Commission discusses constable vacancy, other business
TOP PHOTO: Commissioners from left to right are Rusty Orick, Zach Marlow, Johnny “Coach” Bruce and Lonnie Weldon.
By Charlotte Underwood
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- County Commissioners met on Monday evening for a workshop, setting the agenda for next week, the approval of advertising for a constable vacancy will be voted on next week, as will a stipend for the mayor’s executive assistant Keisha Howard for economic development work out of the county mayor’s office. Several grant applications, among other business items, including a resolution to claim unclaimed fund balances under the unclaimed property Act, will also be up for a vote.
First up discussed on Monday was that a $12,000 yearly stipend for Keisha Howard for doing economic development work in the County Mayor’s office will be on next week’s agenda, this will be carried by Commissioner David Greene. This will be paid out of the land acquisition funds, according to county mayor Jimmy Jeffries.
The commission will also vote on the approval of opening up for people to apply for a fifth district constable position. Commissioner Ralph Davis said, “the county had 121 days from Dec. 1st to March 30th, “we have to put it in the paper and put the rules of the application in there. They have to be mentally evaluated, have a doctor’s evaluation, they have to do 120 hours training and the training cost is $3,500 and they have to pay for it out of their own pocket at no expense to the county and all this has to be done and took care of before we can vote on it,” Davis said.
“If we don’t get anyone, then we can vote to allow the next election to take care of it, but we still have to make a motion to bring it to the floor that it is vacant, and we are accepting applications until March 30th. We cannot accept nobody, unless they get the application and see a doctor and be approved before they turn in an application, they can’t be approved if they don’t meet the application requirements,” Davis said.
A resolution to request unclaimed fund balances of accounts remitted to the state treasurer under the unclaimed property act will be voted on next week.
“What this is, is Mr. (Dennis) Potter said there are folks that they have tried to contact on several occasions, they can’t contact these folks, so we will do a resolution to request those funds, it’s a little over $450,000, and it’s my understanding from Mr. Potter that if we don’t claim that money as a county, that money will go to the state…They have tried numerous occasions to contact these folks and not been able to contact them, they have satisfied, according to Mr. Potter, they have satisfied all the stipulations required for contacting them and if we don’t claim it, it will go to the state,” Campbell County Mayor Jimmy Jeffries said.
Also to be voted on will be approval to accept the EPA Water Line Community Infrastructure Grant. “This is for an appropriation through Congressman Chuck Fleischmann’s Office. It’s for $1.38 million, it’s been here for about a year. They reached out and contacted me and asked if we were going to apply for a project on it or not. According to what the lady I had a meeting with, this has been here for almost a year, if we do not apply for a project, we will lose it, but the good news, because we are an at-risk county, it is typically and 80/20 matching grant, but since we are an at-risk county, it would be a 100 percent grant,” Jeffries said.
Commissioner Rusty Orick brought up something about a project that he thought the county had submitted for a $1.7 million grant for a project in Pinecrest and that it had to have approval by LUB. Jeffries said that may be something different, because the lady said we had not applied for a project. Orick said the one they had applied for before had gone through.
“The lady I spoke with said we could apply for a project and that we could apply for one big project or several smaller projects,” Jeffries said.
In other business, approval for the Sheriff’s Department to surplus two vehicles for $13,000 each to Union County for a 2015 Explorer and a 2020 Dodge Durango. The money will go back into the sheriff’s department.
Also on next week’s agenda will be the approval of the Campbell County Sanitation Department to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with America’s Thrift stores to set up bins at sanitation department convenience center locations. County Mayor Jeffries said it wouldn’t cost the county any money at all and would reduce the amount of trash that is sent to the landfill,”
Commissioner Ralph Davis said next month the sanitation department would have more recycling opportunities coming for glass, electronics and other stuff.
“Any ton we keep out of the landfill saves this county money,” Ralph Davis said.
“It saves us money, absolutely,” Jeffries echoed.
“It makes the state happy too,” Orick said. Campbell County has to show a 25 percent diversion of garbage from landfills through recycling each year..
Approval of a Homeland Security Grant will also be on next week’s agenda. Budget amendments 11-1 through 11-11 will also be voted on.
It was also approved for Caryville and Jacksboro Elementary School athletic teams to be recognized, this is being carried by Commissioner Chris Stanley. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/10/2026-6AM)
