On Monday, May 19, the Knox County Commission appointed seven Knox County residents to the new East Tennessee Regional Juvenile Service Center Advisory Board. Our owner and co-founder, Mike Smith, is one of them.
Mike was nominated by Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs as one of two private-citizen seats on the board. The other appointees — Ashley Ellis, Adam Moncier, Katherine Ogle, Teresa Parker, April Snell, and Commissioner Shane Jackson — bring backgrounds in nursing, social work, juvenile court, and county administration. Together, the seven-member board will help oversee the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center on Division Street.
Why this matters for Knox County
The board was created roughly a year ago in response to a whistleblower investigation that raised serious concerns about medication management and leadership at the facility. The state of Tennessee has since committed $10 million toward improvements at the center, and the new advisory board will play a role in how that work moves forward. The board is expected to begin meeting in July.
Mike’s appointment reflects a path a lot of Knox County small-business owners would recognize. He got his GED in 1996 from Central High School and got into the construction trades that same summer. He became a licensed contractor in 1999, and he and his wife Wendy founded North Knox Siding & Windows shortly after. Today the company employs more than 30 people, and the Smiths’ two children are both first-generation college graduates — one with a bachelor’s in biomedical sciences.
What it means for our customers
Short answer: nothing changes day-to-day. Mike will continue to run the company. The crews you’ve worked with will be the same crews. Our quote process, our warranty, and our office hours all stay exactly where they are.
What it does mean: when you hire North Knox, you’re hiring a company whose owner shows up for Knox County beyond just job sites. We’ve always tried to be the kind of contractor that’s still here when you need to make a warranty call ten years from now. Being rooted in the community — in big ways and small ones — is part of what makes that possible.
For more on the new advisory board, you can read the original coverage at WBIR.
Three decades. One name on the truck.
Family-owned in Knoxville since 1996. We’ll be here when you need a warranty call ten years from now.