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Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon faces three challengers – community activist Constance M. Every, businessman R C Lawhorn and mortgage banker Jeff Talman – in the Aug. 29 primary election.
Because of a quirk in Knoxville’s election rules, the mayor’s race could be decided in the primary. A candidate can win the office without going to a general election if they receive a majority of the primary votes – meaning 50% of ballots cast plus one.
If none of the candidates receives that majority, the top two vote-getters will head to a runoff in the Nov. 7 general election.
Here are the candidates’ summarized responses from their interviews with Knox News.
Business development
A lack of diversity keeps businesses and professionals from coming to or staying in Knoxville, Every said. It also discourages diverse University of Tennessee graduates from sticking around.
“We have to consider a Knoxville that is for everyone,” she said. “And the way that the current administration has done what I pretty much call anti-poor, anti-Black policy is the problem. … The city is participating in the issue.”
Downtown Knoxville needs to be the true revenue stream for the city, Every said, and part of her strategy would be rebranding Knoxville, focusing less on the outdated Sunsphere and more on the traction UT has garnered through athletics.
Additionally, she would like to increase starting wages for city employees to $23 or $24 an hour because “we want to be a government that shows progress” and is “not afraid of change.”
Affordable housing
Every wants to look at how affordable housing is added and make a big change. That starts with amending Recode Knoxville (the 2019 update of the city’s zoning ordinances) to allow more options for affordable housing and bring back middle income housing the city has lost.
“We just have to amend what’s already been done,” Every said. “I’m not gonna say anything that’s rocket science here. It’s pretty basic stuff.”
Every said she wants community land trusts to have a large role in deciding how properties are used and developed, rather than leaving it up to out-of-town developers.
Violence
Every said she thinks that addressing poverty and data-driven solutions are key to addressing gun violence. She is not supportive of the way the city is carrying out its violence interruption strategies, and believes that more trained and qualified individuals are necessary to succeed.
She also thinks that reaching young people by providing them with resources and opportunities that are available around the clock should be part of the solution. Every does not feel there is trust between the community and the police department, adding another layer to the problem that must be must be solved.
“We have to occupy the kids’ minds, and we have to give them access to resources, and more importantly, we have to have the proper leadership who can identify those at-risk kids that are further off than some others and pull them back in. When our children feel safe, our adults feel safe and then people feel that they are thriving. When communities are safe and thriving, crime starts going down.”
Transparency
During the police chief search that culminated in Paul Noel’s hiring in 2022, the city contracted with a third-party company, and Mayor Indya Kincannon argued that exempted the process from open records laws. The city then balked at providing records related to the search, saying they were held by the company and couldn’t be accessed by the city, even as the contract explicitly stated the mayor had the authority to obtain any records produced.
Knox News sued for these records and eventually obtained them. However, there is no policy prohibiting the city from doing this again.
In the Aug. 1 mayoral forum, Every called Noel’s hiring “unethical,” and said the public had a right to know how he was selected. In an interview with Knox News she said she would correct the lack of transparency in third-party agreements with a charter amendment that prevented them.
“It is the people’s money. They have a right to know what’s happening. It is a public position appointed by an elected official which is a public seat,” she said. “Therefore, the public is smacked all over this. I’m confused as to why we are even having that question come up.”
Homelessness
Every said the problem with policing “homeless crimes” is that the system has maximized “prison for profit.”
“How it works, you know, putting them in jail for a few days, make a few dollars, let them back out, do it again,” she said. “So it’s a cycle.”
Homelessness has no-one-size-fits-all solution, Every said, adding this is personal for her as a combat veteran who spent four years unhoused.
One big piece of the puzzle, she said, is affordable housing.
Every said Knoxville needs to move away from its partnerships away from organizations such as Salvation Army and KARM to more grassroots groups like East Tennessee Harm Reduction.
“They’ve had years in the game, and the problem has not gotten better,” she said. “It’s gotten worse. Now I’m a firm believer in sanity. We’ve tried something for over 10-plus years. I think it’s time to try something different.”
Taxes
Since the 2022 property tax is already in place, Every said that she would create an opportunity to implement the increase, but keep it around half of what Kincannon has done.
Every would like to instead generate revenue through other sources, such as bringing the microchip industry here and creating jobs. She talked about moving Knoxville towards zero waste and building green infrastructure to foster federal income and jobs.
