The Fentress County Commission will be responsible for appointing a new sheriff after former Sheriff Michael Reagon resigned last month.
Fentress County Executive Jimmy Johnson said the commission has 120 days from the date the county received the resignation letter. The county received Reagon’s resignation letter on December 19. Johnson said the county is receiving assistance from the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST Commission) during the appointment process.
“They (applicants) also give us an application, and then they will send the same application to the POST Commission,” Johnson said. “And the POST Commission will get back with our office and say who is qualified to be on the appointment.”
Johnson said he hopes the Sheriff’s Department transition goes smoothly and that morale, public trust, or staffing are not lost. Johnson said the commission will discuss the appointment process at next week’s meeting.
“They will set a date, and it will be within 90 days of our county commission meeting,” Johnson said. “And so they will set that date, and that is how it will be.”
Johnson said there are a plethora of requirements that a candidate must meet to be considered.
“They have to have all their tests, they have to have a background check, they have to be certified by the POST Commission that comes underneath the state of Tennessee’s laws of the POST Commission that they have to be qualified for that,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Chief Deputy Hunter Fowler will be in charge until a new sheriff is appointed. Johnson said the county is looking forward to making an appointment and turning the page.
“You know, you want to get over any hump that is in the middle of the road, so it’s just how we go, and we will go by what the POST Commission tells us to do,” Johnson said. “We’ve been instructed by the POST Commission and the laws of the state of Tennessee, and that’s how we’ve governed before, and that’s how we will continue to do.”