At issue was the Knox County Highway Superintendent’s position
The search for the next Knox County Highway Superintendent was the cause of a lot of commotion at Wednesday Night’s County Commissioner’s meeting.
Commissioner Tim Ellerman spoke out against the preliminary draft of a contract between the county and RQAW Operations. The draft proposed that RQAW would provide Knox County with the services of Engineer Greg Ellis, who would fill the Superintendent role for the next twelve months. Ellerman expressed concern about communication during the superintendent search, as well as noting that the county had never advertised for a firm to fill the position, but rather, in his understanding, a single person. A number of Knox County citizens in attendance fell in line with Ellerman, sharing similar concerns. As tensions continued to rise and emotion came into play, a trio of men attending the meeting were even escorted from the circuit court by the Knox County Sheriff’s Department
Commissioners Kelli Streeter Trent Hinkle support the hiring of Ellis as Highway Superintendent. They both said they want to take politics out of the position and put the needs of the county, which they think Eliis can handle, first.
As tensions cooled, the Commissioners agreed that at least a few amendments needed to be made to the preliminary contract proposed by RQAW. The search for Knox County’s next Highway Superintendent continues. The Commissioners will discuss the issue further at their next meeting scheduled for March 7th at 10:00 a.m.