Under Peeler

Under Peeler, Greenback passed ordinances without proper readings

The Greenback Board of Mayor and Aldermen regularly adopted ordinances with first and second readings at the same meetings, violating charter procedure and potentially nullifying such ordinances.

Section 6-2-102 of the Greenback City Charter, which was adopted in 1991, requires that ordinances have two separate hearings to pass.

“An ordinance shall be considered and adopted on two (2) separate days,” the charter reads. “Any other form of board action shall be considered on one (1) day. Any form of board action shall be passed by a majority of the members present, if there is a quorum.”

A sample of 35 ordinances published between 1991-2009 and obtained by The Daily Times includes 10 ordinances with two readings on the same day, 13 with adequate separate readings and 12 with questionable dates, including some with the dates whited out and replaced, dates listed just one day apart or no date printed.

Among ordinances passed against procedure were several zoning changes, two of which were passed on first and second reading at the December 2007 meeting, as well as the annexation of more than 20 parcels of land in West Greenback — a vote that had its first and second reading 30 minutes apart at the Aug. 14, 2001, meeting.

Earlier ordinances also were passed consistently at just one meeting, but were ratified as a whole in June 1991 when the city adopted its current charter.

The discovery of inadequate ordinance readings is the most recent in a series of apparent state and city procedural violations by the board under the reign of former Mayor Tom Peeler.

Peeler, who served in the city’s highest office for 44 years, lost his re-election campaign in 2018. Since then, citizens have brought into question public meeting notices, ordinance publications and other issues of transparency, prompting an inquiry from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.

The questionable legality of Peeler’s actions in office may prove to be a hassle for new Mayor Dewayne Birchfield, as actions taken illegally are null and void, according to comptroller’s Open Records Counsel Lee Pope.

“The way it works is, it is all void if the meeting notices weren’t done properly, but there’s no way to enforce it except in court,” Pope told The Daily Times in December. “Then, a judge would nullify actions taken at meetings that weren’t properly handled and then the court would probably monitor the governing body for a while.”

In response to these and other criticisms by his former constituents, Peeler hired an attorney to send cease-and-desist letters to nine residents of Greenback, accusing them of defamation and threatening legal action.

Peeler was not available for comment before publication.