Five things that will help shape Scott County in 2026
Good Thursday evening! This is The Weekender, a final look at this week’s news from the Independent Herald. The Daybreaker (Monday) and The Weekender (Thursday evening) are our two news-first newsletters. We publish several other newsletters throughout the week, as well as our regular E-Edition on Thursday and our Varsity E-Edition on Sunday (during sports season). If you’d like to adjust your subscription to include (or exclude) any of these newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t subscribed, please consider doing so!
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Buckeye Home Medical Equipment. Serving Scott County and several other communities in the Upper Cumberland region, Buckeye is a full-line DME providing home health equipment to its patients.
Looking ahead at what to expect in 2026
As 2026 begins, Scott County isn’t standing at a crossroads so much as continuing down a familiar road shaped by small decisions, steady pressures, and long-term trends. The things most likely to influence the county this year aren’t sudden or flashy, but they will affect daily life in real ways, from work and education to growth and community priorities. Here are five developments that are likely to matter most in the year ahead.
Of course, no year ever unfolds exactly as planned. Unexpected issues have a way of surfacing — a project stalls, a policy shifts, a crisis arrives without warning, or a single decision sets off a chain reaction that no one anticipated. For example, who could have predicted on Jan. 1, 2025 that the biggest issue of the year in Scott County would be a proposal to build a new landfill? Some of the biggest moments of any year aren’t on the calendar in January, and 2026 will almost certainly be no different here. But even the surprises tend to reveal something deeper about a community: how it responds, what it prioritizes, and where its resilience truly lies.
1.) The August election
It probably goes without saying that the 2026 general election will likely be the biggest story of the year in Scott County. Slated for Aug. 6, the election is important if only because it’s one of the big ones. Every county-wide office with the exception of assessor of property will be on the ballot, as will most district offices. Qualifying, which began on Dec. 22 and will continue through Feb. 19, has gotten off to a so-so start — not too slow but certainly not in a way that would suggest we’re going to see the most crowded ballot we’ve ever seen. Still, there’s lots of time for the candidate pool to grow before the qualifying period ends next month.
One thing that will drive candidate turnout, as already seen in small ripples, are issues that dominated 2025 — both the proposed landfill and a proposal to transform the old Tennessee Railroad through Paint Rock to Winona and Norma and beyond into a recreational trail. It will be interesting to see how the electorate reacts to these issues and others. The landfill issue hasn’t really divided Scott County; the reaction from an overwhelming majority of residents has been one of opposition to a new landfill, and public officials at both the municipal level and the county level have been fairly uniform in their opposition to it — though some have been more vocal than others. The rails-to-trails proposal is quite a different story. It has pitted residents along the former railroad against those who support the expansion of recreational opportunities, and public officials have been drawn into the fight.
The election story could actually begin to be told in May, when the primaries will be held. This is the first major election in Scott County to feature primaries, which were requested by both major parties, although the off-year election in 2024 also had primaries. So far, though, it appears the primary will do little to alter the course of the election. Thirty of the 41 candidates who have picked up or returned qualifying petitions so far — nearly 75% — are running as independents. That means, though there’s plenty of time for things to change, that there are so far no contested races shaping up for the May primary.
Once summer arrives, however, there promises to be plenty of jockeying for votes. The biggest attention-getters in any election are the three constitutional offices at the top of the ballot — county mayor, sheriff, and road superintendent — and all three are going to feature opposition in this election. Incumbent County Mayor Jerried Jeffers is being opposed by Huntsville Mayor Dennis Jeffers and former 5th District County Commissioner Trent Cross. Incumbent Sheriff Brian Keeton is being opposed by law enforcement veterans Dennis Chambers and Kris Lewallen. And incumbent Road Superintendent Kelvin King is being opposed by Colby Strunk.
Residents who intend to vote in this year’s election but aren’t yet registered have until April 6 to do so for the primary, and until July 7 to do so for the general election.
2.) The landfill
No issue generated more headlines in Scott County in 2025 than a proposal to build a new landfill and rail transfer station at Bear Creek. The proposed landfill would be constructed on part of 700 acres being purchased from local owners by Chattanooga-area landfill developer Knox Horner, and the proposed transfer station would be built on Poplar Lane, on a corner of the 700 acres in question.
The issue first came into the public eye in May 2025, though documents have since come to light that reveal Horner was doing his due diligence in Scott County much earlier, and had begun his preparations to develop the landfill in earnest by late 2024. As the year ended, the TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation had two major considerations on its hands: Efforts by Horner to recertify the 24-acre Roberta Phase II landfill permit originally awarded by TDEC in 2010, and an application for the rail transfer station. One of the last official actions of the year was notification by TDEC to Horner and his representatives that the Roberta Phase II recertification application is far from complete — indicating that the state agency is nowhere close to making a final announcement on that front.
