Mayors of Scott County
The office of Scott County Mayor is the chief executive officer of Scott County. Prior to the early 2000s, the office was called County Executive. Prior to the late 1970s, the office was called County Judge. Regardless of the title, the job function has been largely unchanged.
The County Mayor is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the county but has limited input into policy-setting, a function that falls to Scott County Commission. In Scott County, the mayor traditionally serves as chairman of County Commission. In that role, the mayor only votes in situations requiring a tiebreaker and does not have the authority to veto the commission’s votes. However, the mayor can refuse the chairmanship, in which case the mayor would have veto power but would not oversee the commission’s meetings.
Department’s under the direct supervision of the County Mayor include the Mayor’s Office, the Recycling Center, the Maintenance Department and the Office on Aging.
Scott County’s first county judge was J.J. Duncan, elected in 1869. Prior to the 1869 election, Tennessee’s counties did not elect a county judge. Instead, the county quarterly court — a forerunner of today’s county commission — would appoint a chairman, or judge, from among themselves.
The first Scott County Judge/Executive/Mayor to serve multiple stints in office was Dwight Murphy, from 1982 to 1990 and again from 1998 to 2006. Later, Jeff Tibbals served from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022.
The longest-tenured county executive in Scott County’s history was Verda “Buddy” Cope Jr., who served from 1966 to 1982, a total of 16 years. The last county executive to win consecutive elections was Dwight Murphy in 2002. Rick Keeton was re-elected as Scott County Mayor in 2006, but had been appointed to the position earlier that year. No county executive failed in their re-election bid from 1944 to 1990, when Clarence “Denny” Lowe defeated Murphy. Since 1990, however, only Lowe in 1994 and Murphy in 2002 were successfully re-elected.
List of Mayors
J.J. Duncan, 1869-1873
John M. Cordell, 1873-1883
James C. Parker, 1883-1886
Bransford L. Riseden, 1886-1894
W.H. Potter, 1894-1902
Beaty Cecil, 1902-1910
W.H. Potter, 1910-1918
Pleasant W. Chambers, 1918-1926
James B. Chambers, 1926
Mitt J. Robbins, 1926-1934
William A. Terry, 1934-1942
C.W. Wright, 1942-1944
Roscoe Byrd, 1944-1950
Charles T. Marcum, 1950-1958
Deacon Sexton, 1958-1966
Verda Cope Jr., 1966-1982
Dwight E. Murphy, 1982-1990
Clarence D. Lowe, 1990-1998
Dwight E. Murphy, 1998-2006
Ricky A. Keeton, 2006-2010
Jeff Tibbals, 2010-2014
Dale Perdue, 2014-2018
Jeff Tibbals, 2018-2022
Jerried Jeffers, 2022-2026
Dennis Jeffers, 2026-Present