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Tennessee public works director named TWSA head
By Carey King
A man who’s coached “about every sport around,” announced high school football games and helped to pastor what he calls “a little country church” has been selected as the next director of the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority.
Joe Cline, 43, is currently public works director for the town of Englewood, Tenn., a community of about 1,600 located halfway between Knoxville and Chatanooga. In his 12 years at that post, he has overseen the addition of close to 30 miles of water line to the Englewood water system and funded much of the project with grants.
TWSA board members selected Cline as their director Tuesday (March 1) after going into closed session for about half an hour.
Cline was chosen from a field of 17 applicants, said board Chairman Lynda Sossamon. He will be paid the same $60,000 salary outgoing TWSA director Hugh Montgomery received when he first began in March 2003.
“He’s basically worked in water and sewer for 20 years. He has written grants, which is something that we really need,” Sossamon said. “He’s a person with a lot of all-around skills.”
While Cline was not present for the board’s announcement, Sossamon called him immediately afterwards with the decision.
“My wife Debbie and I are looking forward to becoming a part of the community in Jackson County,” Cline said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to serving many years for TWSA.”
Reached by the Herald at his home Tuesday night, Cline said he plans to be on the job by Monday, March 21. He and his wife – who currently works at a nursing home and would like to do the same here – plan to relocate after nearly an entire lifetime spent in Englewood, Cline said.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in the (Western North Carolina) area in the past few years,” he said.
The couple’s one son is already out of the home and married.
“We feel very comfortable with Joe Cline and Hugh Montgomery working together during this transition,” TWSA board member Jim Cochran said when Cline’s appointment was announced. “They seem to be getting along real well.”
The new director will visit Sylva next Tuesday (March 8) for a full day of briefings by Montgomery, Sossamon said.
As Englewood public works director, Cline is currently responsible for the town’s water plant and sewer treatment plant, facilities that sell services not only to Englewood citizens but to some of the 40,000 residents of surrounding McMinn County. Other towns in the county operate and sell water and sewer service, too, Cline said – a situation not unlike Jackson County’s before TWSA was formed by the county and towns of Sylva, Dillsboro and Webster in 1992.
Cline will be the TWSA’s third director. Jerry King served in the post for a decade before Montgomery was hired two years ago.22
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