Meet the Candidates--Garrett Holt County Knox County, TN Commission District 4
Here are the questions and Garrett’s responses unedited
What are the key issues you see?
I believe Knox County as a whole must begin to shift from a reactive mindset to more of a proactive one. While I genuinely believe that we live in a great place that is generally well-governed, we cannot continue to do the same things that we always have as we face the greatest growth demands that our county has ever seen. With more and more people moving here each year, that places an immense amount of demand on our roads, infrastructure, schools, police force, and every other service that the county currently provides.
My key issues are:
1. Proactive Leadership and Planning- Knox County has not updated its growth plan since the early 2000s, and we only have the opportunity to grow once. I want to keep Knox County the same Knox County that people know and love while still adapting to these growth demands in the best way possible.
2. Traffic- Anyone who lives here can tell you, even within the last few years alone, that traffic has gotten exponentially worse. We need to invest in road maintenance, strategic improvements and safety measures, and work alongside our state delegation for investment in our state managed roads, such as Northshore Dr.
3. Supporting Education, Safety, and our Key County Employees- Safety and Education make up the vast majority of Knox County’s annual spending, and I want to see us excel in both of these areas to the best extent possible. Investing in and supporting our people is imperative if we want to attract and retain the best quality talent that we can in our schools, Sheriff’s office, and key county departments.
What are your plans on building, development, and land use?
As someone who works in Real Estate myself, I believe I see both sides of the development and land use picture fairly well. Knox County is at a pivotal point in its growth because we have more people moving here than ever before along with a major shortage in housing stock, thus creating the housing affordability crisis that most people here are feeling the crunch of in some capacity.
We have developed all of the easily developable land in Knox County, and that means we have to be very intelligent and careful about the zoning, land use, and planning regulations that we have in place moving forward. I believe that we need to be very strategic and granular when it comes to where we allow for denser housing and zoning changes, and I think that takes leaders who truly understand this community to do it well. I want to keep the charm of this community intact, but at the same time we can’t expect the Knoxville of today to be what it always looks like.
Will you support a full forensic audit of the county and school budgets?
Without knowing the full details, scope, and cost, I can’t answer definitively, but I believe that it could only help us barring it being incredibly expensive or disruptive. The first place to look when trying to be more fiscally responsible is where we currently spend. Knox County is so large that it can be easy for expenses to be overlooked. Taking a fine-tooth comb to it can only serve to improve what we currently do.
Do you have any comments on the problems with inappropriate content in books in the schools and county libraries?
I have faith in our School Board to make decisions that they believe are the best for our schools and students when it comes to the censorship of content.
Our schools’ library content is sourced by experienced professionals, and at the same time, kids today can be exposed to far worse than explicit book content via smartphones and the internet. I think that it is an issue we need to be mindful of, but I also don’t want us to “major in the minors” on an issue that probably doesn’t have major implications on your average Knox County student.
You are welcomed to address the ethics matters and the bonafide issue. I do not consider either worth any significant ink
1. I am running to serve Knox County, the community that I was born and raised in. Bipartisan politics, as you can see here, do so much to divide us currently. This is about public service to our community, not tearing one another apart.
2. I can think of 3 individuals who have been a part of this challenge to my candidacy who supported and donated to me in a prior campaign. Not a single one of them took the time to reach out or even try to discuss anything related to this with me, and it’s sad to me in all honesty. I haven’t heard a single issue that they disagree with me on.
3. These individuals have cherry picked a handful of facts they dislike about me, and in my mind it’s like calling Michael Jordan a baseball player. It’s not factually inaccurate, but most people would likely call him a Basketball player. Why? Because the preponderance of evidence supports that, and I feel that is the case with me here as well. This is evidenced by my stances on issues, alongside the dozens of Republicans here who support me (including the Knox County GOP itself).
4. Let’s let the people of the 4th district decide who they would like as their next County Commissioner.
Note: Garrett returned this in a reasonable amount of time.
To clarify on the bonafide comments
The Republican Party has conditions that have to be met before someone is allowed to run as a Republican.
The key issue with Garrett is he did not vote in 3 out of the last 4 Republican primaries. The August and Presidential ones are the only ones that count here. Spring County primaries do not.
His opponent Liz Tombras meets the 3 out of 4 qualification.
Garrett was challenged and he was not removed from the ballot.
I have spoken to 2 people who voted on his challenge: one for and one against.
The person that voted to remove Garrett stated that there are clearly defined qualifications. Garrett did not hit them.
The person that voted against removing Garrett pointed out a number of things:
Garrett ran in the non-partisan city races in 2021 and the Republican Party endorsed him and provided resources, including funding support.
Also mentioned is that Garrett donated money to Democrats previously.
This race is a Republican primary and Early Voting starts on February 14th. The issues brought up about Garrett’s background and credentials may or may not matter to Republican primary voters.
I have spoken to Liz Tombras personally. I emailed her the same questions that Garrett received. As of this publication, she has not responded.
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