ARLINGTON, Tenn. — About 200 Arlington homeowners who thought they lived in Shelby County are learning they may instead live in Fayette County, despite years of paying their property taxes and things like car registration fees in Shelby County.
One of those homeowners is Lee Mills, a FedEx pilot and former chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party.
Mills is seeking to run in the GOP primary against current Tennessee House Rep. Tom Leatherwood. The Shelby County Election Commission gave its OK to Mills’ petition to run. But then he got a call from state Elections Coordinator, Mark Goins.
“He told me you can’t run for District 99. And I said, ‘what do you mean?’ And he said, ‘well, you don’t live in Shelby County.’ And I said, ‘well, that’s not possible. Did you move my house?’ And he really didn’t have an answer for that.”
A subsequent letter from Goins even had a satellite map of his neighborhood. It shows half of his subdivision in Shelby County and the other half, his half, including his address on Shane Hollow Drive, is actually census-tracked in Fayette County.
Mills said that was news to him considering he pays Shelby County property taxes and is registered to vote in Shelby County. He also showed us the deed for his property, including his plot of land, and signed off on by then Register of Deeds Tom Leatherwood, also showing Mills in Shelby County.
Mills said that even pushing his political ambitions aside, this is a very serious matter for dozens of families. “It affects everything,” he said.
Mark Goins, with the state, told ABC24 his decision was based on the advice of an attorney who recently handled House redistricting legislation.
Goins said in a statement, “I take no joy in being involved in a boundary dispute. Once I became aware of the boundary line showing Mr. Mills in Fayette County, I have a duty to follow the Tennessee constitution and laws of this state.”
But it doesn’t end there. Mills’ wife, Amber, is an elected Shelby County Commissioner. We asked if she too is a resident of Fayette County, not Shelby, should she even be representing her Shelby County district. Goins said, “That question is outside the purview of my office.”
Mills said he isn’t too worried.
“We’re confident the law is on our side. Right now, we’re kind of in limbo-land. They really don’t know. Are you in a new district? Did we move the county line? We just really have no answers.”
Lee Mills ran against Tom Leatherwood in the 2020 election and lost. He told ABC24 he hopes his sudden move to Fayette County wasn’t done on purpose to keep him off the ballot.
Next Monday, the Shelby County election commission will take up the issue and decide whether it will challenge the state’s ruling or let a chancery court judge do it.