Clay County Attorney Jimmy White said former Highway Superintendent Jason Browning did nothing wrong when he named his wife Angie Browning as his successor.
Browning resigned last week as part of a plea deal. He pled guilty of stealing some $57,000 in diesel fuel. White said the situation, while uncommon, is permitted under Tennessee law.
“Here, there’s no ban in the statute saying that it can’t be the wife or the cousin or the uncle or anybody,” White said.
White said that successors are not required to meet the same qualifications as someone formally appointed by the commission. Despite decades of legal experience, White said he has never encountered a situation quite like this.
“The successor does not have to be qualified, but if the county commission fills that vacancy, they have to fill it with a qualified individual,” White said. “No, I have not.”
White said the county commission will meet on April 27 to accept Jason Browning’s resignation. White said the commission is expected to accept the resignation and further discuss its timeline and process to fill the vacancy.
White said the situation could prompt discussions about potential changes to state law or local policies, though no decisions have been made.
“I don’t know that somebody… may look at the legislation and say, do you want to either do it by legislation, or should each county be left to do it,” White said.
White said the county may be able to prevent this from happening again with personnel policy changes, but he said he is not sure if that could overrule state law. White said county leaders are focused on the upcoming commission meeting, where officials hope to bring clarity to the situation.
“I think we just have to get into this meeting… and decide how we’re going to act on the vacancy,” White said.