Executive Insight: What Exactly Is a White County Executive?

Since being in this role, I have been asked several times what the County Executive does. I was even at a meeting recently, and someone said they wished the mayor had been there. Essentially, the Executive and Mayor titles are interchangeable. Mayor seems to be a more familiar, ubiquitous title, and more self-explanatory. However, as far as the responsibilities and duties of the job, they are the same.

The title in White County has a somewhat convoluted history. In 1885, a State private act established a County Judge for White County and transferred the duties of County Chairman to that office. At the time, the County Judge had administrative responsibilities as well as some judicial duties. Coincidentally, I have an ancestor, JD Goff, who served 28 years as County Judge, divided between two separate stints.

In 1972, another private act abolished the office of County Judge and created the office of County Administrator. This was short-lived, for only approximately 6 years during the David Snodgrass tenure. He stands alone as the only person to have two different titles, serving as both Judge and Administrator. In 1978, the role officially became Executive, and any remaining judicial responsibility was handed to the General Sessions judge.

To further complicate matters, State law changed the title to County Mayor in 2003 but allowed for private acts to keep the title County Executive. In 2006, White County passed a private act doing just that. In 2007, the state ended that option for new private acts but grandfathered those already enacted. Today, White County is one of only 15 Tennessee counties that have the Executive title.