So, you hear Patti Bounds defending Bud Armstrong by saying that this is political. Well, here is some political cronyism that I have discovered. While data mining the minutes of the City of Knoxville pension board meetings, I discovered that Barcley T. Rountree a general city employee was requesting to join one of the city pensions. Mr. Rountree is the husband of School Board Member Amber Rountree of South Knox Counties Ninth District.
According to his LinkedIn account, he is Customer Service with a Auto Glass Company.
So, I requested of the City of Knoxville the information about his employment.
His position: Collections Specialist (job duties are photographed below)
His Start Date: 8/17/2015
His Salary: $26,995.00
His Resume when he applied for the position: No resume was required for this position and one was not provided.
His Supervisor: Donna Dyer, Revenue Administrator
It is important to note that occasionally someone will mention a relative of mine that works for Knox Co. Schools, my relative began employment in 1991 and has only received step raises until they topped out and hasn’t received one since. My term on the School Board was 2000-2004.
I recall last year, when Tracie Sanger was being challenged for the School Board seat that she won, her husband’s position with a private company was discussed.
What is worse, a person that once elected to a position then their family is discovered on government payrolls with health benefits, retirement benefits and all without a Resume. It seems that when the discussion is about politics that in fact it is political. Political for the benefit of the others. Much has been made of the 5-4 votes on the School Board. However, of the 5 (which I am not a fan of several) they haven’t gotten positions for their spouses within 11 months of service on the School Board. It should be noted that Mr. Rountree’s father was an employee of the Public Building Authority and served a brief stint as an appointed Co. Commissioner in District 6 in the past as well.
