Knoxville's downtown coordinator, who helped city thrive, is retiring | Georgiana Vines

Rick Emmett has spent the last 12 years as the city’s downtown coordinator, helping businesses get through the bureaucracy at the City County Building and dealing with residents on a myriad of problems.

He also has gotten to know on a personal level some of the homeless people who live on the streets, as long as they aren’t breaking laws. One woman in particular he’s learned likes to read, so they have talked about books.

He said she folds a book page to keep her place, so once he offered her a bookmark.

“She declined it. Said someone is always stealing it. At least she’s reading,” he said.

Emmett, 67, describes his job as “waking up in the morning and thinking about downtown.” And now he is retiring at the end of the month.

He moved out of his office in the City County Building on Tuesday, after first going around and telling people goodbye. He’ll work from home and by phone – and on the street – until March 31.

He’s not sure what he’s going to do next, although consulting is a possibility, “so I have relevance in this world,” he said.

“I know a lot of folks in the city. I’ve been here 31 years. I know where to go for answers,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday, on the eve of one of several retirement parties hosted by downtown groups.

“After serving over 30 years under five different mayors, it’s clear that Rick Emmett is a big reason our city is thriving,” Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said in a statement provided to this columnist. “His efforts to build trusting relationships with downtown neighbors and businesses have been essential as downtown has grown and changed so much. Rick is a consummate problem-solver and will be missed.”

Emmett grew up in Middlesboro, Kentucky, has an associate degree from Southeast Community College there, became a licensed surveyor and worked as a coal miner. One day he read about a job as a surveyor in Knoxville and applied. He was hired in 1992 as a technical service administrator in the city’s engineering department.

Among the duties he’s had is urban growth manager, where he focused on issues related to orderly development, particularly in the city’s fast-growing areas and neighborhoods that had been annexed to the city. He also worked on the Gay Street Streetscapes project, coordinating with contractors to minimize disruptions caused by an 18-month-long reconstruction of the 100 and 200 blocks of the thoroughfare.

Because of that work and other projects, he has represented the city in discussions on development in other areas of the community, including South Knoxville, he said. He also represents the city on the boards of Visit Knoxville and the Downtown Knoxville Alliance.

He primarily works with David Brace, chief operating officer and deputy to the mayor, who said the two had worked together since he joined the city government staff 21 years ago. Brace credited Emmett with showing him how to “work through rules and regulations in an efficient way without burning relationships.”

Emmett is good at “looking around the corners and doing the little things that make an event not just good but great,” Brace said.

I observed this in Emmett when the East Tennessee Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Knoxville History Project sponsored a plaque recognizing Adolph Ochs as beginning his journalism career in Knoxville before eventually acquiring The New York Times and making it into the high-profile newspaper it is today. The plaque was installed on Wall Avenue on property owned by Scott and Bernadette West that is part of a series of bars the couple operate.

The day of the unveiling, a loud generator was operating on Tennessee Valley Authority property across the street from the ceremony. At some point, Emmett told me he requested the generator be turned off for about an hour “or you would not have been able to hear anything.” He also had the street temporarily closed to traffic so spectators could gather at the site.

“He’s good at getting stuff done,” Brace said.

The homeless population is challenging for the city, and Emmett said he feels a reorganization by Knoxville Police Department Chief Paul Noel with two officers in the downtown area is helping. He said they’ve been given a “directive to do what they can” with those who prefer to live on the streets rather than seek services if they’re not breaking any laws. Anyone feeling threatened does need to contact the police department, particularly with the “hard-core” group living on Broadway, he said.

Another challenge will be issues associated with the Tennessee Smokies stadium coming to the Old City. The site is being cleared and employees working on the building will be faced with traffic issues, he said. He predicted parking is going to be a problem for businesses developed in the area or residents who decide to live there.

“If someone comes in with 80 employees, where are we going to tell people to go park?” he asked.

Emmett’s work touched many city departments, so his position will not be filled by one individual, city officials said. Chip Barry, deputy chief of operations, will take the lead on downtown issues – which Brace called the “relationship” part of the job – while some duties will be incorporated into engineering and economic development teams.

Until he decides whether to continue working as a consultant, Emmett said he would spend time with his wife, Alta, at their home in Halls and maybe travel. The couple have two grown daughters. His parents, Don and Bette Emmett, came from Kentucky for the retirement party given by the Downtown Knoxville Alliance on Wednesday, as did sisters and a brother.

“A family reunion,” he quipped later.

∎ MENDING FENCES: Buddy Burkhardt, whose real job is in technical support at the Knox County Detention Center, is back as chairman of the Knox County Republican Party, with the focus on rebuilding the local party after two years of outsiders ignoring grassroots workers, he said.

He’s called a meeting of the party’s executive committee for 6 p.m. Monday, March 6, at Shoney’s on Emory Road, just to get to know people who have become active since he was last chairman four years ago.

For the past two years, lawyer Daniel Herrera was chairman and worked alongside consultant Erik Wiatr to try to elect Republicans to the nonpartisan Knoxville City Council, but failed. The two newcomers to the community brought in speakers who mostly appealed to the most conservative side of Republicans, including Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, which falsely asserts the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He was paid $20,000, although most speakers at Lincoln Day events usually are provided only travel expenses.

Burkhardt said he was challenged by basic reorganizational work, like monitoring the party’s Facebook page and website.

“The Democrats have 6,000 followers on Facebook. We have 700 followers on Facebook. I have got to get a handle on that,” Burkhardt said, addressing the fact that more Knox Countians vote Republican than Democratic.

He said immediate plans are to have a Lincoln Day dinner and obtain office space, which the local party presently does not have.

“I want to get Republicans elected to everything I can,” he said. He also said he wants to “bring calm and sanity back to the Knox County Republican Party.”

∎ RIP: William “Mike” Padgett, the last Democrat elected countywide to hold the position of Knox County clerk, died Feb. 25 at home at the age of 73. Padgett was first elected in 1986 while a member of the Knox County Board of Education and left the clerk position after the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of term limits in 2007 for most county officeholders.

He held the position in Republican-rich Knox County for six terms.

“We’d like to thank all of our Republican friends for that. Dad got along with everyone,” said son Mark Padgett.

Mike Padgett sought re-election to the position in 2014 but was defeated by then-incumbent Foster Arnett. In recent years, Padgett was associated with Keystone Mortgage Group.

A service took place Saturday at Rose Mortuary on Broadway.

Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Georgiana Vines: Knoxville's downtown coordinator is retiring