After a brief, whirlwind courtship, Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters hired Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Patterson as the county’s new assistant mayor.

Patterson was the lone known candidate for the job that was recently vacated by Curtis Henry, who had previously been the mayor’s assistant for approximately two years but left become principal at Gatlinburg-Pittman High School.

Patterson has served in the past as a county commissioner and an administrator for the city of Pigeon Forge.

It is believed that Patterson was the only candidate that Waters even interviewed for the position that comes with an annual salary of up to $92,000 a year. Patterson allegedly told one area publication recently that he was offered the job on June 10.

Waters’ reportedly only advertised the open assistant mayor position one time in the Sevier County daily newspaper on June 7. The advertisement for the important county position appeared in the publication without a job-description.

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