Future of county fair discussed

Mayor Waters reappointed as chairman Two formal petitions were presented to the Sevier County Commissioners at their meeting Monday, asking the board to re-evaluate its plans to build a new jail on the Sevier County Fairgrounds site. While next year’s fair will still be held at the current site, according to Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters, several area residents spoke out against the plans. Rick Leone, for example, presented a preliminary petition of 500 names saying that “taking two-acres away will kill the fair.” Leone is a Pigeon Forge resident. A second petition was presented thereafter, also with 500 names, making a similar request to the board. Mayor Waters reminded those in attendance that the board was not considering doing away with the fair, and that the two would merely need to coexist for the time being. Commissioner Buster Norton said “I don’t think that this is going to affect the fair at all.” He told the audience that, from what he could tell, there would be enough room for the annual fair to proceed despite the new jail’s presence. Currently, county officials are in the process of receiving qualifications from architectural firms to take on the project. The county is under the pressures of a lawsuit due to overcrowding issues at its current jail, to construct a new facility. Commissioners also voted to keep mayor Waters as Chairman, and commissioner James Temple as the Chairman Pro-Temp for the Sevier County Commission for 2005-2006. One vote against mayor Waters’ reappointment was taken in jest, and sparked a round of laughter in the board room. Also, commissioners voted to reappoint Jack McMahan as chairman to the planning commission. Mike Rawlings, a fire department representative to the county E911 board of directors, was reappointed to another four-year term in that position. A resolution which would delegate authority to the county general sessions judges the responsibility for the day-to-day supervision of the county’s judicial commissioners was approved by the board. At the Governmental Operations Committee meeting, also Monday evening, mayor Waters told the committee that the “general sessions judges felt like they would like to have the ability to do training for the judicial commissioners.” Furthermore, in a separate resolution Waters said that the committee would like to extend to these judges the responsibility of appointing a supervising position for Judicial Commissioners who would work from the jail. This position, if the resolution passes, would be subject to confirmation by the Steering Committee. Creation of this position, according to Waters would take the handling of criminal warrants out of the courthouse, to be dealt with solely at the jail. The Sevier County Board of Commissioners meets on the third Monday, each month, at the Sevier County Courthouse and the public is encouraged to attend.