Mayor Ron Littlefield rankled city judges, the County Commission and the City Council in December when he proposed moving City Court out of the city-county courts building and into a city-owned space to save money.
The spat escalated in early February when the administration began talking about eliminating one or both city judge positions. City Judge Russell Bean called the proposal a “vendetta” over last year’s Pet Company case.
But since then, the subject hasn’t come up. Last week the mayor’s spokesman, Richard Beeland, said the city has no specific plans and that Littlefield simply is exploring the idea of a move.
Littlefield initially said the city could save $50,000 to $100,000 a year by moving City Court out of the courts building on Market Street.
He spoke about moving the court to the former Tennessee American Water building at 10th and Lindsay streets. City crews were at work in the building early in the year, but Beeland said last week that they were only doing routine maintenance.