Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger thought he'd created a one-time, viable alternative for the discretionary funds that nine individual county commissioners used to receive.
He offered commissioners the use of up to $900,000 of the county's line of credit during fiscal 2017 for large school and community projects that could be bonded, but the crux of the agreement was that commissioners had to agree on the projects.
Therein lies the rub.
Commissioners agreed last fall on a $3,400 field striper for Ooltewah High School, signed off on a $25,000 funds swap to help build restrooms at East Hamilton Middle High School and granted a request for $150,000 in track repairs at Red Bank High School.
But a $500,000 proposal Wednesday for track repairs at Central High School - which would use 55.6 percent of the proffered $900,000 - received only four votes, one short of approval. The other commissioners abstained, citing the size of the proposal and a lack of information about it.
It also launched more than 30 minutes of bickering about the dedicated $900,000, something Coppinger hoped could be avoided and something he thought they understood when the use of the funds was suggested last summer.
"The intent was that [the commissioners] would have to work together," he said. "Discretionary spending was not working, in my opinion. A lot of money was going out, with nothing [in the wider county] to show for it."
Coppinger said he decided to make the offer after criticism from the public that the lack of discretionary funds, which the Tennessee attorney general ruled could not be used for capital school projects, was "somehow hurting the school system."
So, he said, he wanted to "do what the right thing is to do" and at the same time get the commissioners to agree.
Yet, Coppinger said, he was "absolutely concerned" such bickering might go on and may go on in the future.
Nevertheless, he said, "it's not my place to scold them."
Since the $900,000 use of the line of credit was for one year only and since he doesn't plan to include discretionary funds in future budgets, Coppinger hopes commissioners will come to him with their needs before the budget process.
He said he tried to make the wider argument in Wednesday's meeting.
"I'm responsible to every [county] constituent," Coppinger said. "I said our focus should be about Hamilton County - that regardless of where [a big project] happens, we all benefit."
He said a lot of thought went into his offer, an offer that no matter how you sliced it would never be an equal distribution of funds.
"Can we meet all their needs?" Coppinger said. "Absolutely not. Can we afford to meet their needs? Absolutely not." But in no way, he said, was he trying to be "deceitful" or play a "shell game."
In the long run, getting more information on a project in question will always be helpful. But whether commissioners can put together five votes on a project so large, determine alternative funding sources or decide on a better proposal remains to be seen. But the mayor at least deserves credit for trying.
Or, as he quipped, maybe the truth is "no good deed goes unpunished."