Mayor Glenn Jacobs on Leading Knox County
Mayor Glenn Jacobs shares his journey from the wrestling ring to public service and how his entrepreneurial approach is driving growth, opportunity, and freedom-focused leadership in Knox County.
About Mayor Glenn Jacobs
Mayor Glenn Jacobs, also known to millions as WWE Hall of Famer “Kane,” has served as Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee since 2018 and was reelected in 2022. A successful small business owner and long-time East Tennessee resident, Mayor Jacobs brings a unique blend of entrepreneurial experience, community engagement, and principled leadership to local government.
Since taking office, Mayor Jacobs has focused on strengthening Knox County’s foundation through education, workforce readiness, public safety, and fiscal responsibility. He has championed technical and career education pathways, supported small businesses, and prioritized efficient, transparent governance—all while keeping taxes low and operations lean.
Mayor Jacobs’ leadership reflects his belief in individual liberty, personal accountability, and the power of local communities to drive meaningful change.
About Knox County’s Vision
Under Mayor Jacobs’ leadership, Knox County continues to emerge as one of the fastest-growing regions in Tennessee—home to nearly half a million residents and a thriving mix of innovation, education, and industry.
Through initiatives like Knox County Works and the START Center (Supporting the Advancement of Rural and Technical Education), the county has expanded access to vocational training, apprenticeships, and technical education. These programs ensure students and workers alike have the skills needed to succeed in a changing economy—while helping local employers meet the demands of a growing workforce.
Partnerships with businesses, colleges, and workforce organizations have helped create new pathways to opportunity, fueling both individual success and regional growth. Jacobs’ administration has also prioritized infrastructure investment and small business support, promoting East Tennessee as a hub for sustainable innovation while maintaining fiscal discipline.
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Spencer: Mayor Glenn Jacobs, welcome to Signature Required. Thank you for having me. You are the mayor of Knox County, uh, which is distinct from the mayor of Knoxville, right? Mm-hmm.
Glenn Jacobs: Yes. The city and the county are two distinct political entities. The city is in the county, but the governments are separate. So we have a lot that we want to ask you about learning about what a mayor does, what unique things about Knox [00:01:00] County and Knoxville that you get to experience. But before we go into any of that. You have probably the most unique backstory of maybe anybody that we've had on the podcast.
Spencer: So why don't you roll it back just a little bit. Tell us where you're from and some of your journey, but you know what I'm talking about Yeah. In your backstory, so get us there too.
Glenn Jacobs: Sure. Yeah. So I was born in Madrid, Spain. Actually. My dad was in the Air Force at the time. He's 21 years, uh, in the military.
Glenn Jacobs: Grew up in very rural northeast Missouri. Always wanted to play professional sports. Ever since I was a little kid, I was playing college football. I went to a smaller school at Truman State University. Looked like I might have the opportunity to play in the NFL, then practice one day. I blew my knee out.
Glenn Jacobs: I hurt my uh, ACL and meniscus and cartilage in my left knee. Pretty much the end of my football career or any dreams I had of being in professional sports. But. You know, the neat thing about life is often opportunities kind of pop up, and that's [00:02:00] what happened with me. One night. I was watching professional wrestling on TV with a friend of mine, and, uh, it kind of checked all the boxes as far as it was still a performance and you.
Glenn Jacobs: It, it was, it combined, uh, drama with athletic endeavors, my degree's in English. So both of those things appealed to me. So yeah, I ended up, uh, being incredibly blessed and very successful in professional wrestling. Um, folks might know me as Kane. I'm, I'm in the WWE Hall of Fame. Spent about 25 years in wwe e got to travel the world and just have had a fantastic life because of that, the opportunities that
Spencer: afforded me.
Spencer: Most people are listening. Some are watching, but usually when I walk up to somebody, I'm, you know, six three decently tall. But I'm telling you, I have to look all the way up when I look like, how tall are you? You get asked this, you're, you are a mountain of a human being.
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah, I'm a, I'm about six foot eight.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, and at my peak I weighed about 320 pounds. I'm [00:03:00] not, not that now, but I'm still a
Spencer: pretty big guy. It's amazing. It is. Um. And so let's go into the WE because this is an interesting dynamic. How old were you when you said you saw WWE and it and sparked the curiosity of like, maybe I could do that. Was that after the injury?
Glenn Jacobs: Yes, that was actually, I graduated from college. I went to the Chicago Bears training camp, their rookie mini camp. But I couldn't pass the physical because of my knee. Mm-hmm. Uh, so basically I was just kind of floating through life, my. A degree. It, as I said, it's in English. Uh, I was gonna become a teacher, so I was doing some substitute teaching and that sort of thing.
Glenn Jacobs: I worked at a group home for folks with special needs, uh, was a personal trainer for a little while, just trying to figure out what I wanted to do with life, you know? And I guess I was about 24 when all of that happened. And, uh, um. It, uh, again, it's just amazing to me when I think about that, you know, the fact that my life was, it is always how I wanted it to go, and it [00:04:00] happened just in a very different manner in which I planned for it to happen, you know?
Glenn Jacobs: Um, so I've just, I've been incredibly blessed with those opportunities. Hmm.
Carli: Now there might be some people listening that aren't overly familiar with the wwe. Sure. And so. I have to ask 'cause I don't know this. Do you get to pick your character? Like did you come ready with like costume drawings or do they work with you?
Carli: How did that come about
Glenn Jacobs: it? It really depends. In my case it was their idea. Uh, I had a couple characters which were not very good leading into the Kane character. It's a lot like movies and tv. You know, um, in some cases they see you and they have an idea. Uh, in other cases they already have an idea and then they think that you might fit into that.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, the first couple were kind of the, the latter where they had an idea, which just didn't work for me. It's just, again, like in movies and uh, tv. You have to be able to get in the character in order. There have to be something about it that you can relate to in order to [00:05:00] make it successful. Otherwise people see right through that.
