People

Mary Aveni has been selected as the new city administrator of Decherd. A native of Franklin County, Aveni returns to Tennessee from Villa Rica, Ga. She most recently served as a business analyst for the Clay County, Fla., Sherrif’s Office since 2020. Prior to that, she was the owner and consultant...

The city of Huntingdon has renamed its city hall the Dale R. Kelley Center in honor of late Mayor Dale Kelley. In addition to his long service to the city as mayor, Kelley also served as a state representative, county commissioner, county assessor, commissioner of transportation, commissioner of...

Bruce Applegate, deputy city manager of the city of Alcoa, recently received the credentialed manager designation from ICMA. He is one of more than, 1,300 local government management professionals currently credentialed through the ICMA Voluntary Credentialing Program, which requires a member to...

Larry Cox, former Knoxville city councilman, died on Oct. 18, 2023, at the age of 81. A graduate of Fulton High School, Cox served 15 years in the Air National Guard. During that same period, he earned an associate’s degree from Cumberland University and then a bachelor’s degree at Middle Tennessee...

Maurice Shults, police chief of Newport, has announced he will retire in January after marking 20 years as the town’s police chief and more than 40 years in law enforcement. Of those 40 years, 36 have been spent with the Newport Police Department. During his career with NPD, Shults also served as...

Greg Patterson has been selected as the new city manager of Gatlinburg when current City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle officially retires next March. Patterson presently serves as the assistant city manager for Gatlinburg and has since 2021. Prior to that, he served as the Sevier County trustee, chief...

Janet Hooks, a former Memphis city councilwoman and director of the city’s department of parks and neighborhoods, died Oct. 10, 2023, at the age of 70. Hooks had been serving as a special advisor to the Shelby County Clerk at the time of her death, a position she had been appointed to by the Shelby...

Jamey Owen has been hired as the new assistant finance director for the city of Columbia. She has nearly a decade of experience, including serving as the finance director of Shelbyville and Fayetteville. She has also served in the private sector as a finance manager at Marelli and a senior cost...

Andrew Fisher has been selected as the new parks and recreation director of Lakeland after former director Patrick O’Mara took a new position in Nevada. Fisher has been with the city of Lakeland since March and served as a recreation manager. Prior to this, he served for nearly 10 years with the...

Toni Chadwick has been selected as the new open records counsel in the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office of Open Records Counsel (OORC). Prior to joining the Comptroller’s Office, Chadwick was an administrative judge for Tennessee’s Division of TennCare. She has also served as a commissioner’s...

Tiffany Adams has been appointed the new municipal judge for Crossville following the resignation of Ivy Gardner Mayberry, who has held the position since 2015. Adams has operated a local legal practice since 2009 and has served as the alternate administrative hearing officer for the city of...

Alicia Pigue has been selected as the new financial officer for the city of Humboldt. Pigue has worked for the city of Bells as a financial officer and CMFO since 2006. She earned her CMFO certification in 2010. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Memphis...