County commissioner wants to provide more training for constables in Greene Co.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – Greene County Commissioners voted to keep the Office of Constables in operation during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Nick Gunter and Jeffery Bible were two county commissioners who had previously voted to dissolve the Office of Constables during the January meeting, but changed their minds during the second reading.
Resolution to abolish Greene County constables fails
“I like to take a balanced approach to stuff, and I’m really happy for the second reading, it gave me time to look into it,” said Nick Gunter, Greene County Commissioner for the 1st District. “After looking into it, I decided that that the constables were a valuable position and they provide a good service to the people of Greene County at really no direct cost to the county itself.”
Gunter told News Channel 11 that some of the main concerns about constables discussed at the meeting on Tuesday were that they could be a liability to the county.
“Hypothetically, we were saying that they posed a risk to the county, and one of my constituents asked if that had ever been done, if there had been any pending litigation with the constables,” said Gunter. “And we never had anything like that.”
Gunter said that another reason he changed his mind about his vote was because constables are for the people of Greene County.
Greene County commissioners vote to abolish office of constables
“These folks are elected by the people, and I feel like just because the state does give the commission the power to abolish this position, that just because we have the power we shouldn’t always use that and we should allow folks to make that decision at the ballot box,” said Gunter.
The other concern discussed was that constables might not have enough training, but Gunter said he feels like that could be changed.
“I do believe that they need more training, and I think they should at least have the same training as the deputies because they can serve in those same capacities, to a certain extent,” said Gunter. “I’m all for training, and I think that would also reduce the risk that we’re worried about because the county is self-insured and we are worried about the risk.”
Gunter added that he will be looking into what the next steps are to get county constables more training so that they can be better equipped when serving in the community.
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