The relocation of the Knox County School District Central Office to the East Tower and Summer Place out of the AJ Building is Growing the Government in My Opinion.
Growing the Government: The AJ Building is about 14 stories moving it to the East Tower/Summer Place, according to Chris Caldwell, the Deputy Chief of Staff to Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs says that all of the school district will be on the first 6 floors of the East Tower. The remaining 6 floors is for future growth or to be sub leased.
A security concern, with an open floor concept like the East Tower in 2019 is in my opinion a security threat. If an employee or a visitor becomes agitated and carries out an incident like we have read and seen in the news will harm more employees than how they are currently housed in the AJ Building with walls.
Letting the Federal Government have Control, in Education locally and on a statewide basis, many people will say Education should be a local issue, NOT a Federal issue. however, with this TVA lease, the Federal Government Will Control Access to the Building, screening and entry of everyone.
Conflict: At the meeting on Wednesday, Knox county Law Department employee Dave Dupler said that Law Director Armstrong and Assistant Law Director Schmidt are examining the lease. Armstrong is a retiree of the TVA. It seems to me that it would present a conflict for Armstrong to be negotiating a contract with an entity where he is still a retiree.
Where was the Halls Regal HQs? In a previous story about the 12 sites that were analyzed and compared, School Board Member Patti Bounds asked where the Regal HQ in Halls was on the list. That was a potential location that was mentioned. Clearly the talk did not match the walk.
Rule High Site Redevelopment: I am told that there was a RFP response that would have spent $20 million in private dollars to redevelop the Rule High site, however, they desired a long term lease. Clearly, Knox County decided to use Federal and local dollars, meaning our dollars.
Isn’t Mike Arms a part owner of Funderburk Electric? How can he as a “political consultant” arrange a real estate deal his electric firm can benefit from? Pretty sure the School Board will vote this down quickly. People remember Arms and Ragsdale. Not fondly.