People

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Roger Page will retire after a decade on the state’s highest court. He was first appointed to the court in 2014 by then Gov. Bill Haslam and served as chief justice from 2021 to 2023. A seventh generation West Tennessean, Page earned his law degree from the University...

Kristie Diamond has been selected as the new town clerk for the town of Collierville. Diamond will take over from Lynn Carmack, who retired after 28 years of service. Diamond has been working with the town since 2019 when she was hired as an accounting technician in the finance department. She then...

Austin Clark has been selected as the new public works director for the city of Jackson. Clark comes to Jackson from Clifton where he spent nine years as the city’s director of public works and assistant airport manager. Clark has numerous certificates and licenses in water treatment, wastewater...

Walter Lee, vice mayor of Orlinda, died suddenly Nov. 6, 2023 at the age of 63. Lee first served as a city commissioner for Orlinda in the early 1990s at the time when the town was transitioning for a three-person commission to a five-member city council. He was also instrumental in creating the...

Greg Wood has announced his intention to retire as Crossville’s City Manager, a position he has held since 2017. Before coming to the city of Crossville, Wood served as the county manager of Holmes County, Fla.; Jasper County, Ga.; and Harris County, Ga. He also spent 22 years in the U.S. Air Force...

Jason Ray has been selected as the assistant finance director and treasurer for the city of Tullahoma after the announcement that current Assistant Finance Director Donna Graham will retire in December after 19 years in the position. Ray comes to the city with 25 years of experience in management...

Charles Rush has been selected as the director of planning and codes for the city of Tullahoma after serving as interim director since the departure of Mary Samaniego in August. Rush previously served as a senior planner with the city since March 2023. Prior to that, he spent five years as a senior...

David Smoak, town administrator of Farragut, has been named president of the Tennessee City Managers Association (TCMA) and will serve as president for one year. Smoak has spent the past year serving as the organization’s vice president and this marks his fourth year on the TCMA Board of Directors...

Jenny Bess Hibbett, the first female mayor of Mt. Juliet, died on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, at the age of 86. Hibbett earned her bachelor’s degree at Tennessee Technological University and her master’s from Peabody College. She was an educator for 54 years, serving in Metro Nashville and founded the...

Former Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton, family members, and community leaders were present to unveil a monument honoring Wharton at the beginning of the Shelby Farms Greenline. Wharton led the efforts to convert the nearly 11-mile stretch of railroad tracks into a paved path for use by walkers, runners...