Meanwhile, the landfill has generated plenty of opposition at the local level. Both governments and citizens are united in their stance against a new landfill at Bear Creek, and that has given rise to two different coalitions: one a government coalition that includes the governments of Scott County, Oneida, Winfield and Huntsville, along with McCreary County, Ky., and one a citizens coalition that is simultaneously waging its own battle. Both coalitions have formally charged improprieties with the way the 24-acre permit was awarded in 2010, with the chief argument being that Scott County was actually protected by the Jackson Law at that time — a state statute that gives local governments a voice in the landfill permitting process. TDEC’s stance has long been that Scott County’s participation in the Jackson Law expired in early 2010, before the Roberta Phase II permit was awarded. Further complicating matters is a 1992 court ruling that gave the go-ahead to the original Roberta Sanitary Landfill at Bear Creek — now owned by Knoxville-based Waste Connections LLC as Volunteer Regional Landfill. That court ruling held that Scott County’s participation in the Jackson Law did not give it standing to stop the landfill.
Also in play are ordinances approved by both the towns of Oneida and Winfield in 2025 — specifically, Winfield’s overlay zoning regulations that would prohibit a transfer station on Poplar Lane.
Representatives of the local governments — which include County Mayor Jerried Jeffers and city mayors Lori Phillips-Jones, Dennis Jeffers and Jerry Dotson in Scott County, as well as representatives of McCreary County — approved a not-insignificant pot of money to pay for legal representation in their fight against the landfill, and their lawyer is the one who helped the City of Murfreesboro successfully stop an expansion of the Middle Point Landfill in Rutherford County, outside Nashville. However, as the year ended, that pot of money had already been mostly spent, and it remains to be seen how much more money County Commission, as well as the Boards of Aldermen in the towns, are willing to commit to the fight.
Ultimately, the landfill appears to be one that will be settled in court, though the first legal filings have yet to be made. That means the landfill will certainly dominate headlines locally again in 2026, but more than likely won’t be settled in 2026 — though 12 months are a long time. State Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, who has thrown his weight behind the opposition to the landfill, has told the Independent Herald he remains confident that the landfill will not be green-lighted by state authorities.
Dive Deeper: A more in-depth overview of the landfill battle
3.) Rails to Trails
A proposal to transform the former Tennessee Railroad into a 41-mile recreational trail from Oneida to Devonia in Anderson County that would be primarily used by bicyclists is one that had come to light before the 2025 calendar year began, and one that remained very much in contention as the year ended.
The proposal didn’t generate as many headlines as the landfill in 2025, if only because the nature of this battle makes it one that plays out primarily behind the scenes and outside the public eye. The okay of state authorities is not needed for the trail to become a reality, and the TN Dept. of Tourism has played a minimal role in the proposal thus far. The chief players in the project are Oak Ridge-based Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, which has been advocating for the recreational trail since just after R.J. Corman formally filed an intent to abandon the 41-mile rail line, and a national land conservation group known as Trust for Public Lands. TPL has taken on the lead role of negotiating a purchase of the railroad right-of-way from R.J. Corman.
Also involved is a group of local residents that includes both recent relatively new arrivals and lifelong residents of Scott County. Leading that group is Ralph Trieschmann, owner of Timber Rock Lodge in Oneida. As 2025 ended, the local group had followed through with its pledge to use donations to purchase barriers that were placed at public access points in an attempt to stop ATV traffic on the old railroad bed. Meanwhile, American Salvage, the group purchasing the railroad steel and timbers from R.J. Corman, is nearly finished with its demolition work, which could clear the way for work to begin on a recreational trail as early as 2026, provided conservation groups can reach an agreement with Corman.
The latter has an April 2026 deadline to happen, a condition set forth last spring by the federal Transportation Surface Board, the government agency that must ultimately green-light the recreational trail. If April 2026 were to come and go without TPL reaching an agreement with R.J. Corman, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that efforts to transform the railroad into a trail are dead, but it would end the federal protections that have been in place since TCWP initially filed its intent to pursue a recreational trail. Those protections, provided by Congress in the 1980s, prevent R.J. Corman from selling off or significantly altering the railroad grade as long as negotiations continue in pursuit of a rail-banking agreement — which essentially means the railroad grade is preserved for potential future use, with an interim recreational use.
