Blount County sheriff promotes 29 in ceremony

The Blount County Sheriff’s office handed out 29 promotions at a ceremony at the Blount County Justice Center.

Blount County Sheriff James Berrong said the promotions took effect on April 1, with the ceremony taking place May 11. It had been at least five years since the last promotions ceremony, said Berrong.

“These men and women have worked hard through the years for the county, and, with the effort they’ve made through years, we wanted to have a public ceremony and recognize them for their accomplishments and achievements,” Berrong said.

Berrong said that with the tight budgets and tough economy over the recent years, the promotions had been delayed, some for a number of years. “It got to the point that, because we have to have a minimum mandatory number of supervisors working, some were working 14 days straight,” Berrong said. “It was too demanding on the existing supervisors, so it was time to look at promotions. We were stretched very thin. We held off on these promotions for a number of years, but it got to the point it was counter productive for supervisors because they were worn out from working so many continuous days. We were in a position where it could expose us to safety and litigation issues.”

The sheriff said each of the positions filled were open positions. “We had people in place to make promotions that will affect the future for the Blount County Sheriff’s Office for many years to come,” he said.

Promoted to Corporal were:

Sara Beal

Brad Garner

Gary Perkins

Matt Thompson

Sam Hall

James Wilson

Wade Hurst

Chad Bailey

Courtney Schaefer

Michelle Bishop

Melissa Sumner

David Wheeler

Promoted to Sergeant were:

Bob Berkley

Scotty Bird

Jeff Hicks

Jarrod Millsaps

Rodney Postel

Bill Ball

Bill Fancher

Randall McKenzie

John James

Steve Blankenship

Promoted to Lieutenant were:

Randall Ailey

Doug Moore

Lee Slagle

Tom Hood

Chris Cantrell

Promoted to Captain were:

Jeff Clark

John Adams