Last Thursday, Knox County Property Assessor William Phillip Ballard and his attorney, T. Scott Jones, appeared in Knox County Criminal Court regarding two motions connected to the August 6, 2025, indictment brought against Ballard.

Ballard’s wife and the Assessment Systems Coordinator were also in the courtroom. During a break, an employee who works as an Appraiser 1 joined the hearing (on the hard pews) for its final portion.

You can read my report from last Thursday’s hearing HERE. Also, last Thursday September 10, 2026 the latest Transparency story in my exclusive series reported the salaries of the Knox County Property Assessor employees HERE.

But while the legal proceedings continue, there are also developments taking place inside the Knox County Property Assessor’s Office that raise additional questions.

More Turnover Inside the Mapping Department

Office sources have informed me that Vickie Carter, Appraiser 4, who was leading the Mapping Department, has abruptly resigned.

I am told that Teresa Lawson, a Mapping Technician, was then placed in Mrs. Carter’s position.

I am also told that Mrs. Lawson has now resigned and left the building.

That is another significant change within an office that has experienced considerable personnel movement since William Phillip Ballard returned to the Property Assessor’s Office on September 1, 2024, after being out of office for eight years.

What Happened to the Employees Who Were There Before?

When Ballard returned to office on September 1, 2024, many employees had either retired or moved into other Knox County offices.

The Chief Deputy Property Assessor left to become OTA/State Program Asst/Vet Services in the Knox County Trustee Office, along with at least two others.

Then there was the issue of a laptop.

As the daily paper reported on September 24, 2024, a laptop had been purchased in April 2023 from the Staples off Peters Road by Property Assessor employee(s).

When Ballard took office, that laptop was nowhere to be found.

You can read the daily paper’s report HERE.

The $559.98 Laptop

Knox County Internal Audit, led by Zac Fullerton, JD, CIA, CFE, CCFO, Internal Auditor, apparently did the sleuthing and couldn’t find it.

The amount involved?

$559.98.

Just $559.98 gone. Sorry.

The laptop was purchased outside the normal procurement process, not including Information Technology, which at the time was led by Zach Webb, former Director of Knox County Information Technology.

According to the daily paper’s report, Internal Audit and the Knox County Finance Director’s lack of findings were being turned over to the Comptroller of the Treasury of Tennessee.

That was the situation surrounding the missing laptop.

But there is now another piece to the story.

The Trustee Office Inventory

I am told that when Knox County Information Technology performed the inventory of the outgoing/incoming Knox County Trustee in late August 2026, all equipment was accounted for.

In fact, I am told there were a few more pieces of equipment.

That indicates that, likely, a few things were not logged out from IT when assigned to the Trustee.

But not the HP laptop from Staples.

That laptop remains part of the unanswered questions surrounding the Property Assessor’s Office.

Four Employees — Or More?

There is another issue that deserves revisiting: employee turnover.

On May 4, 2026, Ballard was asked by WBIR Investigative Reporter John North about employee turnover in the Property Assessor’s Office.

Ballard and Chief Deputy Jim Weaver said that since September 1, 2024, they had only lost four employees.

At the time, I could recall two females and two males who had left.

However, I am certain there were more than four.

That discrepancy is worth remembering.

Here is the approximately two-minute exchange involving North, Ballard and Weaver. The female asking about the ransacked office is the daily paper reporter’ette.

WATCH THE TWO-MINUTE EXCHANGE HERE

And if you want to watch the entire 50-minute presentation, HERE from the video, I recorded and was posted in THIS STORY on May 17, 2026.

The Questions Remain

There are several separate issues here: continued employee turnover, changes within the Mapping Department, the missing HP laptop purchased from Staples, the questions surrounding equipment inventories, (the laptop and equipment are Ballard’s predecessor) and the statements made about the number of employees who have left the Property Assessor’s Office since September 1, 2024.

None of these questions should simply disappear because attention is focused elsewhere.

As I have said throughout my Transparency Series, taxpayers deserve transparency from ALL their elected officials and the offices they oversee.

So, as these developments continue inside the Knox County Property Assessor’s Office, I will continue asking questions, following the records, and reporting what I find.

The questions remain. And the public deserves answers.