The same Mayor Rogers Anderson, who mandated masks and business restrictions in Williamson County and participated in skyrocketing county debt to $1.2 Billion, along with the attorneys that have long provided legal advice on such related topics, appear to be possibly be involved with engaging in activities to restrict Commissioners’ and citizen civic engagement via resolution 9-23-46, which has language that appears to limit individual County Commissioners from calling or scheduling Town Hall meetings in their capacity as elected County Commissioners.
As informed, engaged, and civically minded citizens of Williamson County we want our elected County Commissioners to have the full abilities of their elected leadership positions to Call for Special Meetings and Town Hall Meetings to engage with constituents in open forums allowing for civic discussion of real issues impacting Williamson County.
Recently, current very long time Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson and the mayor’s office staff had attorney Bobby Cook write Resolution 9-23-46, which seeks to change the Rules Regulations and Procedures of the Williamson County Board of Commissioners, which some have argued would significantly infringe upon the rights of elected County Commissioners to call for Special Meetings and Town Hall meetings to engage in civic discussions with constituents, and further restrict elected County Commissioners from utilizing county resources and locations for holding such meetings. As of the writing of this article, the meeting notes from the last County Commission meeting are still in draft form. However, discussion of the resolution can be viewed on the last County Commission meeting video:
While problematic language can be found throughout the 9-23-46 document, paragraph two specifically states, “recently, there has been confusion among the Board of Commissioners concerning calling special called meetings or town hall meetings by individual members of the Board of Commissioners under the false pretenses that the meeting is an official Board of Commissioners meeting;” which leads one to question why such language was used. Upon a call to the Mayor’s office, office staff was asked who specifically was being characterized as acting under “false pretenses” and the staff representative mentioned that attorney Bobby Cook could better answer that question. A message was left for attorney Bobby Cook at his office on Wednesday.
The current Rules Regulations and Procedures of the Williamson County Board of Commissioners do not appear to state any rules for or against holding Town Hall meetings or Special Meetings. Considering past Town Hall meetings have been held by Commissioners, there does not appear to be any need to make a rule to allow for such meetings or create restrictions.
While the top upper left of the Resolution 9-23-46 states “Requested by: Rules Committee,” multiple calls and discussions Wednesday and today have yet to identify the rules committee member(s) that supposedly “Requested” the Resolution. Feedback with County Commissioners familiar with the situation has been that the Resolution was from the Mayor and attorney Bobby Cook. Interestingly on a related note, the vast majority of Resolutions are from the Mayor and attorneys, rather than County Commissioners, which leads one to ask, do County Commissioners have independent legal counsel or do they just rely upon what they are told by the contracted county attorneys who work closely with the Mayor?
It appears Mayor Rogers Anderson and attorney Bobby Cook’s Resolution 9-23-46 occurred in the timeframe after County Commissioner Christopher Richards held a Town Hall meeting in March of 2023 to discuss the problematic issues with the electronic voting systems recommended by the Williamson County Election Commission. Further, detail on related topics can be read about in the following link:
There will be a Williamson County Rules Committee meeting this Thursday the 28th at 4:30 pm in which another draft Resolution pertaining to Town Hall meetings written by Bobby Cook will be discussed. The meeting will take place in the executive conference room which is right across the hall from the Mayor’s office. Concerned citizens can attend and speak regarding these topics at the meeting. It is important to protecting the rights of our elected Commissioners to hold Town Hall meetings.
DATE/TIME: Thursday, September 28, 4:30 PM
LOCATION: Williamson County Admin Building 1320 W Main Street, Franklin TN 37064
Executive Conference Room, across the hall from the County Mayor’s office, which is Suite 125
(Go inside thru the center front doors. Walk till you reach the main hallway, take a left, about 100 feet down will be mayor’s office on the left and executive conference room on right. The entrance hallway to the conference room is decorated in UT orange and white tiles)
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