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Anderson County mayor seeks independent counsel amid sexual harassment allegations

Anderson County Commission is set Monday night to hear Terry Frank's request.

Anderson County's mayor wants an independent counsel to look into the way human resources officials handled reports by a handful of women against the Anderson County Circuit Court clerk.

Terry Frank raises numerous questions ranging from how the officials looked into the complaints last year to how information was released to the public and how Human Resources operates as a county department.

She's asking the Anderson County Commission on Monday to consider hiring counsel to look into the case.

More: Records: Clerk referred to himself as 'Daddy' in office

More: Court clerk files ethics complaint against commissioners

"Yes, I absolutely do have some concerns," Frank told 10News on Friday.

Last August, human resources managers began looking into complaints that first-term Republican William Jones made sexually inappropriate comments to staff members, touched them, sought favors from them and bullied them.

On Sept. 19, Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager notified Jones in a letter obtained by 10News that he was the subject of an internal harassment investigation.

Source: William T. Jones election page, Facebook

Employee Gail Harness, now on paid leave, alleged that Jones had sent her a vulgar SnapChat message that referred to his penis. She presented human resources officials with copies of his message.

Harness also appealed to the local NAACP office and the district attorney general.

Last week, attorney Richard Collins filed a federal lawsuit on her behalf in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

On Feb. 20, the 16-member Anderson County Commission voted unanimously to censure Jones and called on him to resign. They met behind closed doors, without Mayor Frank, to consider their options.

Commission has no authority over Jones, and he is declining to resign. He has told 10News he's the victim of a political attack.

The Briceville man also has filed a defamation lawsuit against one of his accusers, Heather Miller, a former Clinton Courier reporter who spoke with human resources officials as part of their August review. Miller did not work for Jones.

Jones faces former Anderson County Mayor Rex Lynch, who resigned in 2011 after admitting to sales tax fraud, in a May 1 primary.

Frank questions

Frank said she wants to know in part why allegations raised in August didn't come before commission until February and the circumstances that led to Harness being put on paid leave after she came forward with her complaint against Jones.

Yeager said Harness had to be removed from Jones' office and placed on leave to protect the county's interests. The county had to move deliberately in its investigation to ensure it was thoroughly and properly vetted, he said. Other agencies including the DA's office became involved, requiring confidentiality, he said.

After Harness approached the NAACP, it notified the local FBI office.

Frank also wants an independent counsel to look into the public release of records in the investigation last month, including redacted affidavits by Jones' accusers.

Further review also should be made of personnel policies about how complaints are handled and how the county handles allegations of criminal activity by "employees, department heads or elected officials, and if policies were followed," her agenda request states.

She also wants to look into email exchanges between Yeager and former HR director Russell Bearden that were posted to WYSH-FM radio.

About 25 protesters gathered Monday afternoon outside the Anderson County Courthouse to show their support for victims of sexual harassment and to call for the resignation of Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk William Jones.

Yeager said he's tried to keep Frank informed this year about the investigation. The two have feuded often during her time in office.

The law director said Frank and Jones are political allies. Both are Republicans and Jones is a former county GOP chair.

The mayor said she wants to know what county policy and procedure are for handling HR complaints.

"I"m also seeing where an actual complaint is confidential, that's why I'm asking for some of these things, so I can properly respond," Frank said.

Some records were released initially while others were withheld, she said.

On the night commission voted to censure Jones, interim HR director Kim Whitaker offered a presentation detailing the allegations against Jones.

Frank said commissioners told her they weren't provided any documents about what was being alleged.

"I asked one of the commissioners, Does that not give you pause?"

Frank said she thinks the timing of the release is political, designed to harm Jones.

"If people did not handle this properly in the HR office, then there is a shadow cast on what they are saying," she said.

Still, Frank said the county has to take a "hard-line stance" against sexual harassment. "Grave concerns" have been raised by the reports the women made to HR.

She said her own mother has been a whistleblower against what she saw as wrongdoing in Anderson County.

"I think the timing is political, but there are legitimate issues that have been raised that it has a duty and it is a duty of the HR department to investigate these issues. To (Jones') point, the failure to timely address this - in my opinion, that is political.

"But there are statements that these women have said that need to be looked at. The women deserve accountability."

Yeager said it's unnecessary and improper for independent counsel to get involved. Insurance attorneys already have looked into the complaints, he said.

"She (Frank) wants to spin facts," Yeager said.

In 2015, HR investigated a complaint about Jones' conduct by a woman who worked with him one week. He at first agreed to undergo counseling arranged by then-HR director Russell Bearden but later declined, choosing instead to take a CTAS online course, records show.

'Governed by the people'

Commission Chairman Tim Isbel was among the 16 who voted to reprimand Jones and request his resignation.

Isbel said Friday in light of Jones' lawsuit and that of Harness that he couldn't say much publicly about the case. He said the county has in the past hired independent counsel when deemed necessary.

Isbel said he had no second thoughts about commission's action Feb. 20.

County officials have acted properly, he said, consulting with authorities that include the County Technical Assistance Service, or CTAS, which helps municipalities in Tennessee with questions of government.

"Myself and the HR director have been in contact with our law director, with CTAS, with our district attorney, and we have done everything that we can do," he said. "An elected official is governed by the people that put you in office."

Jones has filed an ethics complaint against the commission. Some of those he targets now serve on the county's ethics committee, which rarely is called on to consider complaints.

Anderson District Attorney Dave Clark informed Harness in January, in a letter obtained by 10News, that while Jones' alleged conduct might be offensive he could not find that it was criminal.

Some of the women who have worked for Jones tell HR officials he's boasted that he has no boss and is untouchable, documents obtained by 10News show.

Jones said in a statement to commission released last month that he's done nothing such as he's been accused except to engage in some minor "offensive joking."

One of Clark's assistant prosecutors, Ryan Spitzer, has complained publicly about Jones. He said his wife - not Harness - has suffered at Jones' hands. Neither Spitzer nor Clark have responded to requests for comment.

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