County resists State mandated Code of Ethics

A resolution to reinstitute a Code of Ethics for Lewis County officials and employees was deferred Monday evening during the November meeting of the Lewis County Board of Commissioners.  A narrow vote of nine in favor of deferring the resolution passed, with seven voting not to defer.

The Board rescinded the State Mandated Code of Ethics in February of this year when the Tennessee Ethics Commission denied authority to “enforce guiding principles” at the county level following an ethics complaint against then mayor, Kenneth Turnbow.

Discussed Monday were possible legal ramifications if Lewis County Commissioners fail to adopt the policy, which can include ouster of the entire board, CTAS policy indicates.

“If this was so important, why were we not told?” Commissioner Dave Rentschler asked.

“The County Mayor informed the County Commission it was illegal,” Attorney David  Peluso responded.

Commissioner Rentschler made a motion to defer adopting the Code of Ethics with a second by Commissioner Ritchie Brewer.

“This is bad judgement, we should fix it now.  When we defer, issues hardly ever come back up,” Commissioner Jason Haygood said.

A committee, to include Commissioners Rentschler, Ritchie Brewer and Leon Hunter,  was appointed to review the issue and report by the December meeting.

Voting not to defer were Commissioners Haygood, Brian Peery, Charles Talley, Jason Fite, Van Ward, Raymond Lomax and Ray Brewer Jr.