RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TN - Rutherford County Property Assessor Rob Mitchell has submitted a request for an ethics review of County Mayor Joe Carr, alleging unauthorized access to the Assessor’s Office and other potential abuses of authority. Mitchell asserts that Mayor Carr approved access for outside personnel without his knowledge or consent, which he argues exceeds the mayor’s lawful authority under Tennessee law. Mitchell says that he repeatedly sought clarification on who requested the access, why his office was not notified, and why both the Mayor’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office declined to provide answers.

In his ethics filing, Mitchell further alleges misuse of official information, claiming that private personal information about a potential employee in his office was leaked to the media through open records requests prior to the person’s hiring, allegedly to cause political and personal harm. He also raised concerns about the high cost and handling of open records requests, warning that excessive fees discourage public transparency.

Additionally, Mitchell warned the County Commission about what he described as improper actions related to a proposed external audit and the hiring of a county lobbyist, alleging irregularities in the RFP process and potential conflicts of interest tied to Mayor Carr’s political associations.

Mitchell formally requested that the Rutherford County Ethics Committee review the matter, stating he is acting both in his official capacity and as a private citizen. He contends that failure to act could further erode public trust in county government. The ethics request was forwarded to multiple commissioners and media outlets, with Mitchell directing all follow-up questions to his legal counsel, attorney Larry L. Crain.

A detailed timeline included in the correspondence documents the January 2025 access badge incident involving the Comptroller’s Division of Property Assessments, which Mitchell says remains unresolved due to continued lack of transparency.

Looking back, Comptroller Jason Mumpower addressed the full Rutherford County Commission on the evening of October 16, 2025. You can read more about that meeting and watch the video from the county commission meeting HERE. 

• Earlier this year in June, a statement (below) released by the county was titled, “Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr Issues Statement Regarding Property Assessor Noncompliance Report”

Rutherford County – TN (06/04/2025) Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr believes the findings in the June 2, 2025 memo from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Division of Property Assessments are very serious.

The memo summarizes in March of this year, the State Board of Equalization issued a Notice and Resolution determining that the County was unable or unwilling to comply with the requirements of Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 67-5-501, et seq. The department was given 60 days to correct the noncompliance.

To date, it has been determined that the Rutherford County Property Assessor’s Office failed in its corrective action of a sampling of properties yielding an 11.3% error rate which exceeds the allowable rate of 5%. Based on these findings the Comptroller’s Office will come in immediately and take over operations of the Assessor’s Office.

Carr was notified by whistleblowers in the summer of 2023 of possible malfeasance and irregularities in the office and due to his legal obligation in state law, Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-5-503(a), was required to report it to the appropriate body.

"It is frustrating that it has taken so long to move forward, but an issue of this magnitude must be undertaken carefully," Carr said. "The Assessor's Office staff are more than competent; some really good people are there. This is a dereliction of duty and a failure of Rob Mitchell's leadership. For a number of years, he has violated the basic equity application of the law regarding the assessment of property values in this county. Additionally, this violates public trust, and our community deserves better. Based on the error rate of 11.3% and the fact that there are over 130,000 parcels in Rutherford County, there could be as many as 15,000+ parcels that are incorrectly assessed. This needs to be addressed and rectified immediately. My office has been cooperating with the Comptroller's office and will continue to do so. I am committed to ensuring that our county's property taxpayers are treated fairly and equitably. I would not think it strange if Mr. Mitchell wanted to submit his resignation."

Carr thanks the Comptroller’s Office and commends them and the staff in the Assessor’s Office for their diligence in trying to uncover the wrongs, so that confidence can be restored to the Rutherford County Property Assessor’s Office.