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Knoxville Mayor Daniel Brown

Submitted by Gene Patterson on January 10, 2011 - 3:14pm
Congratulations to 6th District Councilman Daniel Brown.  His appointment, by his fellow City Council members, begins a new era in Knoxville.
 
Brown, the 67th man to hold the office, is Knoxville's first African-American mayor.
 
“Let me first of all thank my colleagues for the confidence they have expressed in me. I hope we continue to have a good working relationship,” Mayor Brown said in a news release.
 

“I have a feel for the common man and woman in our city and the work that is done to keep moving the city forward,” Brown said. 

Mayor Brown, who will continue to represent the city’s sixth district, was elected on the 10th ballot in a specially called meeting Monday.

Councilman Joe Bailey providing the 5th vote putting Mayor Brown over the top. 

Former Mayor Victor Ashe, who served four terms in office before being term-limited, called Brown's selection a "wonderful event," but also challenged the new mayor.
 
"The selection of Councilman Daniel Brown as Knoxville's acting Mayor for the next 11 months is a wonderful event and speaks volumes on where Knoxville is today as a city. He will do well."
 
 
"He is calm, fair, intelligent and has integrity. I hope he uses the 11 months to do more than maintain the status quo. Maintaining the status quo is a mistake as it means others are moving ahead while we stand still.  He can move us forward and he has the ability to do so." Ashe said.
 
For his part, the retired Postal Service worker says he'll continue a legacy of  "fiscal resonsibility" left in place by outgoing Mayor Bill Haslam.
 
Mayor Brown is a Knoxville native, a graduate of Austin High School and Tennessee State and also served in Vietnam in the U.S. Army.

According to the City of Knoxville, Brown becomes the 67th man to serve as the city’s mayor dating back to Thomas Emmerson, who became the first mayor in 1816.

From 1791 until 1816 Knoxville operated under a commission form of government without a mayor.

Mayor Brown will serve as mayor until December 17, when the newly elected mayor will take office.

Former Councilman and current Knox County Magistrate Mark Brown administered the oath of office to Mayor Brown immediately after Brown was chosen mayor.