Glenn Jacobs: I think that's even more so in wrestling because since it's live and since there's so much fan interaction, that becomes even more prominent than in the other, um, other live mediums such as tv, uh, even maybe stage. But yeah, so it, it's really a combination.
Spencer: It really depends.
Carli: Hmm.
Spencer: So we're gonna go on from WWE after this, but I, I have one more question that I just would be interested in your perspective on.
Spencer: So there's some households that view WWE to say. We're not gonna have wrestling on in the household. And then there's other households where you can see that WWE is a part of the family experience. Like you see the live event and it is a family dynamic that brings a family together. How do you think about.
Spencer: How WWE has evolved from the eighties to where it is today? Like, I just wonder is [00:06:00] WWE for everybody? How do you navigate and think about that?
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah. I don't know if anything's for everybody. Yeah. But as far as being mainstream, yes. It's much more mainstream than it was in a Hulk Hogan, uh, unfortunately just passed away a few weeks ago, and he was one of the people that was really responsible for that, you know, before his very niche entertainment.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, and it is much more. Mainstream. Now in the eighties, you saw the crossover with MTV, uh, and really what happened is I think you had an expanded fan base that now you see parents, uh, introducing their kids to it. Yeah. I'll never forget a few years ago, it's more than a few at this point, I guess 15 years ago or so, I got to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and it was like the coolest thing ever because the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange was just.
Glenn Jacobs: All gaga over the wrestlers because he grew up in New York and he remembered watching things when he was a kid, and you know, always been a fan, you know, and I'm thinking to myself, this is the. CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. Right. Um, but that's [00:07:00] true all over the place. I mean, uh, you know, I've met people in politics that are huge, you wouldn't think, you know, but are huge wrestling fans.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, so it's just like many other forms of entertainment, you know, it, it crosses I would say, every, every demographic at this point. And much more mainstream than it previously was. Yes.
Carli: Hmm. Yeah.
Spencer: So pulling it forward to. Your journey into politics, how did that happen? Because I could imagine a number of different career pivots out of being Cain in the WWE uh, politics is either the most logical or the most illogical one.
Spencer: I can't decide, which I wanna say it probably
Carli: prepared you well for the combat that you were gonna face.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, yeah. You know, the reason I got into, uh, politics is 'cause I have lived. An incredibly blessed life. My family didn't have any money or connections or anything like that, uh, and I found something I was good at and able to just.
Glenn Jacobs: Do incredible things. Uh, that to me is the story of the American dream. I mean, I think the people like me really [00:08:00] are products of the American dream, and I've always been interested in government and politics. Never really thought myself getting into elected office, uh, but just because of the impact that it has in our lives.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, and, and as my career was winding down and, uh, we're term limited in Knox County. So. Mayor Burett, who's not Congressman Burett was not gonna be able to run against, there was an open seat. So I figured I have as good a shy as anybody. Uh, and you know, I won the Republican primary by 23 votes out of 40,000.
Glenn Jacobs: Whoa. So, yeah, huge. You know, of course I thought that, I thought I was gonna win all along and found out afterwards that I was like the only person that thought that I was gonna win. Um, but nevertheless, um, to me it's, it's, you know, it's. Uh, Ronald Reagan said that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
Glenn Jacobs: I've, I very strongly believe that, uh, and I wanna do everything I can to make sure that my kids and my grandkids can, [00:09:00] um, be able to do what I've been able to do in their own way and have opportunities like I had in my life. And I, I think that for all of us, that's the most important thing that, that we can do, you know, kind of as a society for our kids and our grandkids.
Carli: I wonder too, because it is sad. Does sound like such a pivot. Maybe in your heart it was. You're still serving people, right? You're still using the gifts that God gave you to serve people, whether you're in the WWE e or in politics. But I wonder, entering politics sounds so intimidating to most people, right?
Carli: Right. What was it when you first got in there? Was it like running into a buzz saw, trying to figure out what to do and where to go, or how did you even begin that?
Glenn Jacobs: I was very fortunate 'cause Mayor Burchard had put together a great team. And as you all know, the secret to the success of any organization is the team.
Glenn Jacobs: Right. And we had a great team. I was not intimidated by being in the public eye 'cause I was already there. Sure. And I [00:10:00] think that is one thing that a lot of folks aren't used to, that I had an advantage. I mean, I was already there. It didn't bother me. You know, the media's always, it was is what it is. Um, so.
Glenn Jacobs: You know, between those two things, yeah, there was a learning curve. I'll be the first to admit that, but my team really helped with that. Um, had some ideas just how do you put those into practice and how can you practically implement these things? Um, but overall it was not, you know, the transition like, um.
Glenn Jacobs: Like it wasn't as, uh, tumultuous as folks might think that it was.
Carli: Yeah. The costuming is quite different.
Glenn Jacobs: The costume is Yes. Yes. That, that is very true. That might be the
Carli: biggest difference for you. I would trade
Glenn Jacobs: in. I, I'm a, I'm a shorts and t-shirt kind of guy. I would trade that in for a suit any day, but you know.
Glenn Jacobs: Is what it is.
Spencer: Did you move back to Tennessee or were you always in Tennessee in Knoxville? Was that, has that always been home? What was some of the footprint?
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah. So, um, again, I grew up in Missouri. Mm-hmm. Uh, moved to [00:11:00] the East Tennessee, uh, area right outside Knoxville, actually 1995. Uh, and have lived there ever since.
Glenn Jacobs: Whether it's, you know, we've, we've lived around Knoxville and then finally
Spencer: in Knoxville.
Glenn Jacobs: Hmm.
