About Bill Brittain

County Mayor candidate Bill Brittain thinks Hamblen County is a wonderful place to live and to raise a family, and he wants to help make it a better place for generations to come.

“There isn’t a better place in the country to raise a family than our community,” Bill says. “We have good schools, an outstanding community college and technical school, lots of parks and lakes where we can play, plenty of caring churches, and most importantly, we have many wonderful, talented citizens.”

Bill spent his childhood in Hamblen County.  He was born in Morristown-Hamblen Hospital and attended Morristown schools, including the first two years John Hay Elementary School was open with its open-classroom concept.  He graduated with honors from Morristown East High School where he served on the student council, played football, basketball and tennis and performed in on-stage productions.  Bill attended Walters State Community College where he played on two tennis teams that played in the national junior college tournament before transferring to UT-Knoxville where he earned an undergraduate degree in communications with honors.

His dad, W. H. Brittain, worked for nearly 40 years as a land surveyor and homebuilder. He served on the Hamblen County Planning Commission for several years and was one of the founders of the Hamblen Recreation Football League that continues to operate today. Mr. Brittain passed away in 2006.

Bill’s mother, Gerry Brittain, raised four children and taught American History at Morristown West High School for 20 years.  She is now the proud grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of seven.   

Bill has raised his family in Morristown. He and his wife, Gale, have been married more than 28 years.  They have three daughters: Rachel Brittain Williams, an occupational therapist in Morristown, and wife/mother of three sons (husband Stan and Storm, Walker and Keaton), Lesley Brittain Koboldt, a certified public accountant living in Knoxville (husband Chris), and Emily Brittain, a second grade teacher with the Hamblen County School System.

“One of the greatest gifts my parents gave my brother (Ted), sisters (Kay Kanipe and Anne Sparkman) and me was a strong work ethic,” Bill says.  “They taught us that when you have a job to do, you do it the best you can, no excuses.  I’ve tried to follow their example in everything I do.”

Bill has faithfully served Hamblen County citizens as the County Trustee for 16 years.  The County Trustee is the banker/treasurer for county government.  The Trustee is responsible for property tax collections, for all banking relationships, for investing county funds and for placing all revenues with the proper departments.

Bill has been a leader and innovator while working in county government.  Bill’s work experience as an investment broker enabled him to develop an investment plan that has generated millions of dollars in interest income to help keep taxes low and to pay on the County’s debt. 

He led the effort to open the County office in the College Square Mall in 1997.  Citizens can renew their vehicle registration, apply for an automobile title, pay property taxes and renew their driver’s license at the mall office.

“Opening the office in the College Square Mall is one of the best decisions the County has made during my time as Trustee,” Bill says.  “We are in the service business, so we made an effort to make it more convenient for our customers to do business with the County.  It worked!!  We perform about 40,000 transactions a year at the mall office. Our citizens have embraced its convenient location and expanded operating hours.”

Improving customer service was also the main reason the Trustee’s office began accepting City of Morristown property tax payments shortly after Bill took office.  “I hated telling taxpayers who came to the Courthouse to pay City taxes that they had to go two blocks down the street to the City Center. So, we partnered with the City and became a payment point for City taxes.  It has worked very well.”

Bill believes in using technology to improve public access to government services. Hamblen County became one of the first counties in Tennessee to accept tax payments by credit/debit cards over the internet.  The use of the service has grown gradually since it was started seven years ago.  In fact, Bill led a statewide effort to give all Trustee offices in Tennessee the ability to accept online tax payments.  The most recent innovation Bill initiated involves making all property tax information on record with the County Trustee’s office available on the internet.

Bill also worked closely over the past 12 years with County Mayor David Purkey and the County Commission to develop three capital improvement plans that provided new and renovated schools, a new road department building, a courthouse administration building, jail additions, as well as library and justice center renovations.  These projects were worth more than $42 million.

As president of the County Officials Association of Tennessee (COAT), Bill worked closely with state officials and state legislators to prepare the state law that created the local property tax freeze program for senior citizens.  The Hamblen County Commission adopted the program in 2007.  Hamblen County became one of the first counties to implement the program, and its tax freeze program quickly became a model for other counties.

Bill’s work has also earned the respect of county officials across the state of Tennessee. 
He has served as president of the East Tennessee Trustees Association and the statewide Tennessee County Trustees Association.  He was named Outstanding Trustee of the Year in 2006.  The following year he was elected president of the County Officials Association of Tennessee (COAT).

Before becoming county trustee in 1994, Bill built an impressive resume.  He worked several years in radio and television news and won many awards from the Associated Press.  He worked as an investment advisor, a small business owner and a college athletics department promotions coordinator and tennis coach.