Sullivan ethics panel to examine ditch issue

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Sullivan County’s Ethics Committee will look into allegations that Highway Commissioner Allan Pope acted inappropriately when he dug a 36-inch-deep ditch to the site of a proposed subdivision at the end of Graybeal Road near Bluff City.

The county commission’s executive committee voted unanimously Wednesday to send to the ethics committee its concerns over whether county-owned highway equipment and employees were used for non-county business.

“In my opinion, there was a wrong done and it needs to be righted for the citizens of Sullivan County,” said County Commissioner Wayne McConnell of Kingsport, who chairs the executive committee.

Last week, Pope ordered his highway crews to dig a ditch down the side of Graybeal Road so Bluff City could install a water line to a 20-acre tract of land that Reed and Rosalyn Booher planned to develop into a subdivision with 15 lots. On March 5, after complaints were made, the highway commissioner ordered his crews to refill the ditch.

Pope, who did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, said earlier he had to dig a drainage ditch along the road as part a street widening project on Graybeal Road. When he learned that the Boohers were talking with Bluff City about running a water line to their proposed development, Pope said, he offered to dig the drainage ditch deeper, to 36 inches, so the city could install its lines without digging up his ditch or the newly widened road.

But Bluff City was never going to install that water line, City Recorder Judy Dulaney said. The town’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen had rejected the Boohers’ request, forcing the couple to hire a private contractor to lay the water line.

That contractor called several commissioners when he showed up at the job site March 3 and found the highway department digging the ditch.

“I didn’t realize the county was out to put contractors out of a job,” said Garry Smith, a private developer who attended Thursday’s executive committee meeting.

Though he did not bid on the water line project, Smith said, he had thought about buying the land at the end of Graybeal Road to develop it himself. But he abandoned those plans when he realized what the development would cost: Installing the water line itself would have cost $400,000, he said.

After hearing from the contractors a week ago, McConnell and other executive committee members asked County Attorney Dan Street to investigate. On Wednesday, Street presented his findings to the committee.

The attorney said both the Boohers and Bluff City stood to gain by Pope’s actions, even if the highway commissioner dug the ditch out of a desire to help the town’s utility district.

“To say that you were trying to help is no defense,” Street said.

He said Pope’s actions could violate the county’s ethics policy, which forbids the use of county time, facilities or equipment to benefit a private individual or entity. He also said the actions might have violated a state law that makes it illegal to use county highway equipment or personnel for non-county business. Violating that law is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $50 fine.

“I recommend that we send it to the attorney general,” McConnell said, asking the committee to send its case against Pope to District Attorney General Greeley Wells for possible criminal prosecution.

But that motion, by Commissioner Linda Brittenham of Blountville, failed for lack of a second and the executive committee instead referred their concerns to the ethics committee.

Street said the ethics committee has several options if it finds that Pope violated policy: publicly chastise and reprimand the highway commissioner; refer the case to the attorney general; or start proceedings to have Pope removed from office.

Street said the last option would be a little extreme, but he hesitated to comment further on the ethics committee’s actions.

When the seven-member ethics committee, which includes county commissioners and other county officials, takes up the issue Monday, it will be the first time that committee has officially looked into whether an elected county official acted inappropriately since the county adopted its ethics policy in December 2007.

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