People

Bruce Cureton, who served for 15 years as fire chief of the Knoxville Fire Department, died March 14, 2024 at the age of 81. Cureton served as chief from 1982 to 1997, retiring after 30 years in the fire service. Cureton was a lifetime member of the International Fire Chiefs Association. During his...

Haley Elliot has been selected as the new tourism program coordinator for Visit Farragut. In the role, she will focus on social media management, event coordination, and community outreach via the Mobile Visitor Center (MVC). Elliot is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University.  

Matthew Trollinger has been selected as the new town manager for Signal Mountain. Trollinger comes from Somerset, Md., where he has served as town manager since 2019. Prior to that, Trollinger served as village manager of the village of Martin’s Additions, Md., for three years and as a paralegal...

Eric Bittner has been confirmed by the Clarksville City Council to become the next city attorney and will assume the role on May 1 following the retirement of longtime City Attorney Lance Baker. Bittner has practiced law in Clarksville since 1995 and has served as the city’s deputy city attorney...

Curtis Hayes has announced his decision to retire as mayor of Livingston after 18 years in the role. Hayes was first elected as mayor in 2006, becoming both the first African-American mayor of Livingston and the first African-American mayor in all of Overton County. A lifelong resident of Livingston...

Don Ridgeway, a former state lawmaker and executive director of the Northwest Tennessee Economic Development Council, died March 2, 2024, at his home in Paris. After graduating the University Tennessee at Martin with a bachelor’s degree in education, Ridgeway became a teacher at Groe Junior High...

Chase Sons has been selected as the new police chief for Tullahoma after having served as the city’s interim chief since November. Sons was serving as acting lieutenant before his appointment to interim chief. Sons has spent 16 years in law enforcement with 13 of those spent with the Tullahoma...

Chad McDonald has been appointed the first ever assistant director of Leisure Services for Cookeville. McDonald has been with Cookeville’s Leisure Services for 28 years, first starting as a part-time employee and then quickly becoming the cultural arts coordinator. Since 2000, he has served as the...

Jessica Cooper has been named the new director of public utilities for the city of Maryville following the retirement of Baron Swafford. Cooper began her career with Maryville as a co-op student and then started full-time as an assistant environmental engineer in 2006. She was promoted to water and...

Andrew Ellard has been selected as the new city manager for Morristown following the retirement of longtime City Manager Tony Cox. Ellard has been with the city since 2021 as its assistant manager. Prior to joining the staff in Morristown, he served as a city manager in Eagleville and held several...

Max Winitz has been selected as the new public information officer for the Franklin Police Department, becoming the first PIO for the department who isn’t a sworn officer in the department. Winitz spent more than two years as the media relations coordinator for Blood Assurance before coming to...