CDE Lightband Board Makeup Under Question
Nashville, TN – The Montgomery County delegation has requested a supplemental opinion from Attorney General Robert E. Cooper regarding the composition of the CDE Lightband board that hired former Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper to a $140,000 job.
“The board’s hiring policies are governed by state law, but its structure was determined by city law, which appears to be in conflict with the same state law,” State Senator Tim Barnes said. “We’re trying to clear up any confusion between the two.”
The board is composed of seven members – all Piper appointees – who serve three-year terms, as laid out in the Clarksville charter. The opinion request asks if the board is properly constituted under a 1935 state law creating municipal power boards. The state law provides for a different composition than the requirements in the Clarksville charter.
Cooper earlier opined that the same state law supersedes a Clarksville city law prohibiting elected officials from interviewing for a local department head position for one year after leaving office. Piper accepted the $140,000 superintendent job days before his mayoral term expired on December 31st, 2010.
The request also asks how to remedy the situation if the board is not properly constituted under state law. All members of the Montgomery County delegation – Barnes and state Representatives Joe Pitts, Curtis Johnson and Phillip Johnson – signed on to the request, which was made on the behalf of current Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan.
“Our local governments always have a right to know how their laws coincide with state law,” Rep. Curtis Johnson said. “Hopefully we will have a resolution that clears up any issues, or at least presents a path to do so.”
