January 27, 2025

The University of Georgia was chartered by the Georgia General Assembly 240 years ago today — making it the oldest state university in what not too long after became the United Statess.

In today's report: With Gov. Bill Lee's special legislative session set to begin today in Nashville, Democratic lawmakers held a town hall last week (pictured) to talk about their concerns over private-school vouchers and immigration enforcement. Correspondent Angela Dennis dropped in on the event, hosted by state Reps. Sam McKenzie, Gloria Johnson and Karen Camper. She has this account of the discussion.

Our Weekly Watch previews meetings of the Knox County Commission and the Sports Authority, as well as an input session of the city's Comprehensive Five-Year Plan for spending federal housing funds.

Meanwhile, this week's Knox Found features an enchanting lass with bagpipes.

From correspondent Erik Ryberg: Knoxville City Council held a retreat on Friday to review its 2024 goals and objectives and to set its 2025 priorities. The retreat was held in a conference room at the Visit Knoxville Visitor’s Center, offering a more intimate setting for Council members to talk in a less constrained manner than they do at their regular meetings.

Still, members twice lamented that they could not be as candid as they wished because “the press” was present. As required by the state's Open Meetings Act, the retreat was open to the public.

The “2024 Recap” section of the meeting, scheduled to end at 10:15 a.m., was finally wrangled into submission well after the lunch break, leaving Council members about 30 minutes to discuss 2025 priorities. Those priorities were relatively anodyne: Update aging planning documents, inventory vacant property along certain corridors, evaluate rules regarding temporary shelters, and clarify some zoning rules.

But some Council members were able to elevate their own concerns during the meeting. Fourth District Council member Lauren Rider raised an issue of disincentives in the planning rules that keep groups like Habitat for Humanity from constructing those types of homes; Council will now add this as a priority to resolve. And At-Large Council member Amelia Parker raised concerns about temporary shelter permitting that the Council also adopted as a priority for review.

Council members complained that they have had to vote recently on expensive, sometimes controversial items when only a limited amount of information has been presented to members beforehand. 

“I think this body as a whole needs to be more forceful with the administration or have more input than we seem to have. We get told stuff when they want us to know it,” At-Large Council member Debbie Helsley said. “They should tell us, for example, when they get a $25 million grant before the whole press knows.”

Fifth District Council member Charles Thomas said the information provided to the Council and, he emphasized, to constituents, is often too sparse. 

“I don’t remember being surprised or getting such short notice of some of the things I am going to have to analyze and vote on” in the past, he said. “Sometimes the constituents don’t have any idea, and we are hustling enough as it is.”

Sponsor

The Tennessee Democratic Party’s State Executive Committee chose Vice Chair Rachel Campbell of Chattanooga to be party chair over Knoxville Rep. Gloria Johnson in a vote last week. She succeeds Hendrell Remus, who opted not to run for a third term.

Meeting at the Tennessee State University campus in downtown Nashville, the State Executive Committee favored Campbell over Johnson by a 43-22 vote, according to the Tennessee Journal. State Rep. Vincent Dixie of Nashville and four other candidates got knocked out in the first round of voting.

“Rachel Campbell brings a wealth of experience to the role, having previously served as vice chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party and chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party,” the state party said in a statement. “Her leadership will help to usher in a renewed focus on building coalitions, expanding investments in electoral strategies, and aiming to strengthen the party’s presence and impact across Tennessee.”

Campbell’s job is to reverse the Democrats’ long slide in statewide politics. Despite heavy spending and renewed optimism, the Democratic party did not make a dent in the Republican supermajority in the state Legislature.

The State Executive Committee also elected J. Nathan Higdon as vice chair, Carol V. Abney as treasurer and Ryan Scofield as secretary.

Speaking of the 114th General Assembly’s special session, it is set to begin today at the state Capitol in Nashville.

Legislators will consider Gov. Bill Lee’s private-school voucher proposal, the centerpiece of his legislative agenda, as well as increased disaster relief funding for areas devastated by Hurricane Helene and immigration enforcement measures.

A detailed schedule of committee meetings had not been posted at the Legislature’s website as of Sunday evening. The House and Senate both have floor sessions scheduled for 5 p.m. Eastern Time today.

The Knox County Commission will meet at 5 p.m. today in the Small Assembly Room of the City County Building.

Commissioners will vote on adopting a policy to govern the establishment of residential infrastructure development districts. A new state law allows counties to form the districts, at the request of developers, where property owners pay a special assessment to fund associated public infrastructure improvements.

In a related matter, commissioners are scheduled to vote on a memorandum of understanding with D.R. Horton Inc., outlining the responsibilities for funding $6.5 million in upgrades in the county’s first residential infrastructure development district. Commissioners approved the district, on Tipton Station Road in South Knox County, during a public hearing last week.

Also on the agenda are presentations from the Fire and Technical Rescue Committee, Legal Aid of East Tennessee on eviction prevention, and Knox County Schools Superintendent Jon Rysewyk on the school system’s annual report.

In this week’s installment of the Compass Points podcast, Scott gives details on the county’s first residential infrastructure development district and talks about how it's designed to fund road, water and sewer improvements. He also delves into the expansion of the Knoxville Police Department’s co-response program. Other topics include Steven Matjijcio’s first year as director of the Knoxville Museum of Art, a lawsuit Knoxville firefighters filed against the city and more.

Scott also looks forward to this week’s special session of the state Legislature and meetings of the Knox County Commission and the city-county Sports Authority.

You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. And if you like the podcast, don't forget to subscribe! It's free.

Did you miss one of our daily newsletters last week? Don't forget you can find links to all of the 2025 newsletters to date in our archive. Bookmark the page so you can check it whenever you want. (You can also get to it by clicking on "Special Reports" at the top of the website homepage.)

Speaking of Knox Found, no one identified the phantasmagoric artwork in last week’s mystery photo as adorning the exterior of Riot Printing Co. at 1321 Chilhowee Ave. in East Knoxville. Founded nearly 16 years ago by artist Travis Stevens, the company provides screen printing, embroidery and design services.

Maybe Council met this guy.