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What Does a COO Do?

You’ d think a new guy in charge of city government would get more fanfare than a brief mention last week. Dave Hill, executive director of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, has very quietly been named chief operating officer of the city of Knoxville.

What gives?

You hear repeated stories around town about prominent businessman (insert your favorite name here) having lunch with Mayor Bill Haslam and giving him a stern lecture about a lack of progress. The business community that contributed a lot of money to get Haslam and County Mayor Mike Ragsdale elected are getting impatient given that the two have had eight months of joint tenancy and nothing seems to be happening except referendums. There doesn’t seem to be anyone who can “pull the trigger.”

The appointment of Hill is the result. It is not without precedent. Former Mayor Randy Tyree appointed Bill Ricker to run day-to-day operations.

MPC is a joint city-county agency, and it appears that Hill’s background working with both governments make him suited to pursue joint projects of city and county government. One presumes COO Hill will have the power to follow through on these measures, rather than just study them. Several city projects downtown hinge on coordinating with county government, since the county owns all the land purchased for the aborted Justice Center.

A former MPC director might also help with one of the biggest frustrations developers have with two governments. They spend days going up and down the elevator at the City County building with plans under their arms visiting office after office trying to get permits and permissions. A one-stop office with one set of regulations is their highest priority.

The announcement notes that COO Hill, who has been in Knoxville less than a year, will be the point man on downtown development strategy.

Property Tax Increase Studied

If we assume the wheel tax makes it to a referendum in November, and it’s repealed, what can you expect from county government? Half the fiscal year will be gone, and the choices are major budget cuts or enacting a property tax increase. County Mayor Mike Ragsdale has said he will not propose increasing the property tax.

But watch for one of the county commissioners to step up and propose a property tax increase. It’s likely to be a commissioner from West Knox County and the main argument will be to save the new high school. This supposes that 10 votes can be found on commission to support the effort.

A commission-led effort will spare Ragsdale the political heat he’s already getting for the wheel tax debacle.

Hope For the Hope Clock

David Dewhirst, current owner of the former Kimball’s building on Gay Street, is renovating the building’s ground floor and mezzanine for a restaurant and martini bar, to be called Sapphire. It’s a handsome space, but Dewhirst liked it a lot better with the clock in front. You know the one: the old 12-foot-tall standing iron timepiece with the Victorian detail. Once known as the Hope Clock, it was the focus of Armistice Day celebrations of 1918, and has recently been central to TV commercials and promotional films about the city. Kimball’s, who long ago acquired the clock with the store, recently uprooted the clock from its longtime sidewalk home to re-erect it at the store’s new building on Kingston Pike.

Dewhirst means to see the Hope Clock, or something very much like it, back on the sidewalk. He looked into the matter, and found that replica clocks of that sort retail in the neighborhood of $20,000. With prominent attorney Sidney Gilreath and about 10 other interested investors, Dewhirst and company expect to raise the whole amount—and then donate it to the city of Knoxville. “This is something for the city, not for a jewelry company, not for David Dewhirst,” he says. “It should really be the property of all the citizens of Knoxville.”

He’s hoping to find a Victorian-era design, similar to the original. “Nothing’s better than the original,” Dewhirst says. “But someday, maybe 150 years from now, they’ll say, ‘I’m glad they did that.’”

Big Fred to Play Affleck Role?

The Republicans meeting in convention in New York next week just won’t be able to match the star power of the Democrats in Boston. The Democrats had people like Ben Affleck, that guy that plays poker, dates a lot and makes dreadful movies. Affleck sightings were numerous in convention coverage.

Aside from some country music stars, the Republicans will unleash the man President Bush calls “Big Fred.” Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson is likely to be ubiquitous during the week. While all the other movie and television production companies are getting out of town during the convention, Law & Order—on which Thompson is a recurring character—is continuing to film around the city. Thompson’s show is evidently unfazed by terrorist threats or the possibility of being overrun by Republicans.

Not that there won’t be a lot of Hollywood stars showing up in New York for the convention. But they’ll be down with the protesters trying to make life miserable for the Bush delegates.

There’s always a chance Law & Order will have some outstanding and realistic riot footage in upcoming episodes.

Thorp Will Get to Bottom of This

Boy, we can’t wait to read what acid-tongued Commercial Appeal political columnist Susan Thorp will write about the latest scandal in Shelby County government. Thorp’s column has always been a must read on the Internet for political junkies all over the state. She’s spent years excoriating public officials and politicians.

But wait. We seem to recall that Thorp gave up the column to go to work for Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton. Now she’s involved in the latest scandal and has had to resign.

Seems a guy convicted of fraud under the last administration was waiting around to go to the pen. He had turned 55. Someone in county government thought it would be a good idea to let him back on the rolls as a county employee for three days. That doubled his pension benefits.

The mayor was shocked and surprised to discover that this had been done, and Thorp and another staffer have resigned.

Can We Catch Lenoir City?

Knoxville City Council finally got around to allowing “brunch,” which in this case means Eggs Benedict and a Bloody Mary on Sunday morning. State law several years ago changed to allow liquor sales at hotels and restaurants at 10 a.m. instead of noon and other major metropoli across the state OK’d it. So now Big Orange fans visiting our finer hotels and restaurants can get earlier relief after a bruising game the night before.

Maybe now Knoxville will decide to catch up with Lenoir City, which has package beer sales in convenience stores at 10 a.m. on Sunday. So if you are going to the mountains, the golf course or the lake detour through Lenoir City or wait until noon to pick up your beverages.

August 26, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 35 © 2004 Metro Pulse