Spencer: So help explain some of the distinction between being the mayor of Knox County versus the mayor of Knoxville. That'll be pretty technical politics, but maybe some people wouldn't know that there was a distinction between the
Glenn Jacobs: two.
Glenn Jacobs: Sure. Um. People from other states will ask me. You guys have mayors in our counties, and I think we are a little unique in that respect. Um, you're gonna have the equivalent position around the country. You know, other counties around the country are going to have, they'll either be called a county executive and executive, sometimes they're called a judge executive sometimes.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh. The county commissioner, they're the only county commissioner, uh, here in Tennessee. We have a true executive legislative form of government in our counties. Uh, so that's why I'm the executive is the mayor, and [00:12:00] I'm the equivalent of a city mayor. I make the executive decisions, uh, and run the day-to-day operations of Knox County.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, we do some things in the city, uh, but for the most part, the city is its own entity. Uh, what is interesting is counties are actually extensions of the state of Tennessee. So, uh, cities operate under a municipal charter. Right. They're, they're actually completely different than the counties are. Mm-hmm.
Glenn Jacobs: The counties are, the state are an extension of the state, so we have certain constitutional responsibilities that we have to fulfill. You know, cities can kind of pick and choose what they want to do, but it's laid out for what we have to do.
Spencer: It seems really intimidating. Coming into being the executive where you have constitutional responsibilities when you're coming in as an outsider.
Spencer: Mm-hmm. And trying to figure out what's right and what's wrong and what's gonna get [00:13:00] you in jail. I mean, like all sorts of things that you just don't know about. So. Who came alongside you, who mentored you to be able to help? Because I would imagine similar to like someone stepping into the CEO role of a company, you may.
Spencer: Have some familiarity with some aspects of the business, but it's totally different when you are the leader.
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah. Um, so as far as the staying out of jail part, that's really common sense. Uh, and unfortunately a lot of people don't exercise that, you know, but I mean, it's literally like, you just don't, don't use county.
Glenn Jacobs: Stuff which isn't yours. Yeah. You know, and, uh, for the most part, if you exercise common sense, you're okay. Um, on the other side of it, again, that goes back to the team that I had around me, uh, and a willingness to listen to them. Um, also, you know, when folks think government, they kinda lump everything together.
Glenn Jacobs: Um, my job is distinctly different than a county commissioner. [00:14:00] You know, their job is just to, represent their district and, you know, they, they vote on stuff and, uh, approve things or vote down or whatever. You know, my job is completely different than that.
Spencer: Yeah. Tell us some more on
Glenn Jacobs: that. My job is actually, you know, the, the executive office is the, OR departments, the day-to-day operations, roads, uh, parks, libraries, health department, all that falls under me.
Glenn Jacobs: Um. I'm the one that has to prepare the budget, you know, um, and commission approves that budget. But, you know, ultimately we're the ones that have to make responsibility or have to make decisions about the priorities for the county. You know, where are we gonna act? Where, where are we gonna spend money?
Glenn Jacobs: How are we gonna, you know, spend our capital dollars? Uh, you know what debt. Load is, can we comfortably, uh, manage and accommodate, you know, all those things are things that fall directly onto my office. Uh, so they're very different. And as you said too, um. [00:15:00] The executive is the one that has to actually figure out how to make things work, right?
Glenn Jacobs: Your legislature can always, you know, say, no, I don't like that. Well, it still might be something we have to figure out how to do. Um, so, you know, you, if you're a legislator, can vote no, and, and great, that's fine. Meanwhile, as executive, you're still like, uh, okay. We still have to figure out a way to make.
Glenn Jacobs: To make something, this has to happen. Uh, so, so they're very different offices. Um, and just because you've, in our case, if you've been a county commissioner, you know, um, the mayor's still a bit of a different, uh, different animal than that. Yeah.
Carli: You in Knox County have a really strategic position. There's a lot of things in your district and nearby that you have to work with and manage.
Carli: Like ut, you've got Oak Ridge nearby. Talk about some of the interesting things you have going on right there
Glenn Jacobs: when it comes to economic development in. The innovation based global economy. I think that we're uniquely placed [00:16:00] because of the assets that we have, such as University of Tennessee, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, uh, and, and TVA as well, Tennessee Valley Authority, and all those, uh.
Glenn Jacobs: Bring together components that really I would put up there with the research triangle as far as when it comes to innovation and technology, uh, the, the, I guess crux of the issue is how do we utilize those? And, uh, unfortunately for many years, in East Tennessee, there were a lot of turf wars and you know, this person, they, along with this person, that's my lane.
Glenn Jacobs: Um. And There's a new generation of leadership who, who don't see it like that, that realize that what's good for East Tennessee is good for Knox County. What's good for Knox County is good for East Tennessee. You know, so we all work together, uh, very well. You know, And it's interesting, um, that many of the assets we have in the Knox County area are not actually in Knox County.
Glenn Jacobs: So you have the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is in Roane County. Uh, you have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is in severe, and Blount County, that's [00:17:00] the most visited national park in the country. And their visitation is gonna go up even more because Southwest Airlines just announced that they're coming to Knoxville.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, interestingly enough, the Knoxville Airport is actually in Blount County. So as you can see, you know. For us in East Tennessee, especially as Knox County Mayor, it's not only what maybe I, I directly, uh, is directly under my purview, but also all these other entities and people that I have to work with in order to really propel our area forward.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, you know, it, it's, it's a little different than maybe some other places where we're kind of the. The cultural and, and, you know, population hub, but you have all this stuff in other places as well, that people might live in Knoxville, but they work at Oak Ridge and all the visitors that come through to, uh, to the Smoky Mountains and all those sort of things.
