A Polk County commissioner who also works for the county's department of education may still vote on education matters as long as he acknowledges there is a conflict of interest, according to the Tennessee attorney general.
A June 16 opinion by Attorney General Bob Cooper affirmed that because Daren Waters worked for the school system before he was elected to the commission, he can vote on issues involving his employer. But under Tennessee law, Waters must announce before his vote that he has a conflict of interest, Cooper ruled.
In September, Commissioner Sheena Gaddis questioned whether Waters' new job as a teacher's aide posed a conflict of interest when the commission votes on the school system's annual budget.
"I'm not being hateful, just following the law," Gaddis said in the Sept. 16 meeting, newspaper archives show. "It's like somebody sitting on the board voting on their own payroll."
Polk County Attorney Jimmy Logan said at the time that because Waters was a longtime employee of the school system before his 1998 election, he was exempt from an outright conflict, Logan said.
The attorney general's opinion confirms that position.