Sain and Doolen Sign Agreement

A deal thought to head off more legal wranglings between Hardeman County Sheriff John Doolen and Hardeman County Mayor Jimmy Sain has been signed by both parties.
In a letter dated January 15, 2020 from the County Mayor’s Office, the settlement would fix one of the complaints made in the January 8 Motion for Contempt and for Sanctions filed by attorney Roy B. Herron.
It reads: The Sheriff’s Department has approximately $93,000 of unallocated settlement funds in account #_______. These funds may be allocated to employee raises. Sheriff Doolen will submit employee individual raises to the Human Resource Director. Sheriff Doolen will submit budget amendments for the transfer of funds from #______ to the appropriate salary budget lines.
The salary increases will be fully funded for the FY19/20. The Human Resource Director will make the appropriate salary adjustments and issue a one-time payment to each of the employees raised based on their individual monthly increase multiplied by the number of months he/she has worked in FY19/20 to date. Any excess funds of the approximate $93,000, due to employees that did not work the entire FY 19/20, will be transferred back in to budget lines authorized by the Sheriff.
“I’m pleased we have an agreement,” said Doolen. “We look forward to moving on.”
The agreement was made hopefully to remedy and possibly nullify a complaint on behalf of the sheriff by Herron, who requested Mayor Sain be held “in contempt pursuant to T.R.C.P 45.06 and Tenn. Code Ann. Secs. 29-9-104 & 29-9-105 for the refusal to comply with the Consent Order entered on October 15, 2019...”
The other item filed January 8, stated that “the county will acquire and install electronic equipment using a scanner, similar to that used by the Hardeman County Highway Department, to allow all Sheriff’s Department employees to clock in and out through that equipment.”
According to a statement made by Sain during a meeting of the county commission, the equipment as required by the agreement has been ordered.
Requested legal fees for the suit settled in October were nearly $200,000, although a ruling on the final amount has not yet been made. Of the total, Herron’s requested fees totaled more than $174,000 and more legal fees are expected to be requested for work done after the suit was settled.
A message sent to Mayor Sain requesting comment went unanswered.