Glenn Jacobs: And, and I, I, I think that's the key to any, again, any organization is your ability to work together in relationships even with outside
Spencer: entities. So. You said a minute ago, the most [00:18:00] visited National Park in the country. Can you tell me more about that? Sure. I would not have gotten that stat.
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah. The great Smoky Mountains National Park will get between 13 and 14 million people a year.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, so even though Yellowstone is, I guess considered the gem, uh, it's the Smokies, which are the most visited. Hm. Course, it's, that's, that's amazing. That's so
Carli: classically Tennessee to be like, under the radar that people don't know that stat and it's like, oh, we're gonna go out west. It's great. And we're right here.
Glenn Jacobs: And, and part of the reason for that is because, uh, of our geographical location in East Tennessee. 60% of the nation's population lives within a day's drive of Knox County. Uh, so that gives us a, a big advantage even there because people don't have to fly and don't have to get on an airplane and fly all the way out west.
Glenn Jacobs: They can just drive six hours down to East Tennessee.
Carli: But Southwest is coming.
Glenn Jacobs: Southwest
Spencer: is coming. No, it's a good thing. Yes. Uh, mayor Jacobs, I wanna ask you a little bit about. Distinctions between state politics and federal [00:19:00] politics. But before I do, I want to tell a quick story on you that, um, happened in a moment that, uh, you won't realize.
Spencer: Um, you and I, uh, separately, were at an event. Dc Uh, where it was a group of probably 60 of us. And, and you were there for one reason. I was just there as a spectator and we were touring through the capitol and we were walking through the halls and you obviously touring through the capitol, stand out in a big way.
Spencer: And one of the security guards, one of the DC police there noticed you. And recognized you as Kain and you had a lot of people around you and plenty of things to do, and this security guard came up and he wanted to take a photo with you and you stopped everything that you were doing and you came alongside and talked to this young man and he took a photo with one of his kind of childhood icons, Kane, and you were so kind to him.
Spencer: You [00:20:00] talked to him and after you walked away, I stayed nearby and I heard him talk to another security guard that was right there about what an incredibly special moment that was for him. And getting to, uh, have his icon, give him the time of day and just, uh, make a really special experience. And, uh, it, it, you know, those moments where you never know that somebody's watching.
Spencer: I saw you and it taught me so much about your character, uh, because, you know, uh, those DC police see a lot of people that don't give them the time of day, don't, uh, stop and, and, uh, treat them with respect. And so I just wanted to tell you that, uh, I saw. Uh, and I've never forgot it. And it's one of the real reasons that I've been excited to have you here.
Spencer: Uh, and also, uh, something that just makes me happy to see character in our elected [00:21:00] officials, uh, when no one's looking. And so, uh, the lead in, uh, for all of this though, is there's a lot of need for. Federal officials, state officials, and big differences between what the responsibilities are. So can you talk a little bit about the times that you get to interact with our federal officials and just some of the distinctions between what you see those job responsibilities as, and then your job responsibilities and how that they might interface together?
Glenn Jacobs: Sure. That's a great question. Local government is actually where the rubber meets the road. Uh, when people think of governmental services, we're the ones that provide those. Uh, so I always remind people that despite the fact that you, you're watching the cable news and seeing, uh, a so-and-so federal official.
Glenn Jacobs: That's not the government, that's one level, you know? Um, [00:22:00] and, and unfortunately, this is kind of my soapbox, you know, but a lot of folks forget about that when it comes to local elections, you know, and, and you see voter drop off is just tremendous staggering. So low. Yeah. From say if there's a big federal election to local elections, but local government has a huge impact on your life as well.
Glenn Jacobs: Um. But yeah, so, so we, we do those things, many of the people, stuff that people would think of day to day. Obviously at the federal level, it's, uh, national defense and, uh, more big policy, uh, stuff that impacts the entire country. Constitutionally, most of the power is actually supposed to reside with the states.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, I would, I would argue that. The federal government has usurped much of that. I'm glad to see that, uh, president Trump is doing things to push the power back to the states. Uh, I was recently with Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, and that's what it's all about. You know, it is just returning authority over education to the states, so you don't have these one size fits all policies coming out of Washington when it comes to education.
Glenn Jacobs: [00:23:00] Um, so they are different, you know, and you think about, and people ask me all the time, what about this? Well, that's more of a state level. Say, you know, the state of. Actually makes the, the criminal laws, we don't do that at the local level. You know, we have ordinances and resolutions. We, we don't actually put into law, you know, for the most part that you can do this and you can't do that.
Glenn Jacobs: Right. Um, so, uh, and, and then of course just scale, uh, is a little different, you know? Um, the state is still involved with infrastructure. But just bigger stuff, you know, like the interstates and the state highways. Uh, what happens usually is the federal government is not directly involved with that. They.
Glenn Jacobs: Spend money, they give money to the states, but, and then the states work with us on things as well. But you know, it's really the states that are responsible for that infrastructure. They do get federal money, but ultimately they're responsible for that. Um, so in that respect, there is some coordination though, because you see, you know, money coming from different areas that ultimately, [00:24:00] you know, I'm coordinating with, whether it's the state, whether it's our, uh.
Glenn Jacobs: Regional transportation planning organization, which works with both the federal government and the state, um, you know, to, to make those decisions about how to utilize that money.
Spencer: Does that make sense? It makes good sense. And just learning those dynamics. It's similar. Just again, to compare it to the business world of trying to understand Sure.
Spencer: Who stays in what lane and, and so in that same way for Governor Lee, is Governor Lee someone that you're like, Spencer, I'm talking to Governor Lee like every other day. We're closely working together and we have to coordinate together. Or is it more like. Man, if my phone rings with Governor Lee, I'm stopping everything that I'm doing and I know that something is going down.
Spencer: So what's that dynamic like?
