UPDATE:

 At last Monday's Lenoir City council meeting, while voting on their 2026-2027 budget which includes NO funding for 911 operations, council woman Robin McNabb attempted to add the funding to the budget. Lenoir City mayor, Tony Aikens, was having none of that. Aikens again went on a long rant about the 911 employees being county employees even though he knows full well they are not. No argument McNabb made was going to sway Aikens at all which isn't surprising to anyone who knows how Aikens operates.
Worse than Aikens refusal to allow any funding for 911 was the fact that every other council member sat silent and offered no support for McNabb. The only council member that ever uttered a word was Eddie Simpson who said he objected to McNabb trying to add the funding to the budget.

This November, 3 councilmen will be up for re-election, Todd Kennedy, Jim Shields and James Brandon. Voters will do well to remember this vote when the election rolls around.

Last Monday's vote was just the first of two readings required to pass the budget. The council will have one last opportunity to add the requested $82,000.00 into their budget for continued 911 services.

Below is a link to the meeting video. The 911 discussion begins at the 33:50 point of the video. It's well worth the watch.

Click Here For Meeting Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USRZFmflfRA