Betsy Henderson spent over a year campaigning to be Knox County mayor. When she's sworn into office Sept. 1,her job will look different.
She'll continue to travel throughout the county, but maybe not as often. Managing a $1.1 billion budget to support more than 500,000 people requires a steady presence at the helm of the ship – a corner office overlooking the Tennessee River on the sixth floor of the City-County Building.
Henderson, 47, has built a career around politics and service. She worked for former U.S. Rep. Jimmy Duncan in Washington and was elected to the school board in 2020. Running a county will be different. Her day-to-day will be focused on county workers, finances, roads, emergency services, land use, parks, libraries and health
services.
"People want good roads, they want good schools for their kids, they want safe communities," Henderson told Knox News on Aug. 11 in an exclusive in-person interview. "We all want the same thing. Now it's just working together, focusing on those priorities, setting that vision to make sure that we have the best community. "
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This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Knox News: You've spent years campaigning and serving on the school board. What has been the biggest thing about the county mayor's job that you didn't fully appreciate until you started preparing for it?
Betsy Henderson: During the campaign, we were campaigning and then also kind of diving into the departments and the role of the mayor. It is kind of nice now that we have the campaign behind us, me and the team can focus on diving into those departments on day one. It's taking what you heard at the doors, what people have as concerns, and then turning those into reality, building out that vision.
Really the job of government is just to be a connector. People call because they just don't know where else to go. The job of the mayor is to be a concierge to government and putting them in touch with the correct person.
Knox News: Will your administration look significantly different from Mayor Glenn Jacobs' or should residents expect continuity?
Henderson: There will be some continuity. I've been meeting with department heads, sitting down with them, diving into what their work is, what they see going well, what they would like to see change, what are challenges for their department, what their budgets look like. We've got some great people working for the county and I look forward to continuing to work with a lot of those folks. They are passionate about their work. They believe in their work. I'm going to go on field trips next week and sit down with those directors and just meet their teams.
Knox News: What's the shift there? You spent so much time talking about politics and Republicans and Democrats, and now you're working with public service workers. How do you switch your mindset?
Henderson: When you're campaigning, there's navigating a campaign, navigating politics. Then there's governing and just running the day-to-day operations of the county. We're just kind of shifting to that. People want good roads, they want good schools for their kids, they want safe communities. We all want the same thing. Now it's just working together, focusing on those priorities, setting that vision to make sure that we have the best community. Everybody wants a thriving community for their families.
Knox News: You won the race, but Democrats were more competitive across the county than people expected. What do you think voters were trying to say there?
Henderson: There was election night where we see who wins and then there's "OK, let's dive into these percentages, let's analyze that data." Democrats picked up a seat on the school board so now the school board has flipped. Democrats picked up a seat on the county commission as well. Some of the margins are getting closer.
I received roughly the same amount of votes as Tim Burchett and Bill Hagerty in Knox County. We captured the Republicans that came out. Democrats had a lot of folks coming out. They really mobilized and organized and got folks to the polls. Republicans have really got to look in the next four years, getting people out to the polls. All through the general election, I said, "We cannot take this for granted."
Knox News: Do you think the message there was just kind of discontent with the party in general, like a top-down kind of thing?
Henderson: That's a good question. One issue is we have so many elections. It's really getting the message out that, "Hey, there is a local election going on. This is important." It's about getting folks to the polls, making sure they're aware that there's an election and local matters.
Knox News: How do you take whatever signal voters sent and apply it to your first term as you govern the whole county: Republicans, Democrats, independents?
Henderson: I think it's just focusing on local. Folks are putting food on the table, they're taking their kids to soccer practice, they're going to work. Making sure we have a government that is working for the people, making sure that families can thrive, getting government out of the way, but then also letting them know that they have a government that is there for them, being transparent and making sure that we're solving their problems.
Knox News: Moving on to a more specific issue in the news right now, what guides your decisions on surveillance technology versus privacy concerns?
Henderson: This has been a big issue. I'm against the Flock cameras. I'm against mass surveillance. I believe in giving law enforcement the tools they need but also protecting our liberties, our freedoms. You can also support law enforcement, too.
Knox News: How do you find that balance?
Henderson: I'm going to sit down with (Sheriff-elect Brent Gibson) and talk to him and get his thoughts. I'm excited for his leadership and I'm excited to work with him and see where he stands on the issue, but I'm against it. I've heard from a lot of folks in the community and a lot of these systems, we don't know where that data lives.
Knox News: How will you approach budget requests from a school board that may have a different political makeup than the one you served on?
Henderson: I look forward to working with the school board. Dr. Jon Rysewyk and I have a great working relationship, so I'm excited to continue that work and giving the school system the resources that they need. I know it's been an issue, especially with the last budget cycle, county commission did take $4 million out of that budget and it was so last minute. District leaders had no idea that was going to happen. It's really about having those relationships, keeping those lines of communication open.
Knox News: How do you approach that? You said so yourself at a school board meeting the relationship with the county commission soured.
Henderson: The school board did voice their disappointment in how that was handled. County Commission gave 6% raises to all employees. I think our employees work really hard and they should be compensated well. But you need to have a salary study to see what that looks like. When all county employees were given 6% raises, that meant elected officials also got 6% raises.
I think just having those lines of communication open and I'm excited to work with this new county commission. We're going to have a whole new county commission that dynamics are going to change. I've already reached out to the majority of them. I think everybody wants to work together and everybody wants to make sure we're moving forward.
Knox News: I want to press a little bit, just given the partisan nature of the school board. This is a pretty big shift and Democrats will most likely have an easier time passing some of their priorities, which maybe don't align as much with yours.
Henderson: I got along well with the Democrats on the school board that I worked with. It will be different navigating that now that the school board is Democrat, so there has been that shift, but I can work with pretty much anybody. At the end of the day, it's about what's best for kids and making sure that we have strong public schools. It's focusing on the things that we do agree on, that we do align on and making those a priority and making sure that we're getting that work done.
Knox News: We're seeing evidence of tighter budgeting, like using school money to pay for county employee raises. If revenues don't keep pace with infrastructure needs, what will you prioritize?
Henderson: First and foremost, roads are going to be a priority. Chris Caldwell, the finance director for the county, we've been diving into the budget. I do feel very confident that we have a healthy, strong budget. Mayor Jacobs has done a great job of prioritizing the right things and proactively saving as well. I feel confident that the money was there. It's just about prioritizing and roads will be my number one priority. We're already behind on the paving schedule so one thing I'd like to see is, "How do we increase that paving budget?"
Knox News: Is there one road project that you're saying to yourself, "I want to accomplish this" or "I want to move the needle here?"
Henderson: That's a good question. I drive the interstate a lot and I know it is a state road and the state has control over that, but so many people travel on the interstate so I'm looking forward to working with the next governor and our state delegation.
Knox News: You voted against Advance Knox as a school board member, and now the next steps of the county's growth plan are in your hands. What parts of the growth strategy do you hope to keep and what parts do you hope to change?
Henderson: The county is currently working on the Unified Development Ordinance, which is the meat and potatoes of the plan. Advance Knox was the plan at a 30,000-foot view, which I was against for several reasons. I wanted to make sure that any plan we do has intentional community input that we're listening to the community and their concerns.
Now we're working on the meat and potatoes of the plan. I've heard from lots of different groups that have some concerns about some of the regulations that are in the current plan. I look forward to digging into that with homeowners, farmers, developers. I'm going to be spending the next few weeks sitting down with them and kind of diving into this plan.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: 'Now it's just working together:' Betsy Henderson ready to dive in | Exclusive