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, we work, I, I don't necessarily work with the governor directly on a whole lot of stuff. Now we, we have, um, you know, and there's special projects coming up. That you know that, that we're both interested in. We do work together. It's more of our departments working with state departments.
Glenn Jacobs: [00:25:00] Mm-hmm. You know, say it's gonna be our engineering public works, working with tdot, you know that that's where those things come in. Now when it's like budgetary or again, like. Big just projects that we need the state's help with. Uh, you know, like we've done, we can get into it later. You know, some workforce development, economic development, you know, those are the things that we're gonna work directly with the state.
Glenn Jacobs: Um, I've worked with ECD on. You know, personally on just a number of things. Um, you know, Stewart Stuart McCarter's amazing. And Stuart's great. Yeah. Yeah. Stuart's just wonderful human being. He is done a great, we've, we've had an exceptional run of ECD commissioners. Mm-hmm. Uh, we just have, and that, that's been to our great, uh, benefit.
Glenn Jacobs: Um, but, um. You know, the governor much like me, he's not gonna be in the weeds on a lot of these things, you know? So you only take stuff to him, you know, either to either kick things off or to wrap things up, you know? But along the way, you're generally working with the, the commissioners and the departments.
Glenn Jacobs: Mm-hmm.
Carli: It really feeds this theory I have about leadership. I [00:26:00] love the way you're talking, and I, I say that leadership is small and it's because the most impactful leaders. Take care of the people in their purview. And it's not sexy and everyone wants to talk about the big elections and the big things, but it's like if you have the power to be a servant leader in a small area with character, it really is.
Carli: Those are the people that make the impact, and I really appreciate you bringing that to light because I think in today's verbiage and on tv, it's like everyone's talking about all of the big stuff and everyone wants to fight about these, you know, 120 character headlines. But what people really care about is like, do they have roads?
Carli: Can I get to work tomorrow? Do I have the economic opportunity? And I know you care a lot about technical training in your district and you care a lot about career readiness in your district. And I just have to think that's the generational impact stuff. Mm-hmm. That's the stuff that can I buy eggs when eggs go up and at the federal level, they're fighting about eggs.
Carli: Can I afford eggs this week? Right. Um, and that's what it sounds like you're doing. And I. [00:27:00] I applaud that, but can you talk a little bit about that training and how much you've worked on that? Yeah,
Glenn Jacobs: that's actually one of the, uh, one of the things that we worked with Governor Lee on. Uh, of course he's also very committed to career and technical education, especially in skilled trades.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, and by the way, he's, he's always been great and anytime that we've had something that we've wanted to do, he has an open ear. Um, obviously because of. Budgetary constraints. We can't always do everything. Um,
Carli: if money doesn't grow, increase, no it doesn't. Geez, I've heard that. It does. Not from my husband particularly, unfortunately,
Glenn Jacobs: but the governor is always open-minded about things and, uh, I could not have asked for a better partner, uh, since I've been mayor at, at the state.
Glenn Jacobs: Than Governor Lee. Um, so one of the things that, that we did with the State's help is, uh, we have an apprenticeship center now for the skilled trades. It's called the Start Center. It's the Skilled, skilled Trades Academy or regional training, uh, center. Uh, we work with, uh, a trades association in the building trades, uh, and after or at [00:28:00] after work.
Glenn Jacobs: Folks that already have a job, come in, get additional training, eventually they'll get their N-C-C-E-R certification, which is kind of like a bachelor's degree of plumbing, electrical, carpentry or whatever. Um, and then what's really exciting is we're also working with our, with our schools, so that. We have right now, we have two high schools which utilize the space for their CTE training.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, we have some private schools and home schools that are going to, um, and we really wanna blow that up so that, uh, basically w. We would like to have, uh, a skilled trades high school in Knox County to where the kids could, uh, spend half of the day, half their day, going through their academic courses and then come over to the start center to do the lab and, and do their training with the construction trades.
Glenn Jacobs: Um. Right now for every five skilled trades, people that are leaving the workforce, there's only one person there qualified to take their place. Wow. So there's [00:29:00] tremendous opportunity. What is that? Yeah, it is, it's huge. There's tremendous opportunity in the skilled trades. Um, and you think about it, if you're a young person and you know, you, you go through our start center and you get your journeyman's, uh.
Glenn Jacobs: Accreditation and everything. You know, you're a plumber, you're making $75,000 a year maybe with no student debt. So you don't have that holding over, hanging over your head. Uh, so right now, and that, that's part of the reason I push the trades, not only do we need them, community and society, but the opportunity available there for individuals is just amazing currently.
Glenn Jacobs: Mm-hmm.
Spencer: When you look back at your time as mayor. You're term limited, which I can always imagine is bittersweet, right? I mean, it's part of our constitution. It's part of the rules, but you always feel like, Ugh, there's so much more that I could do. Yeah. Like if I had a little bit more time. So maybe just talk a little bit [00:30:00] about.
Spencer: Uh, one or two things that you are most proud of, that you've been able to do, and one or two things that if, uh, Knox County just said, you know what? To heck with the Constitution. We want another term. A Mayor Glen Jacobs. What would you do? What would you counsel the next mayor to do, uh, in, in the future?
Spencer: I've been really
Glenn Jacobs: happy because we have not raised property taxes in Knox County. Uh. I am a small government conservative. Our budget per person, I have to adjust these things per person and for inflation to actually get apples to apples. Mm-hmm. Uh, our budget, our per person spend adjusted for inflation is pretty much where it was 10 years ago.
Glenn Jacobs: That's crazy. Yeah. That's crazy when we need some of that over here. When we factor out schools. Uh, now it's gone way up, but the reason is 'cause of inflation because of people. Sure. Yeah. You know, so, but when you look at the actual apples to apples number, uh, it, it, it's pretty steady. Uh, our debt, when you factor out schools in Tennessee, we take on the school's debt.
