Tennessee Code Title 5. Counties § 5-1-202

Current as of January 02, 2024 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

(a) After adoption of a charter pursuant to this part, no right, power, duty, obligation or function of any officer, agency or office of such county shall be retained and continued unless this part or the charter of such county expressly so provides, or unless such retention and continuation be required by the Constitution of Tennessee.

(b) The adoption of a charter shall not have the effect of removing the incumbent from any county office or abridging the term or altering the salary prior to the end of the term for which such public officer was elected.

(c)(1) No charter, whether existing or adopted after May 22, 2019, may be interpreted or amended to alter, amend, or reduce the duties, qualifications, or privileges of the charter or constitutional county offices of sheriff, register, county clerk, assessor of property, or trustee in a manner inconsistent with the laws of this state; provided, that a charter may increase the duties of such offices in a manner consistent with the laws of this state. This subsection (c) must not be construed to affect the terms of the constitutional county offices of sheriff, register, county clerk, assessor of property, or trustee.

(2) The offices of sheriff, register, county clerk, assessor of property, and trustee are the charter or constitutional officers of the county, and their duties are as follows:

(A) The duties of the sheriff include, but are not limited to, being the chief law enforcement officer of the county. The sheriff and the sheriff’s deputies are conservators of the peace and have full law enforcement jurisdiction over the sheriff’s county. It is the sheriff’s duty to suppress all affrays, riots, unlawful assemblies, insurrections, and all other breaches of the peace; to detect criminal activities; to arrest offenders lawfully; to provide civil and criminal warrant services; to execute civil process of law; to seek out and execute criminal warrants; to fingerprint and make records of offenders; to provide courthouse and courtroom security; and to investigate all felonious activity throughout the sheriff's county. This includes, but is not limited to, calls for service, investigation, and apprehension of those responsible for organized crime and road patrol. The sheriff is responsible for the free flow of vehicular traffic along all roads within the sheriff’s county and apprehension of all offenders. The sheriff is also responsible for maintaining the county's jails, as well as those duties traditionally performed by the sheriff in accordance with common law;

(B) The duties of the register include, but are not limited to, the filing or recordation of documents that affect the legal status of real or personal property;

(C) The duties of the county clerk include, but are not limited to, the collection of business taxes, motor vehicle registration and licensing, the collection of wheel taxes, the issuance of marriage and other licenses, and the keeping of records of the county's notaries public;

(D) The duties of the trustee include, but are not limited to, the collection of property taxes, the collection and disbursement of county funds, the management of the county's cash flow, and the investment of idle county funds; and

(E) The duties of the assessor of property include, but are not limited to, determining and recording the value of all property within the county, whether real, personal, or mixed, except for the property of public utilities.

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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Tennessee Code Title 5. Counties § 5-1-202 - last updated January 02, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-5-counties/tn-code-sect-5-1-202/

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