“Now, this is to me is where the county is an issue that we have to figure out how to work together, because the county has actually been able to keep their property tax low. But then, the county taxes a lot of other places,” Every said. “That’s the other thing … if I could get (Mayor Jacobs) to reevaluate … his pie expense chart and see that if he would take some of these knicky-knack little taxes here and there and just put them all together and maybe put it towards the property tax and raise it there and kill those knicky-knack little taxes, that he’d be saving his side up some money.”
She would’ve changed city’s tax by not building the baseball stadium to begin with, as she attributes it as the reason the city needed to increase taxes. In addition, she mentioned that Mayor Kincannon said she wouldn’t raise the tax rate. Every said that she and her team looked at the property assessment equation and determined that Kincannon had adjusted the equation.
Business development
Mixed-used developments with ground-floor retail and residential above have “worked really well downtown,” Kincannon said. She sees this style expanding into nearby neighborhoods and wants more, “particularly with the focus on serving the growing number of people who live downtown.”
As downtown expands into nearby neighborhoods, even the one Kincannon lives in, she realizes change comes with pros and cons. Limited parking has been an issue near Sevier Avenue, she said, but a pilot program for on-street permit parking seems to be working.
Perhaps this could be expanded elsewhere, she said, along with other thoughtful initiatives to ensure residents old and new can live harmoniously.
“(Yee-Haw Brewing Co.) is a good example,” she said. “There’s been some occasional issues with noise and parking. Those are growing pains, and we need to work through those. And so far, I think the business and neighborhood lines of communication have been very open and flexible.”
Affordable housing
Kincannon said she was proud of the $50 million the city has pledged to affordable housing over the next 10 years and would like to build on it.
“We have to do many things because this is a crisis and we need to act with a sense of urgency,” Kincannon said. ‘We have made considerable progress.”
Moving forward, Kincannon stressed the importance of incentivizing developers to build affordable housing, especially along major corridors, and leveraging public funding to bring in more private dollars. Those corridors already have proper infrastructure near them, so housing would make sense in those areas.
Kincannon said the city is looking to change zoning and land use policies so it can properly implement “missing middle housing,” which consists of structures such as duplexes and multiplexes. Kincannon said her proposals will be brought in front of the City Council and Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission this fall and implemented by January.
Violence
Kincannon says that she is pleased with the measures that have been implemented to address violence in the city, particularly in terms of funding for violence interruption and the contract recently approved with the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform.
She believes that progress is being made but that time will tell in terms of success, and that the community must be informed and part of the process.
“This isn’t something that’s going to work if it’s only top down. We’ve made a lot of progress, but I think the most significant progress will come in the next year or so and we need to sustain our efforts, too. I think that it’s starting to work and we need to keep moving forward on it.”
Transparency
Knox News has sued the city over its lack of transparency in how the mayor’s office conducted the police chief search that culminated in Paul Noel’s hiring in 2022. The city contracted with a third-party company, and Kincannon argued that exempted the process from open records laws.
Because the lawsuit is ongoing, Knox News did not ask Kincannon about the issue in her candidate interview.
Knox News eventually obtained the records as part of the lawsuit. However, there is no policy prohibiting the city from doing this again.
Kincannon has maintained, most recently at the city’s mayoral forum Aug. 1, that the process of selecting Noel was the most public search for a police chief in the city’s history because the public was invited to provide suggestions.
Because of this and because of Noel’s insistence that he would not have applied for the position had it been an open process, Kincannon said she was proud of the process which brought him here.
Homelessness
Kincannon said what she calls “public order crimes” are nonviolent and that offenders often can be successfully diverted to programs like the Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center instead of going to jail.
“It’s basically a detox center and they are able to get connected to resources including housing and drug treatment,” she said, noting that accepting that option is voluntary.
The city also works to support its community partners like Positively Living, she said, also citing the street outreach provided by the Volunteer Ministry Center.
Kincannon highlighted the city’s co-responder teams that pair up police officers with behavioral health workers.
“We’re trying to deal with public order crimes by preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place,” she said.
Taxes
Kincannon said she wouldn’t have changed the tax increase, and cited a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. about taxes and civilized society.
“I proposed and pushed for a tax increase so we could pay our essential workers fair market wages so they wouldn’t leave to other jobs and leave us high and dry without people to pick up our trash and pave our potholes and answer the call when people have emergencies,” Kincannon said.
