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Administration - Historical Notes

Tennessee Code Annotated
Tennessee Attorney General Opinions

County Legislative Body

The following acts once applied to the quarterly court or the county legislative body of Blount County and are included herein for historical purposes.  Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

  1. Acts of 1797, Chapter 6, set the meeting dates for the county court of pleas and quarter session on the fourth Monday in February, May, August and November.
  2. Acts of 1809, Chapter 93, First Session, changed the meeting dates of the courts of pleas and quarter sessions to the fourth Mondays in March, June, September, and December.
  3. Acts of 1855-56, Chapter 246, authorized the election of an additional justice of the peace in the ninth civil district of Blount County, which was the city of Maryville.
  4. Private Acts of 1857-58, Chapter 172, provided for the election of an additional justice of the peace in the tenth civil district, the settlement of Louisville, but this act was repealed by Private Acts of 1859-60, Chapter 103.
  5. Private Acts of 1929 (Ex. Sess.), Chapter 9, authorized the quarterly county court to borrow money for payment of the general expenses of Blount County for the year 1929, and to issue short term 6% warrants for the repayment of this money, the total of which could not exceed $10,000.
  6. Private Acts of 1949, Chapter 184, set the meeting time of the quarterly county court on the second Monday in January, April, July and October.
  7. Private Acts of 1949, Chapter 185, set the salary of members of the quarterly county court at $5.00 per day, in addition to mileage as allowed by the general law.
  8. Private Acts of 1955, Chapter 393, would have set the per diem of all members of the quarterly county court, for attending either regular or special sessions of the court to $10.00 per day, however, the act was rejected by local authorities and therefore never became law.
  9. Private Acts of 1959, Chapter 261, attempted to raise the per diem of justice of the peace to $25.00; but this act failed to gain local approval and never became an operative law.

County Mayor

The references below are of acts which once applied to the office of county judge, or county executive in Blount County.  They are included herein for historical purposes only.  Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

  1. Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 240, created the office of Blount County Judge.  This was amended by Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 653, to authorize the quarterly county court to pay additional compensation to the county judge for his ex-officio services.
  2. Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 158, amended Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 240 by reducing the minimum age of the county judge from thirty to twenty-five.
  3. Private Acts of 1949, Chapter 523, as amended by Private Acts of 1955, Chapter 81 and Private Acts of 1965, Chapter 201, created the office of Blount County Judge, who was elected in the August General Election of 1950 for a term of 8 years receiving a salary of $5,000 a year.

County Trustee

The following acts once affected the office of county trustee in Blount County, but are no longer operative.  Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

  1. Private Acts of 1923, Chapter 677, provided that the Blount County Trustee was to be paid $3,000 annually, plus $1,000 for deputies' salaries, and all actual expenses for the operation of his office.  This act was repealed by Private Acts of 1925, Chapter 136.
  2. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 529, set the salary of the trustee at $3,000 annually, with the county court also to appropriate all actual office expenses and an additional $1,200 annually for deputies' salaries.  This act was first amended by Private Acts of 1939, Chapter 305, which raised the amount which could be appropriated for deputies' salaries to $1,500 annually, but this amendatory act was itself repealed by Private Acts of 1943, Chapter 180. Private Acts of 1943, Chapter 181, provided that $1,800 annually could be appropriated for deputy trustees' salaries.  Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 529, was repealed by Private Acts of 1945, Chapter 83.
  3. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 481, required the county trustee to notify any taxpayers who were delinquent in paying their poll taxes before turning their names over to the delinquent poll tax collector.

General Reference

The following private or local acts constitute part of the administrative and political history of Blount County but are today no longer operative because they have either been superseded, repealed, or failed to receive local approval.  Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

