With members calling the disagreement a "soap opera," a "witch hunt" and "middle school stuff," Hamilton County commissioners vented their frustration Wednesday as Mayor Weston Wamp's protracted, public dispute with County Attorney Rheubin Taylor approaches its second full month.
"This report that's been brought to us -- I'm going to have to say it -- it feels like a witch hunt," Commissioner Warren Mackey, D-Lake Vista, said during a meeting Wednesday.
The comments came during a discussion about a review completed by County Auditor Jenneth Randall, which found that the attorney's office has entered into agreements with four law firms over the past few years without receiving sign-off from the county commission or mayor. The report lists expenses from 2020 through the first five months of fiscal year 2023 that total more than $1.8 million.
"The county attorney's office has not followed procurement rules as required, which require a resolution to be brought before the County Commission for anything over $25,000," Randall told the body on Wednesday. "Along with that resolution, the procurement rules state that any contract must be signed by the county mayor."
To remedy the situation, Randall recommended the commission consider a resolution authorizing expenses expected to exceed $25,000 for fiscal year 2023 and the mayor sign the affiliated contracts.
Taylor, who has served as county attorney since 1993, told commissioners that his office has followed its existing procedure for 29 years, and this is the first time it has been brought up.
"We have entered into contracts with other lawyers for outside special legal services," Taylor said. "We briefed you all on some of those a few weeks ago, as you recall. For 29 years, I have entered into contracts with outside counsel as my contract with the county allows me to do."
Taylor said those outside counsels send their invoices to the attorney's office, which reviews and approves them before forwarding those expenses to the finance department.
"I don't pay the bills," Taylor said. "(The finance department) pays the bills. For 29 years, this issue has never been brought before the commission, never been brought to my attention until last week. For 29 years, that's the process we have followed. Finance has paid those invoices that I have approved and auditing has approved the whole process -- both internal and the county's external auditing process."
Taylor added that expenses referenced in the report are already covered under a previous resolution the commission approved on Oct. 19 as part of a package of affiliated actions aimed at protecting the attorney after Wamp attempted to fire him.
Randall's report states that the County Commission would still need to pass an additional resolution to address the situation, but Taylor said doing so would be redundant.
However, if commissioners feel it is necessary, Taylor said a resolution could be drafted outlining the process he has followed for the past three decades. Commission Chairman Chip Baker, R-Signal Mountain, said in a phone call after the meeting that he expects the panel to take up a resolution next week.
Wamp was sworn in Sept. 1.
He announced Oct. 14 that he was firing Taylor, which received strong pushback from commissioners. Taylor has since sued Wamp in Chancery Court. The mayor has recently restored Taylor's pay as well as access to his county-issued computer, cellphone and email.
Now that he's aware of the expenses, Finance Director Lee Brouner told commissioners Wednesday that is he looking for their input on how to proceed.
"Most of the bill payments are individually below $25,000, so it was not brought to my attention that in total over an annual basis these items were significantly above $25,000," Brouner said. "They have been paid. When it came to our attention, that's when we basically brought it up to the county auditor that we need some guidance on whether to pay them going forward now that we know they're in violation of purchasing rules and they don't have a contract approved by the mayor."
Taylor said six or seven of the invoices were above $25,000, and it wouldn't have been difficult to determine how many exceeded that amount in a given fiscal year.
Members also referenced an unpermitted ramp that had been constructed outside the courthouse in preparation for a tree lighting ceremony last week, which has become a minor flash point in the feud between Taylor and Wamp. Wamp's office has said the city of Chattanooga was alerted of the issue by Taylor.
Commissioner Greg Beck, D-North Brainerd, ridiculed a comment Wamp's interim chief of staff, Claire McVay, made in an email to commissioners on Tuesday about the issue. McVay said the chain of events was indicative of a "dysfunctional work environment that the county attorney has created" for the mayor and administrators.
"You know what that says to people in this county?" Beck said. "That we have a man in here that we're supporting that's wreaking havoc across this whole government. Mr. Chairman, I don't think that's true."
Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, stated that expenses mentioned in Randall's report have been previously discussed in legal meetings involving the commission. At least three legal meetings have occurred since the new commission took office, Sharpe said.
"I'm going to note this -- and maybe I shouldn't but I'm going to anyway -- not one of these legal meetings has our mayor attended," Sharpe said, raising his voice. "Now maybe if he'd stop hauling around to Chattanooga State and the Board of Regents and everything else and focus on county government, we wouldn't have to deal with this mess. Stop playing politics. The campaign is over. Let's get down to business and govern for the people in Hamilton County."
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @flavid_doyd.