November 9, 2026 Committee Meetings

Hamblen County committee meetings, November 9, 2026, included a major Justice Center construction-contract dispute. The Justice Center Public Safety Committee voted to recommend Option 2: pursue and enforce the county’s available contractual and legal remedies against the contractor identified in the transcript as Blane Construction, including seeking $397,000 in liquidated damages. The discussion also referenced approximately $536,000 in retainage and about $136,000 in additional architectural fees. The alternative was to release the retainage and waive the claims. The committee’s recommendation is to go to the full commission for consideration on November 19; the transcript does not show a final full-commission decision.

The committee approved proceeding with a CTAS drone-based inventory and assessment of county-owned buildings and facilities at no cost to the county, for planning and insurance purposes; schools are excluded. Finance Committee items included recurring Public School Security Grant funds and a $63,000 jail budget transfer to fund lieutenant and sergeant positions from an unfilled captain position; these were described as grant-funded or reallocations of existing budget, not new county spending. Public comments raised concerns about a proposed resolution concerning the mayor’s authority over construction change-order expenses, but no action on that matter is evident in the transcript.