Normally I'm not one to complain to much about politics but this has gotten me toasted. Recently Knox County was in need of a new 911 Director after Dana Mahaney resigned to pursue another carrier. After hearing rumors about how the hiring went down I decided to investigate. Which is what I do best. So here is what I found out.
13 people applied for the job of 911 Director, of those 13 only 8 were given interviews, by Bob Lechner Knox County Councilman & Rick Linenburg who used to be on the 911 Board 9 or ten years ago when it existed..and now has nothing to do with the hiring of Knox County Employees. He is a member of the IPSAC that has to do with radio communications on the state level, but gives him no direct control of the county employees. Nor should he have been given access to applicants Information. Anyway Linburg and Councilman Lechner conducted face to face interviews and only submitted 3 names to the commissioners to vote on...Jimmy Parish didn't even know who conducted the interviews, or when....Anyway of the three DEBBIT SCHMIDTKNECHT was the one that got the job with no qualifications. She isn't EMD certified, APCO certified, NIMS certified, or IDACS cettified like some of the other applicants. Then I find that Mrs. Schmidtknecht's husband owns Montana Mikes and is best pals w/ Linenburg and Kevin Meyer one of the commissioners who had to vote on the applicants works for Linenburg...so crooked...There is definitely a conflict of interest with Lineburg, Lechner, and Meyer. I think there might even be some criminal charges that could be filed so I will be forwarding this information on to my State Police friends. If any of this information is incorrect let me know. I've eaten crow before.