Rob Healy

Former Chattanooga Parks and Recreation Administrator Rob Healy is not eligible to run for mayor of Chattanooga, the Hamilton County Election Commission decided unanimously Monday.

The commission voted 4-0 to declare Mr. Healy ineligible because he has not lived the city for the required full year before the qualifying deadline of Dec. 18, said Bud Knowles, Hamilton County elections administrator.

Mr. Healy can appeal the decision to Hamilton County Chancery Court.

“It’s up to him,” Mr. Knowles said. “It’s out of our hands.”

Mr. Healy said Monday he was disappointed by the Election Commission on a number of issues, including its siding with an opinion written by the city attorney, who works under Mayor Ron Littlefield, his opponent in the mayor’s race.

In 2006, Mr. Littlefield fired Mr. Healy from his job as head of the parks and recreation department.

Mr. Healy said he has not made a decision about whether to go to court about the Election Commission’s ruling.

“I know to take this to court would be very expensive,” he said.

He said he did not know if he had the finances to go that far, but would be talking to his attorney, along with friends, over the next few days.

Mr. Healy has said he moved into Chattanooga city limits in February and believes the City Charter states that he must have lived in the city for one year before the election, which is in March, to be eligible to run for mayor.

City Attorney Randy Nelson, Tennessee Elections Administrator Brook Thompson and Jerry Summers, the attorney for the Election Commission, have said they believe he must have lived in the city for one year before the qualifying date of Dec. 18.

Mr. Summers said any lawsuit filed by is “a facts-related case.”

“It’s not a complicated lawsuit,” he said.

The commission will not seek a court decision, Mr. Summers said.

Mr. Summers argued that the Election Commission is not trying to keep anybody off the ballot.

“I don’t think the members of the commission need to be made into the bad person in this deal,” he said. “We’ve got to go by the rules.”

Mr. Healy filed qualifying papers in the mayoral race Sept. 24, according to election officials, to run against Mr. Littlefield. The commission held off on making a decision regarding his eligibility until he filed his petition.