Fin­barr Saun­ders, who is run­ning for Knox County Com­mis­sioner Dis­trict 4, Seat A, helped the Knox­ify Guys start the Young Pro­fes­sion­als of Knoxville. We were super-pumped to see his response to our ques­tions below.

1. Intro­duce your­self to Knoxville, who are you, and why are you running?

Finbarr Saunders Who is Fin­barr Saun­ders and why is he run­ning?

I am a Knox County native, mar­ried to Ellen Bebb, a 6th grade teacher with the Oak Ridge Schools. I have two chil­dren, Emily Woo­dle & Robert Saun­ders, and a grand­daugh­ter, Kate­lynn Saun­ders.

In 1966 I received a Bach­e­lor of Arts in his­tory and polit­i­cal sci­ence from Tran­syl­va­nia Uni­ver­sity, in Lex­ing­ton, Ken­tucky.

I am a Viet­nam vet­eran, and I worked for 14 years in bank­ing. Cur­rently, I am the office man­ager for Novinger, Ball & Zivi, Pub­lic Accoun­tants

I have served this com­mu­nity for over 30 years in var­i­ous vol­un­teer orga­ni­za­tions such as the West Knoxville Ser­toma Club, East Ten­nessee Children’s Hos­pi­tal, East Ten­nessee His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety, Knoxville His­toric Zon­ing Com­mis­sion, West­wood Home­own­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion, Knox Her­itage, Bear­den Coun­cil, and the Down­town Design Review Board. I am and have been an active and involved cit­i­zen for many years.

2. We think it’s bet­ter know­ing what not to do rather than hav­ing an exten­sive plan. What areas or inter­ests would ben­e­fit Knox County not to ven­ture into?

One area we need to address is good devel­op­ment. We should not ven­ture into devel­op­ment that is done with­out a col­lab­o­ra­tive and thought­ful process. Devel­op­ment should ben­e­fit the over-all com­mu­nity and should not have a neg­a­tive impact the environment.

3. What 5 things could you not live without?

Five things I could not live with­out (other than my fam­ily) are a healthy edu­ca­tion sys­tem, a good library sys­tem, a sound infra­struc­ture, a vibrant down­town, and peo­ple work­ing together to find com­mon ground in the com­mu­nity.

Before I close, I would like to ask you to inter­act with your elected offi­cials and can­di­dates so they will know what com­mu­nity issues are impor­tant to YOU. It’s impor­tant that your elected offi­cials hear from you and that your voice is heard!

Good luck with the YPK! Thank you for get­ting involved!