Part II - Where Did They Come From and What Are They Doing Here?

Our citizen approved Tennessee Constitution requires three separate citizen approved branches of "government," in order to insure that the checks and balances, required to be a democracy, are established.

That would be an elected Legislative branch that would be responsible for, among other important matters, the drafting and approving the subordinate laws of the Constitution; An elected Executive branch that would be responsible for operating the ‘government’ within the policies of the legislative branch and the limits of the law; And a Judicial branch that would be responsible for interpreting and administering the law, as written by the legislative branch. [It’s gonna be on the quiz. That’s three SEPARATE branches. Got it?]

By law, the ‘Board of County Commissioners,’ occupies the space in Hardin County government that is reserved for the Legislative Branch. That would make those folks that occupy the elected office of Commissioners, in reality, Legislators.

Under the Tennessee Constitution, counties are an extension of the state and are deemed political subdivisions of the state created in the exercise of its sovereign power to carry out the policy of the state.

Counties, as the creation of the state, are subject to control by Tennessee’s legislature, known as the General Assembly. Although the General Assembly has very broad powers to deal with county government, the state's constitution places some limitation on its discretion regarding counties.

A long line of Tennessee Supreme Court case law has held that counties have no authority except that expressly given them by statute or necessarily implied from it. Although statutes are the primary source of county authority, the Tennessee Constitution does contain a few provisions specifically addressed to county government. More on those later.

County Legislative Body

Nature of the Body. The county legislative body may exercise the powers of a legislative nature granted to it by the General Assembly in public acts (laws of general application or local option application which may be found in codified form in the Tennessee Code Annotated) or in private acts that apply to a particular county (that do not conflict with the general law).

The General Assembly has given the county legislative body a considerable array of powers, including the power to levy property taxes without limitation regarding rates, the power to expend funds for any lawful purpose, zoning powers for the unincorporated areas of the county and some regulatory powers, yet the General Assembly has not seen fit to grant to the county legislative body all of the powers that have been granted to Tennessee’s incorporated municipalities (cities and towns).

Therefore, counties must always look for the source of authority for any action taken, as counties have no authority to act outside the scope of the powers granted by the General Assembly.

Committees

There are many committees, boards and commissions in county government. The laws that apply can be very confusing. It is important to distinguish between internal committees of the county legislative body and committees or boards established or made optional by general law or private acts.

Internal committees of the county legislative body have no statutory requirements associated with them, they can be created or not according to the will of the county legislative body, they have no independent power to act, and may only make recommendations to the full county legislative body.

Therefore, the number, title, composition, method of appointment and other matters pertaining to these committees are determined by resolution of the county legislative body, either directly or through the adopted rules of procedure. These internal committees may vary greatly from county to county and may change easily within a county. They exist simply to provide advice to the full county legislative body.

On the other hand, a county may have many boards and committees that have their basis in either general state law or private acts. These statutory boards and committees have to be dealt with according to the terms of the laws that created them or authorized their creation. These boards and committees may exercise the powers granted to them by law, but no other powers may be exercised. Some statutory boards or committees may exercise some limited powers directly and in other matters they may merely make recommendations, as would an internal study committee.

Where Do We Get Them?

County commissioners are elected by popular vote at the regular August election in those even-numbered years in which the governor is elected, and each county commissioner takes office on September 1 following the election, after receiving the proper certificate of election and taking the required oath of office.

A county commissioner must take and subscribe to the following oath:

I do solemnly swear that I will perform with fidelity the duties of the office to which I have been elected and which I am about to assume. I do solemnly swear to support the constitutions of Tennessee and the United States and to faithfully perform the duties of the office of county commissioner representing the______ voting district of Hardin County, Tennessee.

Legislative Service Is One of Democracy's Worthiest Pursuits

Compensation. The compensation of county commissioners is determined by the county legislative body, although the General Assembly establishes the minimum compensation. County commissioners in Hardin County are compensated for attending regular sessions of the county legislative body and also receive compensation at one-half of the regular meeting rate for attending duly authorized committee meetings.

Duties. The county legislative body is the primary policy-making body in the county. However, the county legislative body, as noted, is limited to the authority granted to it by the General Assembly.

The most important function of the county legislative body is the annual adoption of a budget to allocate expenditures within the three major funds of county government - general, school, and highway - and any other funds (such as debt service) that may be in existence the County.

The county legislative body has considerable discretion in dealing with the budget for all funds except the school budget, which in Hardin County, like most counties, must be accepted or rejected as a whole.

The county legislative body sets a property tax rate which, along with revenues from other county taxes and fees as well as state and federal monies allocated to the county, are used to fund the budget.

The county legislative body is subject to various restrictions in imposing most taxes, such as referendum approval or rate limits, for example, although these do not apply to the property tax.

Another important function of the county legislative body is its role in electing county officers when there is a vacancy in an elected county office. The person elected by the county legislative body serves in the office for the remainder of the term or until a successor is elected, depending upon when the vacancy occurred.

On Other Matters. It is important that members of the county legislative body be familiar with the applicable state and federal laws which may affect the county, its business and its employees.

Also, the county legislative body members should have a basic understanding of potential liability, both personal liability and county liability, and of the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act. Every county official should be familiar with the conflict of interest and disclosure laws applicable to their offices.

Don’t worry a lot about it though, County Technical Assistance Services covers such topics at each County Officials Orientation Program. Remember, it’s all written down, somewhere.