Hooper’s absences continue to raise oversight questions
Jenny Lynn Hooper.
File photo
Last month, an investigation by The Smoky Mountain News revealed that Jackson County Commissioner Jenny Lynn Hooper had missed at least 13 of 16 meetings of various oversight or advisory boards she volunteered to serve on after her November 2024 election. Since then, new information has come to light showing she’s now missed at least 14 of 17 meetings, but Jackson County Tourism Development Authority Chairman Robert Jumper still can’t cite any authority that exempts Hooper from the removal policy stated in TDA’s own bylaws.
“Commissioner Hooper’s participation as an ex officio member is appreciated,” Jumper told SMN Oct. 22 , speaking of Hooper’s absence at seven of eight TDA meetings this year. “We understand she has many commitments at the county level.”
The TDA is the county agency charged with collecting and spending proceeds from the county’s 6% room occupancy tax — about $3.5 million this year alone.
The attendance policy outlined in the current version of the TDA bylaws states that “conscientious performance of the duties required of members of the Authority shall be a prerequisite of continuing membership on the Authority” and that “any member who misses more than two consecutive meetings without an excused absence or for any good cause related to performance of duties may be replaced at the recommendation of the Authority.”
No other clauses, exemptions or carveouts absolve ex-officio members from the attendance policy mentioned in the bylaws.
When asked why Hooper wasn’t removed in April when she first became noncompliant after logging her second consecutive unexcused no-show, Jumper claimed the attendance policy didn’t apply to Hooper.
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“As an ex officio representative of the county commission, Commissioner Hooper’s role is defined differently, and any changes to that appointment would come from the county,” said Jumper, who also serves as editor of the Cherokee One Feather.
Two weeks later, when draft minutes from the Sept. 22 meeting were obtained by SMN, they revealed Hooper had missed another meeting. As with all Hooper’s other documented absences, no mention of the absences being excused was entered into the official minutes.
Asked again upon what authority he relied on to make that assertion, Jumper referred to a copy of an older version of the bylaws containing the same attendance policy as the current bylaws; a reference to the 2012 county resolution that created the TDA, which also contains the same attendance policy as the bylaws; and a statement that as chair, he alone didn’t have the power to remove TDA members.
“A TDA chair doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally remove members, even voting members. It has to be done by action of the TDA Board as a body (R 12-34 Section 6),” Jumper told SMN Nov. 7. “That is at the discretion of the board as a body. To my knowledge, no ex officio member of the board has been removed by board action since its inception.”
Jumper’s right; however, as chair he’s charged to “call and preside at all regular and special meetings of the Authority,” per bylaws, and to “perform all other duties incident to the office of the Chairperson.”
Jumper hasn’t responded to further requests for comment.
The next meeting of the Jackson County TDA is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 98 Cope Creek Road, Suite D, in Sylva.
Hooper was also appointed to Jackson County’s Transit Board last December. According to minutes from the board meetings provided by Jackson County, Hooper’s name was not listed as among those board members present at any of the three meetings held this year — March 19, June 18 and Sept. 10.
Hooper has also missed three of five meetings of the Mountain Projects board of directors.
Mountain Projects, a nonprofit with a federal mandate to “serve the poor and disadvantaged” and “to help low-income people become self-sufficient and independent of public programs” has bylaws that state that “a member missing more than 50% of the meetings, whether excused or unexcused, per year may be asked to resign from the Board.”
On Oct. 22, new Mountain Projects Chair Cris Weatherford told SMN that the way Mountain Projects reads their attendance policy, attendance is to be calculated not meeting-by-meeting, but rather from year-end totals. By that reading, a board member could miss the first four meetings of the year — the board meets every two months — and wouldn’t even be eligible for removal until August or so.
“Having an engaged and thoughtful board is paramount. You can’t run a nonprofit in Jackson County, or Haywood County for that matter, without an engaged and active board that’s always looking out for the organization and how to improve the organization,” Weatherford said at the time.
If Hooper makes it to the upcoming December meeting of the Mountain Projects board, she’ll technically be in compliance with the attendance policy, missing exactly 50% of meetings.
The next meeting of the Mountain Projects board is scheduled for early December.
