Death threat aimed at city manager during Rocky Top ‘workshop’
Rocky Top resident James Jenkins, standing, makes a threat against City Manager and Anderson County Commissioner Michael Foster, saying he would, “drag him out into the parking lot and I’ll beat him to death,” during a Rocky Top City Council special “charter workshop” on Tuesday evening, Jan. 31. Foster was not present. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The meeting also featured a death threat aimed at City Manager Michael Foster.
During the meeting on Tuesday evening (Jan. 31), called earlier in the month by new Mayor Kerry Templin, those in the audience spent most of their time complaining about the city being lax on fixing potholes.
That was a surprise to some city officials who thought the biggest complaints would be about homeless people and drug addicts on the streets, and the dilapidated, abandoned buildings that make up much of the downtown area.
Besides the potholes, the other big complaints came about high water bills and, from at least one resident, a problem with a sewer line leaking into her back yard.
Most of those who complained seemed to focus on Foster as the one responsible for their problems, with some saying they felt he had been rude to them when they came to City Hall to complain.
That led resident James Jenkins to stand up and make the death threat against Foster, who has been city manager for more than six years. Foster, who lives in Clinton, also is an elected member of the Anderson County Commission.
Speaking of Foster, Jenkins blared to the council and crowd:
“The next time I come in here and he raises his voice to me because I have a question, I’ll drag him out into the parking lot and I’ll beat him to death.”
A woman sitting nearby, identified by others later as Connie Klinkhammer, then shouted, “I’ll help you.”
There was no response to those comments from the mayor or the council members sitting at the council table.
But on Monday, Templin told The Courier News that he talked to Jenkins later about the remark, and “He said he made a great mistake.”
Templin added: “I should have called him [Jenkins] out in the meeting. That was my mistake. I think he needs to apologize to Michael.”
Because Foster was not present at the meeting, the comment did not warrant a criminal charge against Jenkins, Chief of Police Jim Shetterly said Monday, adding that he had checked with the District Attorney’s Office about it.
Still, Councilman Zack Green, who was sitting at the council table, said later that he was surprised by the threat, and that the mayor did not respond to the comment.
“What kind of mayor does nothing when someone threatens a city employee?” Green told The Courier News.
Templin said that one thing the meeting made clear to him was that “There are a lot of disgruntled people in town. At least the people who showed up want to see a change.”
Templin handed out a document proposing changes in the city charter that would ditch the city manager form of government that was instituted by a charter change approved by the City Council and the Tennessee General Assembly in 2016.
With Templin’s changes, the city would go back to a mayor-alderman setup as before, with the mayor as the city’s chief executive officer, instead of the city manager. The mayor would hire, discipline and fire city employees, as well as sign checks and contracts.
Templin said the city would also go back to its former practice of having city council members assigned to be in charge of the city departments, with each department head reporting to a particular council member.
The changes would allow the council to appoint a city administrator, who would have limited power.
Under the present charter, the city manager serves at the pleasure of the City Council, but acts as the city’s chief executive, and has absolute hiring and firing authority. The council’s only authority on hiring is for the city manager’s position.
To make the charter changes, the five-member council would need at least four votes to send the charter request to the local representatives to the General Assembly. The General Assembly would then have to approve the new charter, which would then come back to the City Council, where it would have to be passed as an ordinance on two readings, with only a simple majority vote needed.
Templin said Monday that he wants to learn more about whether the issue could be put to a vote in a city election, rather than just being approved by the City Council. He said he does believe that it still would have to be approved by the General Assembly.
“I want to do more study,” he said. “If it goes to a referendum, a majority of the people would go for it or against it. It wouldn’t be just four people making a decision. It’s probably a more democratic way to do it.”
The mayor conceded that, for now, he probably does not have the four votes on the council necessary to send the charter change request to the legislature.
Templin has just two allies on the current council – Jeff Gilliam and Mack Bunch. The other two, Green and Richard Dawson, have ties to the previous administration, and would not be expected to vote for the charter change.
But the mayor said he expects to get the votes he needs after the next council election, in November 2024.
Green made his position clear during the workshop, when he questioned why there should be a charter change.
“The mayor says there’s a disconnect between the council and the citizens,” Green told The Courier News later. “But whether we change the charter or not, we still have to repair that. We don’t need to change the charter. That doesn’t change the connection.”
The city has problems, for sure, but they go back “30 or 40 years,” Green said. “It started before I was born. And I don’t believe it’s one group of council members who did it. It’s decades of councils.
“I live in Rocky Top, and I have just as much stake in this town as any other citizen.” Green said. “That fuels why I want to serve my community.
“I think it’s good the mayor wants to be more involved, but I believe we’ve got all of the authority we need.”
Green also had praise for Foster and the job he has been doing as city manager.
“Foster has done a great job with grants,” Green said.
“They think changing the charter gets rid of Foster. But we will still need a city manager with the work ethic Foster has to operate the city, especially with the goals we have had for the past six years. I want a city manager that does the job.”
The previous council renewed Foster’s contract for five years in September.