Glenn Jacobs: You know, that's just how it works here. But if you factor out schools, [00:31:00] when you look at the county's debt, we're actually down about 3% from about 10 years ago. Um, you know, when you think about. Places around the country, you know, that's just not, that's just not the case. Um, one thing we have to remember about, uh, Tennessee is property tax is not infl indexed to inflation.
Glenn Jacobs: So people have actually seen their property tax bill go down. If your property tax stays steady, it actually goes down compared to other things. I'm pretty proud of that. Um, during COVID, I pushed back. Uh, as hard as I could against so many, so much of the overreach that we saw. I tried to keep businesses open, you know, worked with, um, you know, just the private sector to relay their concerns, uh, with the lockdowns and those sort of things.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, you know, tried to keep kids in school as as much as I had any, uh, ability to do so. Um, the, the Start Center, which is our Skilled Trades Academy, I'm really happy about that. Uh. We got the biggest manufacturing economic development project in county's history. A company called Greenheck, which [00:32:00] manufactures HVAC equipment.
Glenn Jacobs: They bought a 300 acre business park. Uh, when that is said and done 10 years ago, it's co completely built out. It's just gonna com, it's gonna transform the entire area. And the reason that's so important is because it, it offers people economic advancement. Right. You're gonna have the opportunity to get a good job there, to get a good career.
Glenn Jacobs: Um, and in that area now it happens a lot is the kids graduate high school and they have to go someplace else to get a high paying job. Yeah. Well it's gonna be right there, you know, so we're really excited about that. Uh. The one now you talk about, um, term limits and knowing that there's a point where you'll not be in office.
Glenn Jacobs: What that does is that causes a sense of urgency. Mm-hmm. As well see. Yeah. There's some things that, that I'm like, man, you know, like I was talking about, uh, this skilled trades high school. Um, we can kinda get the ball rolling, but I don't know if I'm gonna be there. Mm-hmm. You know, to, to really follow through on it.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh. The last thing that I wanna accomplish in office, uh, [00:33:00] is we are currently working on, um, plans and we're gonna get this done for a tiny home village for homeless veterans. And what's really cool about it is actually our high school students that are gonna be building the homes. So we're, it, it, it, it, uh, incorporates the CTE.
Glenn Jacobs: Stuff along with a great project and taking care of our veterans. Wow. And also, uh, you know, helping to some extent alleviate some of the homeless issue that, that we experience like everybody else does. Um. You know, and I don't know if we would've have that same sense of urgency if you didn't have the mayor going, I want this done before I get outta office.
Glenn Jacobs: Sure we do it right, but I want it done. Um, so, so yeah, there's things that I, you know, there's things that I like to carry on, but the same point in time, it's also like I have to get this done by this date. And if I don't. I don't know if it'll get done or not. Mm-hmm. So it's kind of a double-edged sword, I guess.
Spencer: Tell us more about the Tiny Home Village. That's interesting. Who's paying for that? [00:34:00] What size wonder, what's division?
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah. The wonderful, the wonderful thing about it is, uh, really other than, uh, our soft costs of just staff time, uh, it's pretty much. The we're, we're getting donations. Uh, Dr. Horton homes, uh, is donating the, uh, the building materials, most of that anyway.
Glenn Jacobs: Wow. Uh, we're working with other developers and builders on mentorship for the kids and, you know, so they'll actually get. In there and train with them and those sort of things. We have attractive land that the county owns. We're still doing our environmental surveys. And it's funny 'cause people think, 'cause we're government, we can just do anything we want.
Glenn Jacobs: I mean there are still laws that apply to us state and federal laws that we have to, uh, back to
Carli: the not going to jail. Exactly. We have to this conversation.
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah. We have to comply with, but that'll basically be the county's portion of it is just this piece of land which we're not using anyway. Mm-hmm. Uh, and we didn't ever think that we were going to use until we came upon this idea.
Glenn Jacobs: Um. And, and schools are very involved with it. Uh, [00:35:00] but you know what's really cool, I think maybe the, um, the most rewarding aspect of this job is. I get to see our community when it's at its best. When you know you have a project like this and a lot of times we have stuff and I have to go out and beg people to help.
Glenn Jacobs: I mean, just is the way it is. Then you have something like this where you're like literally begging, well, slow down. Okay, slow down. We'll figure, you know, thanks for the help. We'll figure it out. But that, you know, that's when it becomes really rewarding is you see something that everyone is interested in and I mean, they just line up to help.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, and you get to be at the center of that. That's pretty cool. Yeah,
Carli: that would sound like that. That's the best part about being in local government is you get to be nimble, right? Mm-hmm. You're not this behemoth. You get to kind of turn on a dime and see what matters and see how it actually impact impacts folks.
Glenn Jacobs: Yeah. That, that's exactly right. I tell people that all the time. Uh, you know, we, we. We actually do stuff and we see it come to fruition. Um, and yeah, sometimes when things [00:36:00] aren't going the way that we want 'em to go or we have to do something, we're not so big that we can't change it. It's funny, one of, uh, one of the people that works for me, used to work at, for, uh.
Glenn Jacobs: Years ago for a US uh, Congress person. Um, and, uh, they're like, man, I love working here because it, it would take me a month just to get like my business cards changed
Carli: and approved
Glenn Jacobs: because you have to go through this entire process, you know? Whereas with me, it's like, Hey, does this look okay, mayor? Yeah, good.
