Blount County needs a home rule charter, mainly for the purpose of establishing term limits for Mayor, Sheriff, and County Commission, and probably some other offices (some of which ought to be appointed instead of elected anyway).

I used to be against term limits, thinking the voters are supposed to take care of that. The trouble is they don't, even if they bother to show up and vote. And before long you get entrenched political power machines (whether Democrat or Republican) and progress grinds to a halt unless you are a member of a preferred special interest group.

KNS: Knox Ethics Committee wants more power to investigate complaints

Some members of the Knox County Ethics Committee want more power to investigate complaints against county employees and elected officials.

[..]

"A citizen doesn't have power to conduct an investigation and neither do we," committee member Mike Duncan said. "We need an ethics committee with some teeth."

Blount isn't the only county struggling to figure out how this is supposed to work. The state should probably step up and make some minor repairs to the newly enacted ethics laws.