This issue has proven more divisive than the landfill issue, with property owners along the old railroad in communities like Paint Rock, Winona and Norma staunchly opposed to the idea of a recreational trail, and proponents of new recreational opportunities — including, in limited cases, residents who live along the railroad — strongly in favor of it. Local governments are also divided: Scott County Commission and the Town of Huntsville have passed resolutions opposing the idea; the Town of Oneida has passed a resolution in support of it.
This issue could ultimately be decided in court, too. A few property owners neighboring the old rail line say they have deeds granting a right-of-way to railroad builders when the old railroad was originally built in the early 1900s. Such rights-of-way were intended to revert to the deed holders once the railroad ceased to exist. However, that would only be an issue if the deed holders in question choose to pursue a court case. And the vast majority of the rail bed was sold fee simple, meaning there is no legal leg for the opposition to stand on along those sections of the route.
4.) A new director of schools
Scott County Director of Schools Bill Hall has informed the Scott County Board of Education of his intent to retire at the end of his current contract, which expires in June. That sets the stage for the first change atop the county school system’s leadership ladder in more than a decade. Hall — who ascended the ranks from teacher and coach to high school principal and then to the director’s chair — will leave as the second-longest-tenured director of schools or school superintendent in the county’s history.
Hall is the third director of schools since state law changed in the late 1990s and moved the power of selecting a school system leader from the hands of the voters to the hands of school board members. The first hire saw the school board go outside the system and select Mike Davis. Subsequent hires, however, have seen the school board stay in house, both times hiring the high school principal — first Sharon Wilson, then Bill Hall.
School board representatives have been largely mum on which direction they intend to pursue this time around, although there has been some quiet jockeying behind the scenes and the names of rumored candidates have already begun to emerge. The timing of hiring a replacement could threaten to become contentious, given that it will come in the midst of an election season that will find four of the school board members who will vote on Hall’s replacement vying to return to the board in September. Up for re-election are board members in the 1st, 4th, 5th and 7th districts.
5.) Completion of projects and new projects
The 2025 calendar year was actually one of substantial growth in Scott County, with a number of new projects announced or started throughout the course of the year.
Some of those are infrastructure projects. A new bridge on Black Creek Road near Robbins was completed in 2025, and new projects were started on O&W Road near the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area and Niggs Creek Road in Oneida. Cookeville-based contractors are nearing completion of the O&W Road bridge over Pine Creek, and will then begin construction of a railroad overpass on Niggs Creek Road at High Point. Both roads, which have been closed since the TN Dept. of Transportation condemned the existing bridges in 2024, will reopen later this year.
Less time-constrained are grant funds for infrastructure projects throughout Scott County. The Town of Winfield has received $100,000 to develop industrial property at its industrial park near the state line, where JDS Technologies is located. The Town of Oneida has received money for a walking track at the Bear Creek Sports Complex. And Scott County has received money for a new master plan for the John John Yancey Memorial Park, the Robbins Community Park, and the playground at Straight Fork Community Center. Also: Scott County has grant money for the development of a project at the John John Yancey Park that will recognize and memorialize the county’s Revolutionary War soldiers.
Then there are health care projects. On the heels of Big South Fork Medical Center’s opening of the county’s first wound care center, and Mountain People’s Health Councils’ opening of the county’s first diagnostic imaging center, new projects on the table for 2026 include the opening of the county’s first specialty clinic, planned by University of Tennessee Medical Center in south Oneida, and the county’s first dialysis center, planned by Huntsville Post Acute & Rehabilitation Center as an in-patient clinic. UTMC has not formally announced its medical offices, which are located between Plateau Electric Cooperative and the Scott County Food Court, but preparations have been underway at the facility and signage was placed months ago. Huntsville Post Acute & Rehabilitation announced its dialysis center last summer, and at the time slated that it would open in mid 2026.
Of course, neither infrastructure projects or even health care projects are nearly as flashy and eye-catching as new retail, and there has been plenty of action on that front, as well. Work has begun on Casey’s, the convenience store and pizza giant, at the former Marcum’s Parts location “on the corner” in downtown Oneida, and work has also begun on a piece of property just north of city hall in Oneida that was purchased by Zaxby’s, the regional chicken fast food chain. There has also been an agreement inked that will see a Long John Silver’s added to Oneida Plaza, next-door to McDonald’s.
Persistent rumors insist that the Zaxby’s project has been placed on hold, though those in the know have said that they’re aware of no plans by the fast food chain to shutter the project. It would not be too unusual for a planned project to be shelved; Hardee’s was once very close to locating in Huntsville before ultimately moving to Oneida, and Burger King was close to building where Wendy’s was eventually located before the Covid-19 pandemic killed the plan. However, neither of those projects saw real estate deals closed and site preparation begun before they fell by the wayside.
