Apr. 7--Knox County Commissioner Mike Hammond plans to ask the County Commission to give the law director the authority to "retrieve illegal monies paid to employees of the trustee's office."

Hammond said he was referring items that could be deemed illegal including a $22,000 vacation buyout that was paid to former trustee Mike Lowe, thousands of dollars above his regular salary paid to former employee John Haun, purchases of items such as BluRay discs made on a purchasing card by employee Sam Harb and bonuses, compensation time and overtime payments made to several employees.

Gregory P. Isaacs, attorney for Lowe, said this afternoon, "It is unfortunate that Mike Lowe's vacation buyout was characterized as illegal by Knox County Commissioner Mike Hammond," Isaacs said. "Mr. Lowe is in the process of reviewing whether the statements were made with reckless disregard of the relevant facts. I want to be clear that any monies received by Mr. Lowe were not illegal and any further characterization of those as illegal could and most likely will result in legal action."

Hammond said he's proposing his legislation because he was told by attorneys that if the issues go to court, it could take at least two years to resolve, especially if there is a plea agreement in the works.

"I want to make sure we're already in the pipeline to get our money back," Hammond said. "It's prudent to instruct the law director to get our money back as this is working its way through the judicial process and the sooner the better. I think those monies need to be paid back since this process may take a couple of years. I think we should go ahead and get our money back, and I mean taxpayers' dollars. Let's go ahead and give (law director) the authority to go ahead and act."

Hammond will present his resolution at the April 27 commission meeting.

The TBI is investigating the Haun incident as well as other payroll discrepancies and spending issues in the trustee's office.

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