She added that Knoxville has its lowest tax rate since 1974 (higher property valuations can help reduce taxes paid by property owners).
As for the results of the tax, she said it’s “been really good” and it’s helped to retain police officers, firefighters and first responders in Knoxville. She used a study to determine underpaid positions and what positions needed raises. One example she gave is that public service positions now start at $15 an hour with benefits.
“For the first time in a long time, we haven’t had an open posting in some of our public service jobs and our retention rates have gone up in pretty much every department. And a lot of openings that we had … are filled with people who are glad to be working for the city, committed to public service and also glad to be getting paid fairly,” Kincannon said.
Business development
Lawhorn thinks property tax increases under the Kincannon administration have been among the most prohibiting factors when trying to recruit businesses. Despite that, he recognizes downtown revitalization has been a positive thing that could lead to more businesses opening, especially once the baseball stadium is built.
Similar to the stadium, Lawhorn would like to see tax breaks given to larger businesses to encourage them to move downtown. When asked about the benefits of operating a business within city limits rather than the county, Lawhorn said both places have problems.
“And the biggest problem we got right now is permitting,” he said. “It takes so long, and it’s ridiculous.”
Lawhorn thinks Knoxville needs more equitable schools, which will lead to a better educated workforce and the city would be better served by running its own school system. There’s a demand for minority-owned trade businesses, he said, and more Knoxville children should be pointed in that direction.
Affordable housing
Lawhorn said he wants to encourage developers to build smaller, denser apartment complexes downtown, and consider duplexes and multiplexes. Essentially, homes with less space that are more affordable.
Offering tax breaks to developers, similar to the ones given to the downtown baseball stadium, is an idea Lawhorn supports, as well as streamlining the permitting process so homes can be built faster.
Lawhorn said he’d be open to suggestions beyond incentives, as long as something gets done to solve the housing affordability crisis.
“We’ve got to work out an incentive program,” Lawhorn said. “I mean, we don’t seem to mind doing it for baseball stadiums. We need to do it for the better of the people, too.”
Violence
Lawhorn said that more initiative needs to be taken in addressing violence and that there needs to be more surveillance in areas where crime is happening in order to solve crimes.
He also believes that the city should have selected a local candidate for the police chief position and that there needs to be more local men and women recruited to the police department.
He also thinks that efforts in addressing the mental health crisis and housing are part of the solution.
“We need more officers and they need to get to know the people where they’re at. It helps because then when there is a problem, people feel more comfortable coming to them and telling them where the problem is. Instead of being afraid to do it because someone or gangs might retaliate.
Transparency
During the police chief search that culminated in Paul Noel’s hiring in 2022, the city contracted with a third-party company, and Kincannon argued that exempted the process from open records laws. The city then balked at providing records related to the search, saying they were held by the company and couldn’t be accessed by the city, even as the contract explicitly stated the mayor had the authority to obtain any records produced.
Knox News sued for these records and eventually obtained them. However, there is no policy prohibiting the city from doing this again.
Lawhorn said the mayor should have handed over the records when requested.
“If I’m mayor, every email I send will be public, and it will be. There will never be a day where I don’t release anything you guys (Knox News) want. I’m not going to do anything that I shouldn’t be so there’s no reason why you can’t read them all …”
Homelessness
Lawhorn said the city should build its own homeless shelter because the taxpayer dollars it gives to nonprofits, such as the Salvation Army and Volunteer Ministry Center, are not good returns on the city’s investment.
“It don’t work. So right there is a prime example of a lot of things that could probably (be cut) … I want to put them in a homeless shelter and offer them mental health, determine if they need mental health and if they do, we may be able to treat them with medicine and make a big difference in their life. If they’re really bad, maybe we can have them committed because maybe they’re better off committed and taken care of than on the street.”
Taxes
Lawhorn wants to run the city like Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs by not raising property taxes. He criticized Kincannon’s tax increase in 2022 as the wrong time to tax people with rising inflation, interest rates and housing prices. He claims that the increase hasn’t even gone towards paying the police department. He vowed to figure out where the money went.
He also considers the property taxes to be a prohibiting factor to downtown Knoxville’s growth. He suggested giving larger businesses tax breaks to encourage those businesses to operate in downtown Knoxville, similar to the stadium being built.
“I promise you, there will be no taxes raised on property under me,” Lawhorn said.
