Sheriff

Union County on track to no debt

Finance Director Missy Brown listens to
commissioners discuss new budget
requests to answer questions on cost.
In the background is Charlie Hamilton,
the newest member of the Ethics
Committee.

By Marilyn Toppins
At the January Union County Commission meeting, Finance Director Melissa Brown told commissioners that Union County had no debt and repeated the statement three times at Union County Mayor Jason Bailey’s request. However, she explained that the Union County School Board still owes for the School Energy Saving Program and the wheel tax will be paying for the construction of Paulette Elementary through possibly 2028.

County commission rescinds members' salary increase, passes budget

The Union County Commission approved the FY 21 Budget and set a tax rate of 2.13999 with no tax increase at its regular meeting on June 22. However, the raise for commissioners will not be included. Mayor Jason Bailey informed the commission that Governor Bill Lee prohibited any commissioner raises for FY21 in an executive order in March due to the high rate of unemployment and the impact of the coronavirus.

Swan Kitts

Swan Kitts

Clean-cut, honest, hardworking, competent, accommodating–these are all adjectives used to describe Sheriff Swan Kitts. There was a sense of presence about him that said, “Sheriff.” But his moment of fame perhaps came with the death of country singer, Hank Williams. I’ve heard and read several accounts of this event, but I’ll only touch on the event involving Patrolman Kitts. Writer Wayne Bledsoe wrote a good piece entitled “Hank’s Final Journey,” which was published in the Knoxville News Sentinel on December 30, 2002.