Huntsville Back In Court

August 19, 2004

HUNTSVILLE - The Town of Huntsville and Mayor George Potter are heading back to court in the on-going dispute over an April 2003 annexation by referendum.

In a suit filed August 10 in Chancery Court, the Town of Huntsville, along with its attorney Andrew hall, seek a declaratory judgement from Chancellor Billy Joe White "to determine if George W. Potter should be allowed to continue as mayor for the Town of Huntsville, Tennessee, and whether the name of George W. Potter should be allowed to appear on the ballot as a candidate for re-election as mayor of the Town of Huntsville . . . and to determine if that property located at 11095 Scott Highway, Helenwood, Tennessee 37755 was properly annexed and is a part of the Town of Huntsville, Tennessee."

The suit, which also lists as defendants Scott County Administrator of Elections Brenda Sexton and the Scott County Election Commission, states that at the time of his election as mayor of Huntsville (November 2002), Potter resided at 107 South Fork, Helenwood, and that after the April 2003 annexation, he moved to the property located at 11095 Scott Highway.

That 2003 annexation was conducted by referendum because it lay outside the urban growth boundary of the Town of Huntsville. By law, municipalities can only annex by ordinance if the parcels they choose to annex are located inside the urban growth boundary. The law also provides that, in the event of an annexation by referendum, the county government can file a dispute to protest the annexation. None was filed by Scott County.

However, state law also prohibits a municipality from jumping one piece of property outside its city limits to annex another piece of property. It has been alleged that the 2003 annexation is illegal because it jumped U.S. Highway 27. An annexation by referendum cannot take in a parcel of property that does not have citizens residing on it.

The lawsuit alleges that on April 15, 2004, letter to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development notified the board that Potter's Scott Highway residence was, "outside the power of the Town of Huntsville," and was, "illegal as opposed to law."

That letter, which was written by Community Planner Justin Evans, and a copy of which was obtained by the Independent Herald from Chancery Court documents, states that the property "was not contiguous with the Huntsville corporate limits at the time of the referendum and was not a valid annexation. However, the remaining six parcels' annexations were valid and those parcels are now in the Town of Huntsville."

A separate letter, written by the University of Tennessee's MTAS (Municipal Technical Advisory Service) Legal Consultant Melissa Ashburn, and addressed to MTAS Management Consultant Warren Nevad, contradicts Evans' opinion, stating that, "as the county took no action to stop the annexation referendum or to interfere in the election process, the annexation was completed last year and is effective as to all parcels."

Ashburn further opined that the town's aldermen had acted illegally in voting to strip the mayor of his powers, stating, "as the annexation is unchallenged, the mayor has not vacated his office by moving to the annexed area . . . legally, the city limits of the Town of Huntsville include this annexed area, and the area will only be removed from the city limits through legal action which may not be viable. In my opinion, the mayor has not vacated his office and the board has acted illegally in relieving him of his duties."

The dispute surfaced at the board's July 26 regular session, when Andrew Hall, who was hired by a 4-1 vote of the board - with Mayor Potter dissenting - to represent the town, recommended that the board take action to relieve Potter of his duties because the mayor has presumably vacated his office by moving to a parcel of property that was, in his words, illegally annexed.

Chancellor Billy Joe White was expected to hear the case yesterday (Wednesday) in Chancery Court at Tazwell in Claiborne County.

news@ihoneida.com

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