MTAS' Barton, Ward to retire; Sable hired

Two longtime employees will be retiring while a new face will be coming to University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service (UT-MTAS). 

Rex Barton and Brett Ward will be retiring from their roles at MTAS. 

Barton has been with MTAS since April 1995 as a police consultant. During his role, he served cities across Tennessee until January 2019 when David Moore was selected to serve as a second police consultant. Prior to joining MTAS, Barton was a captain with the Athens Police Department.  

He holds a master's degree in business administration and bachelor's degree in organizational management. 

Ward joined MTAS in April 1996 as a municipal wastewater consultant. Ward served as a wastewater plant operator with the Sweetwater Utilities Board prior to joining MTAS. He also spent 15 years farming in Loudon and Monroe Counties. 

Ward holds professional credentials including a Tennessee Drinking Water/Wastewater Class IV licensure and additional Level 2 Certification in Industrial Pretreatment from the KY-TN Water Environment Association.  He received his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from UT in 1979.  

Del Sable will be joining MTAS as a new training consultant for Middle Tennessee based in MTAS’ Nashville office. Sable comes to MTAS from Jackson Financial Services’ Nashville office where he served as a director of distribution training and development.  

Prior to that, he served for 18 years in various roles at Franklin Templeton Investments, including as a manager of global training and development operations and as a senior training consultant. Sable holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Eckerd College.