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March 2021 Constituent Update

News & Noteworthy Events in Knox County / Commission
This constituent update contains information on the work of Knox County Commission, news about recent experiences, community information and upcoming events. This newsletter is issued at the beginning of each month and generally covers activities of the previous month.
What better time to jump in some icy water than mid-February! Brrrrrr....I had the opportunity to join great athletes from East TN Special Olympics along with their supporters for the 2021 Polar Plunge at the West Side YMCA. Thank you for the invitation to dress up, raise some money and take the plunge!
This month I hosted the third of six "Chairman's Briefings" to discuss and review Knox County's finances. We explored the revenues/expenditures, debt obligations, historical tax rate and much more. If you've ever wanted to know how your tax dollars are spent or what impact our tax rate has on the future, you can watch the entire presentation at this YouTube link.
State legislators gathered in early February for a special session focused on education and passed a spending bill that will provide for teacher salary raises. In an interesting letter from the Knox County delegation to Knox County Schools and the KCS Board Chair, they made it very clear that the new funding should be directed to supporting in-classroom teachers, and not "to other personnel including administrative personnel that is far removed from the classroom."
You can read the letter here.
Knox County 911 announced a new service this month - "TEXT to 911" - a texting option for those who need it in case of an emergency.

This is an innovative new tool for those who may be deaf, hard of hearing, speech impaired, or when speaking out loud would put the caller in danger such as in a domestic abuse situation. 

Officials stress that voice calls are still the best and fastest way to contact 911 operators and abusing or pranking 911 is against the law and very dangerous.
Members of the Knox County Commission met with members of our State Legislative Delegation (Senators & House Representatives) this month to share our local legislative priorities. Every year, members of Commission create a list of items we would like our state representatives to focus on and support.
You can read the local priorities for yourself in this document.
There's a significant trend in the local housing market. Inventory is going down while the influx of people moving to the area is up - resulting in higher home prices. According to this Redfin.com article, “Remote workers leaving expensive places for relatively affordable areas, partly because the allure of more house for less money is strong, is exacerbating housing supply shortages in more affordable parts of the country. The inventory crunch in popular destinations could intensify over the next few years as remote workers continue to relocate and buy homes. If developers, zoning boards and local governments prioritize building homes in the affordable areas people are moving into as opposed to coastal cities, that would help combat the housing shortage."

One interesting metric I noticed was, "With the number of building permits up from a year ago in all of the most popular destinations–except the ones in Florida, Orlando and Tampa–there is hope that more housing inventory is on the way. In Knoxville, there were 246.4% more building permits in the fourth quarter than the year before, the second-biggest increase of any metro (behind Omaha). Greenville (+95.8% YoY) and Las Vegas (+55.6%) also had particularly large increases."
Could a new stadium be on the way to downtown Knoxville? Early in the month, the Knox County Commission and Knoxville City Council held a rare joint workshop to hear more information about the proposed stadium project. You can watch the presentation at this link and hear about ideas for how the stadium development might bringing the Smokies Baseball team back to Knoxville while also housing a new professional soccer team, outdoor concerts and community events. This is the first of many public meetings coming in the next few months to discuss and debate several elements of the public stadium proposal and surrounding private development.
As you might have heard, around the holidays, several Knox County Commissioners were emailed death threats by someone yet to be found by the Sheriff's office. I was happy to talk with the editorial team at NACo (National Association of Counties) for this article about the growing issue of threats against public officials, an ever-growing and concerning topic I never imagined we would deal with.
Great work continues on Beaver Creek by the team at the Knox County Parks & Rec Department. The dedicated crew is working each day to first CLEAR Beaver Creek of massive debris jams that line the 44-mile watershed stretching from Halls to Melton Hill Lake. The next step will be to CLEAN Beaver Creek with a long-term vision of working with the community to CARE FOR Beaver Creek for generations to come. You can learn more about the Knox County Water Trail project at this link.
Our hometown was named the runner-up in PureWow's "10 Coolest Cities with the Lowest Cost of Living in the U.S." When you look at the list (link to article here) you'll see we are in great company with Kalamazoo, MI and Fayetteville, AR. It's great to see some national recognition for East TN!
It seems like yesterday that I began this journey as your County Commissioner. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve. Looking ahead, the 2022 election season will be here before we know it and I will be seeking re-election to the Knox County Commission (At-Large, Seat 10).
If you would like to help me continue to represent you and all the people of Knox County, please visit my support page.
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Copyright © 2021 Larsen Jay - Knox County Commission, All rights reserved.

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 52331 / Knoxville, TN 37950

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