Checking out the story about Joy McCroskey and her unpaid sick time. I fond this paragraph interesting,

And there is no way to get the money back, Caldwell told the News Sentinel Thursday

That is true, but four years ago, County Mayor Tim Burchett and his Chief of Staff Dean Rice were upset over three employees (Suzanne Dupes, Larry Frank and Bruce Wuethrich) getting severance pay and Knox County under Burchett and Rice went into the three bank accounts and withdrew the dollars. Which I have been told is illegal. Fortunately, for Burchett and Rice, the three didn’t pursue charges. But it was revealed that the new administration was deceptive. They first said they were totally unaware of the pay, but when Dupes pursued legal action, Rice admitted he had been advised before the new regime took office.

In a September 2, 2010 Big Metal Shed story, Burchett ordered “a stop payment” but in fact the county had the money withdrawn from the three employees checking accounts.

New Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett told the county’s purchasing department “to put a stop payment” on payouts the aides got after tendering their resignations Friday, according to Burchett’s chief of staff, Dean Rice.

This Big Metal Shed Story and This story from Channel 8 shows where Rice had discussions about severance, although they contended weeks before they didn’t. The Mayor boasts the employees would not collect. Was he correct? In this WATE story in December of 2010, Dupes and the others did collect their severances.

Mayor Burchett has said he knew about the severance packages…..