Proposal would reduce Sullivan County Commission from 24 to 14 commissioners
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — A Sullivan County commissioner wants to reduce the size of the county commission from 24 to 14 members.
During a work session Thursday night, commissioners moved it for a first reading during next Thursday’s commission meeting.
The resolution’s sponsor, Hunter Locke, believes there are too many commissioners for the county’s population of around 160,000. He said Shelby County, which Memphis is in, has around 900,000 residents but only 13 commissioners.
In Sullivan County, there are 24 commissioners representing 11 districts.
Locke’s resolution would reduce the number of districts to seven, aligning with school board districts. Two commissioners would be appointed from each district.
Currently, two districts have only one commissioner, while others have two or three based on population.
“Theoretically, it’s equal distribution right now because that’s required,” County Attorney Dan Street told News Channel 11. “Each commissioner should have, should represent the same amount of citizens.”
“Now, if you changed it to where each district had the same amount of population, that would be different from the way it’s set up,” Street said. “But either way, the law has decided it’s okay.”
Locke said population density is another factor in reducing the number of commissioners. He said that Districts 1 and 3 have one commissioner each, but the population density in District 3 is much higher.
He believes it is unfair that districts have different numbers of commissioners. Residents living in a one-commissioner district only have one member representing them, while others may have two or three.
Locke also said it is also unfair for candidates because, in a single-commissioner district, an opponent only has to run against one incumbent. In a multi-commissioner district, the challenger could face two or three incumbents.
He added that cutting the commission size would save the county around $80,000 a year since commissioners are paid around $8,000 annually.
Street said some time ago the commission decided to reduce the number to 18, but that was repealed. He also said the commission used to be larger than it is now.
“There’s a constant debate about how many is too many, how many commissioners,” Street said. “I’ve heard that debate for a long time. And I think a lot of counties have reduced the number of commissioners. There used to be 48 here. That was back quite a few years ago and they reduced it to 24. But I think most counties keep sort of going to a lower number across the state.”
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