Would changing the organizational structure of the Knox County Board make the body more effective?
by Mike Kroll In some way reorganizing the Knox County Board is somewhat akin to herding cats, it’s hard to see much payoff compared to the effort expended. Nevertheless that is exactly what some Knox County Board members want to do. Following decades of board operation under the so-called committee system organization the county board reorganized itself into a committee-of-the-whole system one year ago. Now a group of board members led by Carolyn Porter and Alan Pickrel want to return to the former committee system. Other board members including chair Jan Occhi and Wayne Saline have voiced their preference to continue using the committee-of-the-whole system for at least one more year. While a few other county board members have voiced opinions on either side (notably Steve Johnson (who sides with Occhi and Saline) and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Lowell Mannhardt (in support of Porter and Pickrel) most have either stayed out of this public discussion or equivocated. It is expected th
