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The Blount County Investment Committee is recommending that Mountain National Bank get the county’s $37 million in deposits, replacing GreenBank.

The committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend that Mountain be awarded the three-year contract to provide financial services to the county.

County Trustee Scott Graves made the recommendation at the end of a competitive bidding process.

“One bid packet was taken to each bank in Blount County,” Graves said. “Six banks responded.”

Of the six banks, Mountain offered the highest interest rate on county accounts. According to Graves’ evaluation of the bids, the estimated amount of interest the county will earn from the contract is $953,700 compared to the $729,300 offered by GreenBank, the second highest bidder.

The county’s current contract with GreenBank to provide the services will expire on June 30. GreenBank, formerly known as American Fidelity, was the successful bidder to provide the services in 2002. Prior to that time, First Tennessee held the contract for several years.

The recipient of the county’s financial services contract has been the subject of much attention during the past year. In July 2007, Commissioner Wendy Pitts Reeves questioned whether Commissioner Mike Lewis, who is employed as a senior vice president by GreenBank, would have a conflict as a member of the Purchasing Committee because the county conducts business with his employer.

Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr., in a 2007 opinion, indicated that Lewis, under the letter of the County Purchasing Act of 1957, could face possible ouster from the commission because he held shares in GreenBank.

In response, Lewis transferred ownership of the stock to his wife to remove the possibility of a conflict of interest. He has since asked for another attorney general’s opinion to resolve whether this was sufficient.

Reeves, who chairs the county Ethics Committee, said the committee’s decision will end deliberation on an ethics complaint filed against Lewis because of the situation.
“I would think it would resolve the issue,” she said. “I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t.”
Linda King of Citizens for Blount County’s Future, who filed the ethics complaint against Lewis earlier this year, said that questions remain.

“This will put it to rest, but we still deserve the answer from Nashville,” she said.

In 2007, County Mayor Jerry Cunningham had said he would not nominate Lewis to the Investment Committee because of the conflict of interest.