Business development
Talman is all about growing Knoxville to encourage business developments, specifically expanding the boundaries of downtown and connecting it to the rest of the community.
“When we put new sod down on Neyland Stadium, we don’t put a big chunk at the 50-yard line and wait patiently ’til it gets to the end zone,” he said. “We plant sod throughout and then we care for it, and we water it, and then soon we have a seamless mat of healthy grass.”
In order to bring more businesses to Knoxville, Talman said the city needs to build its “human capital” so it has an educated, sizeable workforce. Cheerleading entrepreneurs and encouraging them to take risks in the name of innovation could help as well, he said.
He sees the expansion of McGhee Tyson Airport as a smart move to bring more people and companies to town.
Affordable housing
Talman said he sees the city’s housing crisis as an opportunity to not just add more homes, but to reshape the character of the city. He emphasized redeveloping unused properties in areas ripe for housing.
“Don’t focus on problems, seize opportunities. And I think on some level,” he said, “the demand that we have, that’s remarkable, gives us a chance to build our city in ways that we’re not talking about.”
To combat high rent and housing prices, Talman said the community must take a “familial” approach to housing, meaning everyone in a family is chipping in, “even if that means you need the teenager cutting grass to help with housing.”
Violence
Talman thinks measures implemented by the city to address violence are yet to be realized. He believes that addressing violence must not be reactive and that families must take an active role in reaching young people.
He says that every community deserves safe neighborhoods and there needs to be a clear message that violence Is unacceptable. He also thinks there is more to be done in terms of reaching young people before they enter into cycles of violence and that police must build trust with the community in order to be effective in solving the problem.
“We have to mobilize because nobody should have to put up with shootings at night,” he said. ” The anxiety and fear that goes along with not knowing if this bullet is coming through my wall should not be acceptable anywhere. I’m a city guy, and I think the cities that thrive have very clear signals as to what constitutes acceptable public behavior. There has to be a heightened awareness and not because it’s punitive, but because we love our neighbors, we love our people.”
Transparency
During the police chief search, the city contracted with a third-party company that put the process behind a curtain. The city then balked at providing records related to the search, saying they were held by the company and couldn’t be accessed by the city, even as the contract explicitly stated the mayor had the authority to obtain any records produced.
Knox News sued for these records and eventually obtained them. However, there is no policy prohibiting the city from doing this again.
Talman said he doesn’t know if making an ordinance forbidding private third-party searches is appropriate because there are times where sensitivity makes sense: personnel decisions and economic development. The strong bias, though, should be toward openness.
Overall, he said Kincannon missed an opportunity and created an unnecessary problem while spending unnecessary dollars.
“She could have basically told the world that her city is a great city and that her law enforcement agency is a is a great agency and we’re looking to hire. Instead it became very discreet.”
Homelessness
Talman said the city’s unhoused people are not monolithic in their needs nor in the circumstances that led to their status.
“There’s a variety of circumstances,” he said. “There are people who are in a pinch because you know, they got behind (financially) and had to leave the house. … And then on the far end of the spectrum, you’ve got people who I think choose homelessness, choose the street. And within that is a criminal element. You have a criminal element which uses homeless people to steal, to shoplift. It’s very unhealthy, particularly for some of the most fragile, vulnerable people within that population.”
As a mortgage banker, Talman said, it’s a “little unrealistic to think these people are just an available house away from being great candidates to be homeowners.” For one thing, he added, there is a need for psychiatric facilities to treat those with mental health issues.
Talman stressed the need to focus on public safety, citing recent fires set by people camping in vacant buildings.
“I think on some level going forward that we need to protect people, and to have them safe off the street away from the distractions of substance abuse, hygienic, clean, and then loved and mentored so that they can achieve their full capacity,” he said.
Taxes
Talman focused on how inflation has been a major economic burden on people, especially “fixed income seniors” and those with modest incomes. The tax increase on top of that wasn’t helpful.
“We’re effectively pushing people out of the housing that we wring our hands about being the priority. It’s a huge deal,” Talman said.
He’s a “firm believer” that activity in the city generates revenue. He mentioned locations like the McClung warehouse that burned down in 2007 as areas that could be sold or used by the city to generate revenue instead of taxing property owners.
“The city is going to come and increase the taxes, but they have not shaken the bushes to maximize the value of the assets they already own,” he said.
He concluded by saying he has a different philosophy around this compared to Kincannon because he has much more private sector experience.
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