| Sources |
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 21 Jul 1967.
David Rule Hendrix obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 19 May 2009.
Sevierville picks Hendrix
By JEFF FARRELL
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
Jeff Farrell/The Mountain Press
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen removed the interim tag from Steve Hendrix title as city administrator on Monday night.
SEVIERVILLE - After an exhaustive search that culminated in a full day of interviews, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen selected Assistant Administrator Steve Hendrix to take over the administrator position he's been filling on an interim basis since the death of Doug Bishop last year.
Hendrix was one of the three finalists board members interviewed Monday over the course of a day that started with the first interview at about 10 a.m. and ended at about 8 p.m. when they adjourned from the regular meeting. They praised the other two finalists, but said Hendrix was their top choice because of his seamless transition in taking charge after Bishop's unexpected death last July.
It was newly minted Vice Mayor Dale Carr - appointed to the position after being sworn in for his second term earlier in the meeting - who made the motion at the end of the meeting to give Mayor Bryan Atchley permission to negotiate a contract with Hendrix.
"It was a tough decision," Atchley said, but in the end it was a unanimous decision, too, as all five aldermen voted in favor of Hendrix's hire.
"It was a long day, but a good day," Atchley said after the meeting.
The aldermen praised the other candidates - James "Jay" Johnson, former city administrator for Franklin, and Louis J. "Jody" Baltz, administrator for Tullahoma, saying they both gave strong interviews.
"We were very, very impressed with all three candidates," Alderman Jerry Loveday said. "It was a tough decision, but I think mainly what it came down to was, Steve had done such a great job of filling in after we lost Doug."
That job included returning a budget this year that cut 10 percent from last year's budget, based on this year's tax returns, without increasing taxes or reducing personnel or services. Hendrix and department heads have said they created the savings by reducing purchase of new vehicles, computers and other equipment.
Loveday said they hope to keep Hendrix for a long time, noting he lives in Pittman Center, where he had served as administrator before coming to Sevierville as assistant administrator.
"We look forward to working with him for a long time," Loveday said.
The board announced that it would begin seeking applications late last year, and even then Hendrix said he would need time to consider whether he would seek the job. It was the positive feedback he received on his work, he said, that helped him decide.
"It was the response of the community, the response of the staff and the response of the board that made me realize it was the right thing for me to do," he said.
The hire will make a lot of people proud, he said, not the least the grandmother he used to visit in Pittman Center every summer.
"I grew up without a father, but I had two mothers, and Beulah Lowe will be as proud as my mother of this," he said.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 2 Nov 2011.
Sevierville City Administrator Hendrix resigns
Sevierville City Manager Steve Hendrix has resigned.
Hendrix told his staff Wednesday morning after submitting his resignation to Mayor Bryan Atchley late last week.
Hendrix gave a 90-day notice.
In his letter of resignation he said he didn't feel he was the right person for the job at this time.
Hendrix was hired as the city’s first assistant city administrator in April 2006, serving under Doug Bishop. After Bishop's death in 2008, he was interim administrator for almost one year before being named city administrator in June 2009.
At a meeting with staff Wednesday morning, Hendrix expressed his love for Sevierville and Sevier County and said he will continue living here.
“I am fortunate to call Sevier County my home and plan to stay right where I am," Hendrix said.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 3 Nov 2011.
Hendrix: Personal factors, not conflicts or issues, caused resignation
by JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE — City Administrator Steve Hendrix says his decision to resign effective at the end of January was based on personal factors, and not on any issues or personality conflicts with the people he works with.
Hendrix announced his resignation Wednesday, after telling Mayor Bryan Atchley of his intention two days earlier. In an interview Thursday, he said he’d decided to move on for personal reasons.
He said he feels he’s leaving at a time when there aren’t any major crises facing the city, and that makes it a good time to step away.
“I don’t have any disagreements with anybody that I know of, and that’s why it can be a good time to make change,” he said. “Sometimes the best time to make a change is when there’s not a problem.”
Several people contacted to talk about Hendrix noted he had put in exhaustive hours from when he first took over — a pattern that didn’t change as things settled down and he transitioned from interim director to director. He has some health concerns, including a heart attack several years before becoming administrator.
When his 90-day notice is completed, he said his first plan is to retreat to the farm his family owns, which has always been a refuge for him, and finish some projects there. There are other things he wants to pursue, he said, but he’s not leaving the city job for another job.
Beyond that, he isn’t sure what he’ll be doing, but he emphasized he intends to stay here. “I love Sevierville and this whole county and I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
What is he proudest of?
“The relationships that I built, both at the city and in the community. that’s what I’m proudest of,” he said.
Hendrix had served as administrator in Pittman Center before the Sevierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen hired him in 2006 to serve as assistant administrator. He worked in that capacity until 2008, when Doug Bishop died of a massive heart attack. After serving as interim administrator for a year, he was the board’s choice in June 2009 to replace Bishop.
It isn’t clear what the board will do now. The city charter calls for the assistant city administrator to take charge in the administrator’s absence, but says the Board of Mayor and Aldermen can name an interim administrator if the acting administrator departs before a new one has been selected. The board has not met since Hendrix’s announcement, and is not scheduled to meet again until Nov. 21.
Mayor Bryan Atchley said Wednesday that Hendrix had done a good job as administrator; on Thursday, Alderman Claude Ownby echoed that sentiment.
“I wish Steve the best,” Ownby said. "I think he’s done a good job and I think the city’s got their work cut out to find a replacement.”
Bob Moncrief, finance director for the Public Building Authority, worked closely with Hendrix.
“I got to know Steve when he became assistant city administrator and he and I became pretty close friends. Steve is a pretty strong Christian man and I am as well so we had that in common," Moncrief said.
Bishop, Moncrief noted, had overseen the inception and development of the Central Business Improvement District — and when he died, he had not put all the details of his plans to paper.
“Not everything was documented,” Moncrief said. “Doug was a good vision guy but he wasn’t the best at documenting.”
It fell to Hendrix to see to it that the various projects moved forward. While the city’s new events center had already opened, the golf course was facing issues that would eventually come to include alleged embezzling by former Director Faye Randolph, as well as a budget that had essentially never been more than a rough outline and had ballooned as the city expanded its plans.
As interim administrator, Hendrix not only had to pick up the loose threads of those plans, he had to take leadership of the city, Moncrief noted.
“He said he didn’t feel he was the right guy but he was definitely the right guy to pull that together.”
n jfarrell@themountainpress.com
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