Glenn Jacobs: Go with it. You know? Um, and, and that, but that's really just, you know, a reflection of, of the size. Of what we're dealing with. Mm-hmm. Um, but yes, at the local level it is very rewarding because, I mean, you can like this deal with the tiny homes. This is something that's kind of been percolating in my mind for a little while.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, but then like I said, the folks from D Horton came and they had an idea. I was like, that fits perfect. And next thing you know, I mean, that was only a couple months ago and we're, we're gonna get this thing done. And, you know, and to think that you from, you know, from the, the inception of the idea [00:37:00] to actually completing it is like 18 months in government.
Glenn Jacobs: That's warp
Spencer: speed. Yeah.
Carli: I think Spence and I really resonate with a lot of the things you're saying because you sound like an entrepreneur. As you talk, you really sound like a small business owner that has to be scrappy and figure out resources and work balance and all of these things, and so I wonder.
Carli: Is entrepreneurship, small business. Tell me what you're doing about that in Knox County. 'cause Knox County's exploding. You're getting a ton of people. You have the biggest university in the state. So what are you doing for these small businesses? It
Glenn Jacobs: was funny. I was, uh, in, in, uh. I was traveling a couple weekends ago and I ran into a person that knew me and they were in the tech industry, and they said, there's all this cool stuff happening in tech and, you know, and you've done a great job.
Glenn Jacobs: What have you done? I'm like, uh, we just tried to make a, a welcoming environment for tech entrepreneurs. Uh, and you know, so much of it is just that, it, it's just. Allowing businesses [00:38:00] to do business.
Carli: Mm-hmm.
Glenn Jacobs: You know, one of the most important things government can do is stay out of the way, you know, keep taxes low, keep regulations sensible, and to a minimum, uh, you know, and celebrate businesses as well.
Glenn Jacobs: Mm-hmm. You know, um, I, I think it's, it's wild. You know, you think, um, there are some politicians nowadays who literally, uh, you know, literally are in opposition to business business.A know, that's something that I cannot relate to whatsoever.
Glenn Jacobs: You know, I don't create any jobs. Drives me nuts in politicians say, oh, we created these jobs. I didn't create any jobs. The businesses, the private sector created the jobs. Now hopefully we have an environment which nurtures that and allows them to do that and encourages them to do that. But I don't, I don't actually create it.
Glenn Jacobs: And I see that's, that's. That's just something that, that is really, really bothers me [00:39:00] nowadays. You know, I, when, when I was a kid, I looked up to business people. Mm-hmm. I didn't see them as, you know, these greedy, uh, you know, greedy po folks that take a shortcut to everything that they have. And that's not the case.
Glenn Jacobs: Most people that are successful in the business work very hard and you don't see everything that they've put into their journey. You just see the snapshot at the end. Um, you know, a, a while back, uh, I was on. I'd posted on x, um, about Elon Musk versus Bernie Sanders and a AOC, okay? This was when all the, the Tesla protests were going on.
Glenn Jacobs: Meanwhile, you have Bernie and a AOC, sorry if I'm getting too political for your podcast. Meanwhile, you have, because this is important for entrepreneurs to, to see you have Bernie and a AOC out there, basically, you know, big business, bad business, bad. It was all government. Lemme ask a question. What has Bernie Sanders done to his entire life to improve the state of humanity [00:40:00] as compared to what Elon Musk does?
Glenn Jacobs: Elon Musk transformed inter commerce with PayPal, communication with x. I never thought I'd get a cyber truck, but I got a cyber truck 'cause it's the coolest vehicle ever. He's, he's transforming transportation. Um, he has starlink. You know, which is the internet and how we access that. You know, it's not gonna be through fiber and landline at some point, you know, it's gonna be satellite, especially for rural areas.
Glenn Jacobs: Uh, and then he builds rocket ships. All Bernie Sanders has ever done is just foment class envy and perpetuate an environment of victimhood and helplessness. So if you're gonna ask me, you know, who are, who are the actually people that make the difference in society? It's entrepreneurs, you know, we should support them as government officials.
Glenn Jacobs: [00:41:00] We should also celebrate them. Uh, and it, it's a pretty simple formula really, I think. Hmm.
Carli: Hmm.
Spencer: Entrepreneurship is so special in that entrepreneurs never forget where they came from. And it's one of the most powerful forces for change, economic change, uh, that I've ever seen because. All you have to do is get it right on one of them and then they come back to the community.
Spencer: They create jobs. Businesses, and you know, more than 50% of all jobs in the United States are from small business owners. And when you look at Tennessee, it's even more concentrated that way. And so to know Tennessee is to recognize that Tennessee as a whole. Is one of the top five states to start a small business.
Spencer: Entrepreneurship is alive and well all throughout the state. And even seeing the stuff that, UT is doing out, uh, related to entrepreneurship all [00:42:00] that they're investing out there is really fun. And our universities across the state, it just is. A great message that I think entrepreneurs have had to thrive in a lot of different environments over the last 15 years.
Spencer: I mean, different political environments, economic environments, you know, global plagues. I mean, all of it. It's, it's amazing the resiliency that has been shown in, uh, in that way. And I, I think you offer a really good framework to say that. It is creating an environment to succeed. Entrepreneurs, usually they're like, Hey, if you just give me a little bit Right.
Spencer: I'll do the rest. You know? Right. Just, just don't hurt me in some ways. Right, right. And if you can help me a little bit, that's, that's great too. Um. Mayor Jacobs, we wrap up each podcast, uh, with, uh, three short fill in the blank sentences
Spencer: Okay. All right. So the biggest misconception people have about local government. Is blank.
Glenn Jacobs: The [00:43:00] biggest misconception that people have about local government is that it's not important. Hmm.
Spencer: That's a great answer. And it really hits home in the voter turnout like.
Spencer: These are really people that are influencing your life up close and personal.
Glenn Jacobs: Yes, absolutely. And folks, and, and you can see it, I mean, just compare different cities around the country, even around the state of Tennessee. And the, the reason is, um, you know, people are different in different areas, obviously, uh, but the reason is in many cases is because of policy of the local government.