There was plenty of other chatter in 2025 that did not involve formal announcements, including the names of more recognizable restaurants — one in Huntsville and two more in Oneida. And at least one new recognizable retail store appears to be on a fast-track to reality in Scott County, with a formal announcement likely coming in the weeks or months ahead.
And between now and the end of 2026, likely much sooner than later, the number of liquor package stores in Scott County will go from one to four. Currently, the only retail liquor store in Scott County is Stone Cold Liquor in Winfield. But Scott County voters approved a referendum in November 2024 that opens the towns of Oneida and Huntsville to package stores, and the boards of mayor and aldermen in each town have since passed ordinances that set specific guidelines for those stores — allowing two in Oneida and one in Huntsville. All three are currently moving towards reality, with the first to open set to be a package store in Oneida Plaza.
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Election candidate pool continues to grow
HUNTSVILLE | Another abbreviated week of government business, thanks to the New Year’s holiday, saw the number of potential candidates for the 2026 general election in Scott County grow to 41.
There weren’t many new developments for county-wide offices, where incumbents Jerried Jeffers (county mayor), Brian Keeton (sheriff), Kelvin King (road superintendent), Rena Erwin (trustee), Donnie Phillips (circuit court clerk), and Felicia Hamby Bilbrey (county clerk) have all turned in their qualifying papers, along with challengers Dennis Jeffers (county mayor), Kris Lewallen (sheriff) and Matt Stiltner (7th District school board).
But the number of candidates who have picked up qualifying papers continues to grow, with most of the early attention centered around the 14 county commission seats. So far, those who have picked up papers includes incumbents David Jeffers and Blue Day in the 1st District, incumbents Taylor Buttram Stephens and Joyce Potter Keeton in the 2nd District, incumbents Kenny Chadwell and Shonda Gray in the 4th District, incumbent Kelly Posey-Chitwood in the 5th District, incumbent Colby Burke in the 6th District, and incumbents Jared Burke and Tom Payne in the 7th District. Also picking up are challengers Elaine R. Lowe in the 1st District, challengers Mike Keeton, Ron Keeton, Kenny Morrow, Daniel Murley and Davy Williams in the 3rd District, Taylor Stephens-Overton in the 4th District, Jason Perry in the 6th District and Anthony Carson in the 7th District.
Also picking up are incumbent school board members Tommy Silcox in the 1st District, Kim Kidd in the 4th District and Tressa Murphy in the 7th District, along with challenger Roger Douglas in the 5th District. Challenger Benji Jacobs has picked up for one of the three seats on the Oneida Special School District Board of Education.
Among potential challengers who have picked up for county-wide offices are Trent Cross for county mayor, Dennis Chambers for sheriff, Colby Strunk for road superintendent, and Amanda Chambers Sexton and Christina Kay Cross for county clerk.
A complete list of candidates, updated daily, is available here.
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The Weekend
🌤️ Weather: We’ll start the weekend with nice weather — dry and a high of 53° on Friday. However, rain will become likely Friday night, and rain chances will continue into Saturday, with slightly cooler temperatures for the remainder of the weekend. Very warm weather returns next week, along with more rain chances. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page — published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
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📅 Community Calendar
• Saturday: High school sports resume with Oneida basketball hosting Sunbright at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the IH Sports Network.
• Saturday: First Saturday night services will be held at Capital Hill Missionary Baptist Church (6:30 p.m.), East Robbins Missionary Baptist Church (6 p.m.), Norma Missionary Baptist Church (6 p.m.), and Black Creek Crossroads Missionary Baptist Church (7 p.m.). For more information, see our Church Directory at indherald.com.
• Sunday: Celebrate Recovery, a 12-step program designed to help with addiction, co-dependency and domestic abuse, will be hosted by Fire & Purpose Ministries from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 27192 Scott Highway in Winfield. There will be food, fellowship, praise and worship. Childcare is provided.
The Community Calendar is presented by Citizens Gas Utility District. Before you dig, call 811! It’s the law! You can help prevent pipeline damage and leaks by calling 811 before doing any excavating or demolition and submitting a utility locate request. Visit citizensgastn.com.
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📢 Programming Note: Watch for our weekly E-Edition Friday morning! You can always find our E-Editions here. The E-Edition is published on Thursdays (and on Sundays during the high school sports season) and includes all digital content from the week in an easy-to-read, flip book format.
Scenic Sale!
This week’s sale items at Scenic Foods in Huntsville! The sale continues through Tuesday. Sponsored content.
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◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes from the Past (stories of our history)
◼️ Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
◼️ Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
◼️ Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
◼️ Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)