State law prohibits city’s tsunami donation

Johnson City commissioners voted unanimously two weeks ago to donate $10,000 to relief efforts on behalf of the citizens and planned to hold a news conference to challenge other local governments to do the same.

But before Tuesday’s news conference, the commission learned it would be violating state law to make a donation outside the city that does not benefit the citizens.

“It looks like this is a case of no good deed going unpunished, as they say,” commissioner Phil Roe said.

State code prohibits such donations and attempts to get around the law, city attorney James Epps III said.

“There has to be some direct benefit to the city, and this is too far removed,” Epps said.

The officials were upset about their charitable efforts being thwarted.

“The good thing is that we never cut a check and caught this before we did anything illegal,” interim city manager Pete Peterson said.

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Information from: Johnson City Press, http://www.johnsoncitypress.com