GOVERNMENT
Granddaughter explains: Metro Moore – What does it mean?
COURTESY PHOTO
During his tenure as Mayor, Carl Payne helped usher in the first true metropolitan government in Tennessee, which helped Moore County prevent annexation from neighboring counties.
In 1960, TWRA Game Warden Carl Payne, affectionately known as the “Rabbit Sheriff,” and his wife Bobbie moved to Moore County. The housing market was terrible at the time, so they rented one room from “Miss Mattie” Bobo on Majors Boulevard. After it seemed like Moore County would be home, they moved to the foot of Dillingham Hill, where they rented a little house from Herbert and Raba Stone.
There, they would raise my mother, Tammy Payne Roberts, until they built their home on Motlow Road in 1977. At this time, the Moore County square was a hub for all the county’s business. There was everything from grocery stores to dress shops to service stations to 5 & 10s.
Until the day that he died, Carl, known to me as “Pa,” said the county's people had “been so good to keep us fed and watered throughout the years.” I’ve heard him say many times, "to be part of the community, you need to be a part of the community. If you see someone working in their yard or their field, stop, shake their hand, and introduce yourself.”
At 55, he retired from the TWRA because state law had an age restriction on carrying a service gun. That was the year that my mother started college, and Carl was too young to retire. That summer, he put in the garden at Miss Mary Bobo’s. It was an election year as well, so with encouragement from the good folks of the community, he was elected County Executive and took office on Sept. 1, 1986. He served three consecutive terms, ending in August 1998.
During his time in office, the county built a nursing home and a new jail. As Pa always put it, the county maintained a “happy marriage” with Jack Daniel’s due to its large source of tourism in relation to day-to-day county government operations.
Most notably, the people of Moore County voted to adopt a charter form of government. At the time, it was said to be the only “true” metropolitan form of government in Tennessee.
With the hard work of many good folks, Moore County became Metropolitan Lynchburg, Moore County. I am proud to be able to tell you about this legacy – one that continues to serve us well today.
Under the new charter form of government, there was no longer a City Mayor but a County Executive. Additionally, the 11 county districts became five council districts, each with three elected council members for a total of 15 members. What was then the old city became the Urban Services District.
The predominant feature that made a charter form so appealing was its protection of the county’s borders, preventing annexation from neighboring counties. With such protections came a change in the structure of the previous two-part county-city system of services and taxes, migrating into a singular governing entity.
My grandfather’s position as County Executive doubled as a liaison to our many visitors. He would often tell folks, “Come on down to Lynchburg. We’ll treat you so many different ways; you’re bound to like one of them!”
COURTESY PHOTO
Bobbie and Carl Payne, with their toddler granddaughter Haley Roberts, who graduated from Moore County High School in 2020. This is her first feature for the Observer.
Coming Up
Haley will explore how the charter has been used and amended over the past 35 years to allow Moore County to maintain its status as one of the world's most welcoming and self-sustaining small towns.