Carli: Mm-hmm.
Spencer: The best thing that we can do to prepare young people for success. Is blank.
Glenn Jacobs: The best thing that we can do to prepare young people for success is to encourage them to follow their dreams while also realizing that they have to be able to pay the bills along the way. Um, but encouraging people to be entrepreneurial in their thinking, whatever that may be, even if it's not necessarily an entrepreneurial endeavor, [00:44:00] it's just to think outside the box and, um, how can you, how can you make this happen?
Carli: Mm-hmm. Yes. And not, no. No.
Spencer: Right. Exactly. Yes, exactly. Yes. All right. Number three. One value I try to bring to every decision I make is blank.
Glenn Jacobs: One value that I try to bring to every decision I make is consistency with my principles, uh, and, um, applying. My underlying, if it's political decision, but applying my underlying political philosophy to that decision.
Glenn Jacobs: Obviously if it's a personal decision, my personal values to that. Mm-hmm.
Spencer: Mayor Jacobs, I've really spent a long time looking forward to having you as a guest today. I love. Your story and how much [00:45:00] life you have lived, how many different perspectives that you bring, um, but also you really have not forgotten where you came from.
Spencer: I'm really thankful that our state has had your leadership here.
Spencer: Um, and, uh, it's a shame that, uh, you have to go and it's term limited, but, for the, difference that you have made in Knox County, which has been a lot, hopefully you drive up and down those roads and are able to point at a lot of things that you can say. You, you know what? I had a little bit of a hand in why that's sitting there today.
Glenn Jacobs: Well, thank you very much. when we started, you all said that the vision of this, this show is to basically illustrate what makes Tennessee great. and to me it is our people. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But then also you have to have people in elected office that will allow that greatness to shine through. And I think that's the key.
Glenn Jacobs: And I think that we do that right here in Tennessee.
Carli: Hmm. Preach.
Spencer: Thank you for being [00:46:00] here today. Thank you,
Spencer: mayor Glenn Jacobs from Knox County, Tennessee. Distinct from Knoxville. As we've learned a little bit of not to
Carli: be confused with
Spencer: politics and arKane uh, pieces. This really featured a lot of what I love in our podcast, which is equal parts educational.
Carli: Mm-hmm.
Spencer: As it is funny, uh, but also revealing about the person.
Spencer: He sees that he can make the most impact in the time that he has, which as he pointed out, he starts from day one with urgency. Yeah. Because there is a hundred percent exit rate as mayor.
Carli: Yeah. I think what's interesting is as you and I have traveled the state, as we've traveled the country in the last couple of years, we've gotten to know a lot of our political officials at all different levels of government [00:47:00] and.
Carli: I understand why politicians are the butt of so many jokes, and some people do deserve that. I'm not gonna say that's, say that, you know, it's not, not to a one, but I will stand on the hill. I will die on the hill saying I have met more people that have improved my faith in my hope and humanity. And it is the local politicians.
Carli: It's not that we don't have some great people on the federal level, but it's people like Mayor Jacobs, people that. You know, he didn't, he wasn't gonna say this, but it's like so much of his day is completely thankless. Mm-hmm. In the mayor's office, you're gonna get every complaint, every pothole, every, everything that people hate.
Carli: And he is keeping the vision of I wanna build tiny homes for veterans. Yeah. I want to create training so that kids can leave high school with a trade and make good money and not be in debt. I mean. I really appreciate getting to meet and highlight people that don't deserve to be the [00:48:00] butt of the joke, because there's a lot more of them than people think.
Spencer: Mm-hmm. He continues to bring to life to all that's going on. In and around Knoxville. Mm-hmm. And, you know, talked about the big Southwest Airlines news and talked about all the job creation and the economic opportunity. And I think you really hit on something that's important for Knoxville's future is that, uh, they are training a lot of people with various trade skills, but if there are not job opportunities there, all that they're doing is they're just a feeder.
Spencer: Community for other places. Mm-hmm. Where the jobs are. That's right. Which, you know, is not the worst thing that could happen, but it's also, you wanna be able to give lots of reasons to stay and he started to highlight some of the major economic investments that are happening in that part of the state and even further east where that's needed.
Spencer: Mm-hmm. There's a lot of people that will work hard and they [00:49:00] will develop skills, uh, when given the opportunity, but. There has to be the corresponding economic opportunity for them to be able to go into a place to provide for their family. And so I could see the different pieces that, you know, it's kind of like, I don't know, squeezing a tube, is that you, you gotta have it at the right balance on each end.
Spencer: Mm-hmm. Uh, and not go too far out of bounds. And I could definitely see intentionality behind what he's doing out there.
Carli: Yeah, there's a quote that was ringing behind my ears the entire time we were talking, which is a John Maxwell quote. You and I say a lot, which is a leader must give up to go up. It's something we're trying to teach our kids right now too, is, you know, it sounds shiny to be in charge of all the people, but really all that means is you have a huge customer service job.
Carli: The higher you get, whether it be in your school council, whether it be in your job as a CEO or a manager or in politics, it's like you have to [00:50:00] give up of your personal comfort to serve the people that are working alongside you in. I've seen him do that firsthand. You and I both have, and I just think it's a good reminder that, you know, he has no ego, amigo and he's willing to talk about his days of blowing out his knee and thinking his dreams are shattered to being in the WWE and being in entertainment.
Carli: Mm-hmm. Being a villain of all things, which I love, a villain character. It's just the best, you always wanna be the villain and then to serve and what I would say is often of thankless. Hard job. I mean, when we travel, he is always everywhere and you know, he's traveling even when we're not. And um, so I just really, I really appreciate the perspective, and I hope people take from it the power of local leadership.
