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Attorney Sam Edwards was welcomed by the Planning Commission during their November meeting after the Board of Mayor and Alderman previously voted to approve the hiring of an attorney with specialty in planning.

The item was introduced to BoMA during their Sept. 11 meeting and was passed with Alderman Daniel Berry making the motion and Alderman Derick Mann seconding. It passed unanimously.

Edwards was introduced by Director of Planning and Codes Charles Rush, who asked him to introduce himself to the commission and the public.

“I’ve been a planner for the Tennessee Department of Transportation for 10 years,” Edwards said. “I was a planner for Wilson County in Lebanon, and for 30 years I was in a variety of roles with the Greater National Regional Council, ending up being the Executive Director and Chief Legal Council. I have a Bachelors in Planning and Masters in Public Administration.”

He said he also has a doctorate of law after being a practicing lawyer for over 30 years.

“Don’t ask me anything about criminal law, if you have a parking ticket I could probably get you life in prison,” he joked. “My area generally is land-use law. That’s what I’ve done all these years. You can blame me for some of the statutes you’re using or annotating because I wrote a few of them. I’m here to answer your questions and I’ll probably butt in a couple of times because I’m kind of picky about motions and things like that.”

Chairman Paul Schwer said that the commission would definitely welcome Edwards’ interruptions.

Edwards helped the commission with forming motions for the rest of the meeting and answered specific legal questions posed by commissioners and explained that he would be leading their yearly training in January or February.