Meeting Stirs County Committee Controversy

Smith News

During June 1’s County Committee meetings, controversy stirred as multiple committees were unable to conduct business due to commissioner absences. This follows May’s Full Court, which also could not conduct any business, not having enough members to reach a quorum. There was still much to share and vote on, regardless, with discussions of Flock Cameras, attendance, and budget being primary topics.

It is no secret that this stock of commissioners has had attendance issues. Earlier this year, an attendance-based formula was adopted for commissioner pay, with about 85% of their paycheck depending on attending the two meetings. Despite this, it has not largely fixed the attendance rates, evidenced by no quorum for two of the committees.

The commissioners absent during the June 1 committee were David Cranford, Becky Golden, Lanny Selby, Dakota White, Thomas Margeson, Jordan Cocke, and Larry Daniels.

The commissioners present were TK Austin, Derrick Hutchings, Kyle Goff, Robert McCormick, Roger Mason, Chris Brewington, and Cain Rogers.

The two committees that could not meet because of attendance were the Solid Waste Committee and Steering Committee A.

The Fiscal Year 2027 Budget detailed form will be included next to this story for anyone who wishes to see the detailed breakdown, but some summaries on the budget: the tax penny will remain at $1.41, and there will be a projected deficit of $389,497.

Commissioner TK Austin voiced that he would be a no vote on a deficit that large. Commissioner Hutchings was worried, due to attendance, that they may not be able to get approval for the budget if there were already no’s being voiced, especially since last year had such a down-to-the-wire vote.

A representative for Flock cameras visited the Commission too, answering questions regarding privacy with the cameras. The representative was asked by TK Austin who can access the footage and data, and the representative claimed that the cameras cannot be accessed by other parties. The Sheriff’s Department confirmed this by citing examples of Walmart or the banks, which have Flock cameras but do not have access to their law enforcement footage. Captain Theiss said that the only people who have access to their Flock network would be fellow law enforcement agencies. The representative also confirmed that law enforcement is only allowed to share with law enforcement.

Executive Robinson asked about where the data was stored, and when confirmed it was kept by a company, he felt he was against it. “I’m against that,” he said. “It’s being kept by a company, and they can say what they want. They can sell and share that data.”

The representative claimed that Flock does not sell any of the data, and the data is deleted regularly after 30 days for privacy safety.

Some smaller items for approval from the Purchasing Committee included a carpet replacement at the White County Public Library. Another approval was for the Roland Sawmill project. Troyer Post Buildings had the lowest bid at $22,700, and they were approved.

Due to the lack of quorum in some meetings, audience concerns also took up far more of the meetings’ time than usual. Some of the concerns from residents included AI data centers, which have been a heavy topic for McMinnville as they wrestle with the potential for one at their doorstep. Another topic brought up multiple times was the conditions of roads and asking commissioners what more can be done for the harsher road conditions in the county.  

The Full Court Commission will be on June 15, on the third floor of the Courthouse. All meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on the Commission’s YouTube page at White County TN Commission.