  1. Acts of 1809, Chapter 73, First Session, Section 2, directed the commissioner of East Tennessee to issue a certificate to John Rhea, of Blount County, for 640 acres of land.
  2. Private Acts of 1831, Chapter 162, directed that all deeds of conveyance and other instruments of writing registered in Blount, Greene, Sevier, Cocke, Washington, Hawkins, Carter, Grainger, Claiborne, Campbell, Jefferson, Monroe, M’Minn, Morgan, Roane and Sullivan be read as evidence on trials at law or in equity.
  3. Private Acts of 1832, Chapter 22, directed the treasurer of East Tennessee to refund $36.00 to Nathaniel Ragan of Blount County, more than he was bound to pay, for a license to retail goods wares and merchandize in Blount County.
  4. Private Acts of 1832, Chapter 45, Section 2, authorized the county court of Blount County, upon the petition of Lot Sterling, a free man of color, to emancipate his wife and children.
  5. Private Acts of 1832, Chapter 72, Section 3, authorized the county court of Blount County, upon the petition of the executor or executors of the last will and testament of Joseph Weir, to emancipate Robert, a slave, the property of said Joseph at the time of his death.
  6. Private Acts of 1833, Chapter 23, authorized David Barnhill, of Blount County, to hawk and peddle within the congressional district where he resided, without a license except in the counties of Monroe, Anderson and Knox.
  7. Private Acts of 1833, Chapter 41, divorced Ashley Johnson, of Blount County, from his wife Sophronia, formerly Sophronia Wrinkle.
  8. Public Acts of 1833, Chapter 76, provided for the calling of a convention which required the election of sixty members.  Blount County elected one delegate to the convention.
  9. Private Acts of 1833, Chapter 99, authorized the county or circuit court of Blount County, to emancipate Hardy, formerly the slave of William Boyd.
  10. Acts of 1837-38, Chapter 52, was an act for the relief of James Wear, Senior, of Blount County, directing the state treasurer to pay him $80, which had been paid for a quarter section of land in the Hiwassee District, but which he had not been able to gain title to due to confusion in the survey of the land and the authority of the various entry taker's offices.
  11. Acts of 1841-42, Chapter 87, authorized Samual Henry, Senior, to build a dam across the Little River, for power purposes, as long as it did not obstruct navigation of that river.
  12. Acts of 1842 , Chapter 11, Second Session, directed the secretary of state to furnish Blount County with any remaining copies of Caruthers and Nicholson's Revisals of state laws.
  13. Acts of 1843-44, Chapter 174, authorized the Blount County Court to permit any person to build dams on the Little River, for the purpose of erecting mills or other machinery.
  14. Acts of 1849-50, Chapter 161, allowed a director to the Blount County branch of the Bank of Tennessee, at Athens.
  15. Acts of 1853-54, Chapter 91, authorized the county court to subscribe $120,000 of stock in the Knoxville-Charleston Railroad Company, and to issue county bonds for such stock subcriptions.  These stock subscriptions were apparently a source of conflict among Blount County residents, resulting in the formation of Loudon County, out of a section of Blount County in 1870; and the original 1853 act authorizing such a stock subscription was repealed by Acts of 1879, Chapter 64.
  16. Public Acts of 1861, Extra Session, Chapter 10, authorized Blount County to appropriate the fund collected for the payment of railroad bonds for general county purposes.
  17. Private Acts of 1865, Chapter 11, was passed after the Civil War which authorized the transfer of the funds collected for the payment of these railroad bonds to the county general funds.
  18. Public Acts of 1870-71, Chapter 28, legalized the acts of E. W. Sanderson as the entrytaker of Blount County, in order to avoid litigation over whether he could serve as both the entrytaker and the county surveyor.
  19. Public Acts of 1887, Chapter 66, was an act for the relief of the Blount faction of Loudon County, providing that upon approval of all the voters in Loudon County, the entire county would assume the indebtedness for railroad bonds for which the section of Loudon County which had been in Blount County was still legally liable.
  20. Private Acts of 1923, Chapter 604, exempted Blount County from the general statute fixing the compensation of revenue commissioners.
  21. Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 239, removed the minority of Ella Lawson Hatcher of Blount County.
  22. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 270, authorized the county court to place in the sinking fund the unexpended balance remaining in any bond funds where the purpose for which said bonds were sold had been fully accomplished.
  23. Public Acts of 1943, Chapter 96, created the Sam Houston Memorial Association which was composed of five members designated as the board of trustees with the authority to acquire and preserve as a memorial the old school house in Blount County, in which Sam Houston taught school, and defined the duties of said board and prescribe its jurisdiction, powers and authority, and made appropriations to carry into effect the purposes of this act.  This act was repealed by Public Acts of 1979, Chapter 108.
  24. Private Acts of 1957, Chapter 340, was the first attempt to create a central purchasing commission and the office of central purchasing for Blount County.  Like the 1957 act two years before it, this act failed to be approved by the quarterly county court and never became an operative law.
  25. Private Acts of 1959, Chapter 263, was the next attempt to create a central purchasing commission and the office of central purchasing for Blount County.  Like the 1957 act two years before it, this act failed to be approved by the quarterly county court and never became an operative law.
  26. Public Acts of 1961, Chapter 237, amended Public Acts of 1943, Chapter 96, by authorizing the board of trustees to receive, handle and expend the funds appropriated by any act of the general assembly, as well as any and all other funds which came into their hand of the board of trustees.  Furthermore, the treasurer entered into a surety bond in the amount of $5,000 made payable to the state.  This act also allowed the board of trustees to elect additional members.
  27. Private Acts of 1978, Chapter 291, would have authorized the Blount County Quarterly Court to create a county planning commission of not less than seven and no more than twelve members, one of whom would be chairman and one member of the county court.  They would have served without compensation unless they were members of the board of zoning appeals, also provided for in this law.  The powers, duties, and procedures for the commission were fairly enumerated in the act, however, this act was never ratified locally and therefore never became law.
  28. Private Acts of 1979, Chapter 156, adopted July 10, 1979, amended Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 510, the city charter of Alcoa by rewriting Section 2, of Article IV, which set up the process for the enactment of city ordinances in that city.
  29. Public Acts of 1980, Chapter 545, provided for the investment of idle cash funds by local governments, including school districts, and established a state pooled investment fund which would be managed and supervised by the state treasurer and into which the cash funds could be lawfully paid and the profits shared.
  30. Private Acts of 1980, Chapter 181, created a board of county commissioners for Blount County in order to have sole and exclusive planning and platting within a region including the whole of Blount County.  Furthermore, the commission was vested with all of the authority, duties and responsibilities granted to a regional planning commission by the various sections of Tennessee Code Annotated.  This act, however, was found to be unconstitutional in City of Alcoa v. Blount County, 658 S.W.2d 116 (Tenn.App. 1983).
  31. Private Acts of 1996, Chapter 206, authorized the county legislative body of Blount County to call for an advisory referendum at either the regular August election of 1996 or the regular November election of 1996 to decide whether Blount County should formulate its own land use planning or zoning plan.