Rice: "Knox County doesn't have the resources for that much creativity at this time."

Wow. How inspiring. And what a great recruiting slogan for the Chamber.

Interesting question Frank asks. Since Burchett filched on the severance agreement, are these folks technically still employed?

I wonder if Frank had the 'agreement' in writing.

My understanding is that Frank and the inspiring Mr. Rice had some conversations over the summer, which may have contributed to him believing that he was indeed on Burchett's dismiss list.

Also, from what I gather everything regarding Frank's resignation was verbal except Ragsdale's announcement.

This man was told he was going to be fired. He was offered a chance to resign with a severance package. Then the severance package was revoked, leaving him unable to draw unemployment compensation since he resigned. This was a cheap ass trick by both the out-going and in-coming administrations, and they should both be sued by those employees that got the shaft. But, according to the article, Mr. Frank and the others have already said they weren't interested in suing. Burchett should do the right thing and revoke the resignations, and then lay the employees off or whatever solution makes them eligible for unemployment. It was not fair to take away a severance package that was offered to them so that they would leave voluntarily rather than making the in-coming administration suffer a little bad PR by having to fire them outright.

What government body relegates this sort of thing?

ok, so let's say he was fired by burchett? he still wouldn't be eligible for severance or unemployment. what's the difference? only this way he got to say he 'quit' versus being fired.

I'm as confused as Frank...

Donila's KNS story didn't tell us to whom this e-mail from Frank was directed.

Are we to assume that it was directed to Mayor Burchett (and copied to commissioners, maybe)? Is/are the recipient(s) to issue a response to Frank? Will we know what that response was?

Frank's question as to whether he should now consider his resignation to be revoked sounds like a rhetorical one, but is he actually intending to go to work or to stay home work on Tuesday???

Of the three county employees perplexed by this very odd dismissal, I most regret that Frank has been treated this way. Of the three, it's Frank whom I can say with the highest degree of certainty has done an excellent job.

Whenever a new President takes office talking heads babble about "peaceful transfer of power," noting how we sophisticated Americans need not suffer through the pillaging and violence that often accompany power shifts in less democratic nations. It's a null narrative, a way to say, "Nothing interesting is happening, and that's so very good!"

There is a principle embedded in this narrative, the notion that the office is more important than the officeholder. Burchett and Jarret have both demonstrated disregard for this idea by dishonoring an agreement made by a County Mayor during his sworn tenure. This is different than the other changes Burchett has implemented because those are changes in policy and organization, whereas canceling the severance agreements reaches backwards in time to before Burchett's swearing in.

Jarret's decision is especially troubling since it not only creates the possibility of retroactive nullification of earlier severance agreements, but also sets up a gambit that could seriously handcuff a County Mayor's ability to conduct his or her duties. The Charter grants broad powers rather than exhaustively enumerated powers, and if a law director or judge can choose a narrow power like negotiating a severance agreement and use the Charter's failure to enumerate that narrow power as grounds for revoking the duty, the Mayor can be micromanaged down to a powerless figurehead.

"What happened is the rightful mayor reached a routine and legal severance agreement with county employees, then the new rightful mayor refused to honor that agreement, abetted by an opportunistic ruling from the law director."

Where did you get your law degree? Other than your opinion, what do you have to prove this was either legal, routine, or legitimate?

This whole mess has been a sorry display for the enjoyment of the crowd who think county employees are sub-human.
I ran into the most experienced local government lawyer (not a government employee anymore, but someone with a massive amount of expertise) I know the other day and asked him what he thought of the events of the last week, including Joe Jarret's memo. He shuddered.

Rikki's analysis is spot on. Further, it isn't even that complicated. It's a pretty simple and obvious breach of contract.

There was an offer – quit now or wait till next week and be fired.
There was consideration – the severance agreement.
And there was acceptance.
Sounds like Contracts 101.

paul krugman's latest thoughts on the subject.

Whenever the subject of state and local governments' fiscal plight comes up here in the United States, conservatives engage in spittle-flecked denunciations of unions and their crazy pay packages ... I looked at finance data from the U.S. Census and got the composition of nonfederal government spending shown in the graphic on this page. You'll see two things. First, wages and retirement benefits don't take up an unreasonably large piece of the pie. Second, subtracting a few percentage points either in pay or retirement benefits would not actually make a big difference. In the end, this is a phony issue.

hoyt-you will learn. you will never win. you are not one of them. you think with logic and reason. you are incapable of 'winning' an argument on this board. I read mostly for laughs, but never to try to shine light on a subject or (God-Forbid!) change someone's mind! it's about 10 or maybe 15 posters that really enjoy chatting back and forth with one another and seem to be pretty intelligent, functioning members of the community, except that when it comes to politics they are just plain clueless. But you will absolutely wear yourself out trying to argue with them. Just don't bother. You won't win, and they get off on wearing you out with words. {Think Democrat version of Brian Hornback only with actual other supporters--Very Scary!}