By Jeremy Z. Young

After saying they would never agree to it, the fifty-eight members of the Knox Charter Petition have changed  the wording on several of the 9 amendments they have been seeking to place on the ballot in the August election.

This group, which formerly referred to themselves as One County One Question, began in early 2007 and sought the answer to this question: What changes, if any, do the citizens want to make to the form or structure of Government in Knox County? Next, a series of five meetings were held in five area high schools which were attended by as many as one hundred people per site. Working with the Howard Baker Center for Public Police, the group took the information they gathered at the public meetings and wrote 9 amendments which they presented to Knox County Commission. The commission voted to put the amendments on the ballot, on first reading. However, before the next commission meeting, the group began facing opposition. The leaders of this opposition held public meetings throughout the county, which resulted in strong and vocal disagreements with not only the amendments, but also the method used by the Knox Charter Petition Group.

Commissioner Briggs suggested that Mayor Ragsdale appoint a Charter Review Committee. Mayor Ragsdale named members for this committee, however, the Commission voted the idea down. Next, the commissioners requested a review of the amendments by the Law Director, Bill Owings, who came back with a seven page report about the legality of the amendments.

After Owings' report, the KCP group sent out a letter making the following changes in the 9 amendments:

•Consistency Amendment: This amendment has been dropped due to confusion.
•Executive Branch Changes Amendment: Changing the position of Property Assessor from elected to appointed has also been dropped.
•Ordinance 102: This ordinance was seeking to change 2 out of 19 At Large Commission seats to 3 out of 11. This amendment would also change partisan races to nonpartisan. KCP is also dropping these two changes.
•Ordinance 106: Establish an Independent Inspector General - The group is agreeable to setting the salary in an objective way.
•Ordinance 108: typically called the "anti-nepotism" amendment. The group has agreed to remove the phrase "or whose compensation is required to be funded directly or indirectly by Knox County."

On April 28, the Knox County Commission voted on whether to place the nine amendments on the ballot for the General Election on August 7, 2008. The only petition receiving the 2/3 majority needed of 13 votes was the amendment which seeks to change the number of signatures needed in order to place an amendment on the ballot.

KCP responded to the defeat by saying they will hire a professional group to monitor a petition drive in order to receive the number of signatures needed to place the other amendments on the ballot for the election in November. The petition drive will begin on June 30,2008 and is set to end by August 30, 2008. September 5, 2008 is the final date by which the Knox County Election Commission must certify the signatures from the petition drive.

KCP can be reached at www.knoxcharterpetition.com .

The group known as Knoxville's Silent Majority has made vocal opposition to the Knox Charter Petition Group and is led by Mike Mitchell and Chuck Bowers. They plan to continue to inform citizens as to what they say are the real meanings behind the lengthy and, sometimes, confusing amendments.This group can be reached at www.knoxvillesilentmajority.com.