Join Us Box / Rack Advertise Service Contact Us
 
 
 
 
  Welcome Visitor, 446 members online. Date: Sat, Mar 20, 2010 My Account Login/Register  Search:   advanced  
Home
Featured
Columnists
Special
Photos
Calendar
Classifieds
Advertisers
Weekly Editions
 
Ethics complaint filed against county commissioner



 Related Articles
RuCo Dems select county election candidates
Election Commission legal fees will not be paid
RuCo Commission tackles Elections legal fees
RuCo Republicans set candidates at historic caucus
Election Commission legal fees on agenda Thursday
Public Agenda: March 1-5
Public Agenda: Feb. 22-26
RuCo officially 'Recovery Zone'
RuCo to free up money for local businesses
City, RuCo will weather economic storm
View All
By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 3:55 pm
Email Print
An ethics complaint has been filed against County Commissioner Trey Gooch, who represents the Blackman area, for his actions leading up to the denial of Bible Park USA.

Rutherford County resident Avent Lane lodged a complaint Monday with County Mayor Ernest Burgess, alleging Gooch misused information and advice provided to him by the county attorney.

“This is not about the bible park … it’s about process and transparency in government,” Lane said.

In the complaint, Lane said Gooch took advice from the county attorney on how protest petitions should be worded and even had the county official write up a petition as an example. Gooch then provided the sample petition to the bible park opposition for use.

“This information was not available to the public,” Lane said in his letter. “Mr. Gooch’s clear intent in providing this information was clearly to provide certain of his constituents with an advantage in defeating a zoning resolution supported by other of his constituents.”

Burgess said he has looked over the allegations and has no comment.

“I will forward this to the Ethics Committee to review,” he said.

Gooch could not be reached for comment.

The petitions in question later led to the defeat of a rezoning request by the park’s developers. Because 20 percent of surrounding landowners opposed the park, a two-thirds majority vote was needed for the rezoning request. But the vote fell two votes short and the request failed to get approved.

Lane alleged Gooch then lied about providing John L. Batey with the pre-written petition in his deposition in the Sheltons’ lawsuit against the county.

Judge Robert Corlew ruled in favor of the Sheltons and ordered the county to revisit the bible park-rezoning vote. In response the county filed an appeal with the Tennessee State Appellate Court.

Lane said he was neither for nor against the proposed bible park, but is concerned about a perceived “good ole boys network” in county government.

“The commissioners won’t make decisions based on what the law is,” Lane said. “They decide one way on one thing and another way in another one based on who you are and who you know.”

He said he filed the complaint to bring the situation to light.

“I think the commission has been getting bad, bad advice. … By negligence, by design, by incompetence, I don’t know …” He said. “But it’s time for a new way of doing things.”

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.
Share: 
Tags: BPU, RuCo
Member Opinions:
By: thinkingman on 3/10/09
Somebody needs to tell Avent Lane that 1) nobody cares, 2) that train left the station months ago, and 3) there are FAR more important issues in our community than investigating tedious technicalities.

By: Boro911 on 3/11/09
Avent Lane is obviously out of something to do. I for one am happy the Bible Park didn't come to our county. Kudos to the ones who did what they had to do to keep the underhanded developers with their tacky proposal out of Rutherford County.

By: Macgyver on 3/11/09
"Lane said he was neither for nor against the proposed bible park, but is concerned about a perceived “good ole boys network” in county government." Thats something we should all be concered about!

By: Xeneith on 3/11/09
Think we're missing the point here. I was/am opposed to the Bible Park as well, however, I agree with the investigation into the ethics complaint. In this case, something underhanded may have occurred in support of something to which you are opposed but it's an indication of an individual's willingness to pursue one's own agenda instead of adhereing to ethical standards. I agree that this is about transparency in government, not whether I support the end result.


Login and voice your opinion!


Copyright Statement | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service

615-869-0800 | online@murfreesboropost.com | 630 Broadmor Blvd. Suite 140,  P.O. 10008, Murfreesboro, TN 37129
Making Web Design Easy Since 2001
Websites for Newspapers, Magazines, HOAs, Trade Associations & Online Communities  |  Email Marketing, E-Commerce