attorney Ridely to participate in a mediation on the matter in an attempt to settle the matter without going to court.

The agreement reached through the mediation included paying Turner an additional $36,150 plus interest at prime plus 2 percent. The total amount to be paid to Turner would be $45,000.

Council member Pan Harris asked Ridley what the expected cost to try the case might be and Ridley said between $25,000 and $32,000 was budgeted for that expense. In addition, there could be additional payment to Turner ordered by the court.

Will Ridley told the council that he recommended the council to accept the settlement. Mayor James Mayberry moved to accept the settlement and received a second from council member Harris.

Councilman Jesse Kerley commented, pointing out that there had been no complaints about the special called meeting at a mid-day time as had been made about previous special called meetings.

Said Kerley, “I find that a little interesting considering a man is getting $36,000 here today who painted a council members political signs...”

“Point of order!” stated councilman Pete Souza, saying the comments had nothing to do with the agenda item under discussion. Souza added, “I have no political signs.”

Mayor Mayberry ruled that Souza's point was well taken and asked for no personal attacks. Mr. Kerley responded that he had used no names in his comment.

Kerley continued saying that the appraisal was the most inflated one he had ever seen. “I think this was handled wrong.” Kerley said he would not support the settlement. Kerley also added that he wanted the city manager to give a copy of the appraisal to the county property assessor David Simcox adding that Turner should be taxed off of the appraisal.

Councilman Danny Wyatt said he did not agree 100 percent with the settlement, but said it was probably best for the city and everybody involved in it.

The vote on the motion included three ayes from Wyatt, Harris and Mayberry. Mr. Kerley voted against the motion and Mr. Souza abstained having previously said he would recuse himself as he and Mr. Turner were close friends.