Municipal Government

Stephanie Allen OHara joined MTAS staff in the Knoxville office as a legal consultant on January 1, 2010. Effective November 1, 2013, Stephanie became the Legal Program Manager at MTAS.  Stephanie graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a bachelor’s in business administration. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she interned with the U.S. Congress and Philip Morris USA. She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence and Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. While in law school, Stephanie interned with Oak Ridge National Labs; Retired Judge James Beckner, Third Judicial District Criminal Court; Chancellor Telford Forgety, Jr., Fourth Judicial District; Judge Benjamin Strand, Jefferson County General Sessions; as well as several law firms. Prior to joining MTAS as a legal consultant, Stephanie served as a judicial clerk to Justice Sharon Lee on the Tennessee Supreme Court and Tennessee Court of Appeals. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys volunteering with charities and many outdoor activities, including snow skiing, hiking, wakeboarding, and dragon boating.

I grew up in the Washington DC. area.  After high school I enlisted in the Air Force and served 21 years, living overseas in the Philippines and Germany.  After the Air Force I went to work for the City of McKenzie, Tennessee as their City recorder and Finance Director.  Before joining the IPS staff in 2010, I served the City of Clifton, Tennessee as their City Manager.

Kelley joined MTAS (Knoxville) on November 4, 2013, as the Codes Coordinator.  Prior to this, she worked as a paralegal in a private litigation law firm, focusing primarily in the areas of insurance defense and plaintiff personal injury/medical malpractice.  She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from UTK in 1990.  To compliment this, she obtained her paralegal certification in 2005, as well as her advanced certification in 2006.  She is very active in, and past president of, the Smoky Mountain Paralegal Association, and co-instructs the certified paralegal exam prep course through SMPA.

Pat grew up in New Jersey and attended East Tennessee State University earning undergraduate and graduate degrees (in City Management). He worked in the city management profession in Big Spring, Texas and in Blue Earth, Minnesota. Pat came to MTAS in 1989 working as a General Management Consultant in the Nashville office. He spent about 4-5 years there and has been in the Johnson City office since then. Pat is there with Rick Hall from CTAS and Dwaine Raper and Kenny Smith from CIS. He serves the cities in upper East Tennessee as a General Management Consultant and also serves as Program Manager for the General Management Consultant group.

Pat lives in Elizabethton and is married to Bonita Hardy. They have two "great" kids, Frank and Evelyn Esther, and two "superb" grandkids, Liliana Maria and Alex (both pictured at right in 2017). For kicks Pat enjoys building (he recentlyfinished a house he built for his daughter - after 4 1/2 years of work), occasional golf (he claims to be no good), occasional fishing (here too he claims to be no good), camping, and occasional guitar or mandolin playing (you guessed it, he claims to be no good). Pat attends Hopwood Christian Church and trys to stay involved there as much as possible. He is currently taking ballroom dance lessons one night a week with his wife. Again, he claims to be no good but because he gets to dance with his wife for an hour each week, he says "it's great."

All in all Pat loves life, and very much enjoys and appreciates his job and working with the IPS family.

Gary is a Management Consultant based out of the Nashville office.  He works with 44 cities, mostly in upper Middle Tennessee including cities in Stewart, Houston, Montgomery, Dickson, Cheatham, Robertson, Sumner, Wilson, Trousdale, Macon and Smith Counties, along with the City of Columbia.  Gary came to work for MTAS in September, 1999 and has lived in Hendersonville more than 14 years.  Prior to coming to MTAS Gary worked in Illinois cities for nearly 14 years, moving from the Chicago suburbs of Elmhurst to Streamwood as an Assistant to City Managers; to Forsyth and Dwight where he was the Village Administrator.  Prior to entering the City Management profession Gary spent four years in the private sector.

Gary has both his Bachelors in Political Science and Masters in Public Administration from Northern Illinois University.  Until retiring recently Gary spent many hours and years as a youth and High School Wrestling coach.  Being a youth coach allowed Gary to develop a skill set for coaching and facilitating meetings with elected officials.      

Ronnie Neill has been a Management Consultant with the University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) in West Tennessee since 1993. The cities that he serves in West Tennessee are in Tipton, Shelby, Hardeman, McNairy, and Hardin counties. In addition to his role as a management consultant, he also serves as the Secretary of the Tennessee Public Risk Management Association, a statewide association of city and county public risk managers.

Ronnie's career began in Fayette County as a Youth Services officer for the Fayette County Juvenile Court. In1978 he was elected City Recorder for the City of Somerville where he served as full-time administrative officer, Treasurer, and City Judge. He later served as County Manager/ Loan Officer for First Tennessee Production Credit Association where he managed the Fayette County Office with a volume of 14 million dollars in agricultural loans. He was owner and broker for West Tennessee Realty for 10 years prior to joining MTAS.

In 1984, he won election as an Alderman for the Town of Somerville, where he served on the Public Works Committee, the Budget/Finance Committee and the Public Safety Committee. Ronnie was elected Mayor of Somerville in 1986 and reelected in 1988. He currently serves on the Somerville Board of Mayor and Alderman as the Vice-mayor.

Ronnie has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Tennessee, Martin.

Honna Rogers grew up in Northeast Georgia.  She graduated from Piedmont College in Demorest, GA with a Bachelors of History degree and from the University of Tennessee with a Masters in Public Administration.  She previously worked for the City of Sevierville and as a Post Graduate Management Fellow with UT-MTAS.  While at MTAS she worked with the cities of Cleveland, Athens, East Ridge, and Signal Mountain and the SE TN Development District and the Athens Utility Board.  Honna spent five years as the Town Manager of Signal Mountain, TN before returning to UT-MTAS.  Honna and her husband, Joshua, reside in Signal Mountain with their two children.

I joined the staff of The University of Tennessee - Municipal Technical Advisory Service in 1986 as a Municipal Human Resources Consultant.  As an HR consultant, I provide technical HR assistance, training and support to city officials across the state on a wide range of HR issues.  I have written numerous HR articles and technical publications, publish an annual salary and fringe benefit survey of Tennessee municipalities and developed sample policies and forms for city governments. 

I earned a B.A. in Sociology and General Science from Grinnell College in Grinnell, IA and a M.S. in Guidance and Personnel Services from The University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State University), Memphis, TN. 

I am a Past President of the International Public Management Association for Human Resource (IPMA-HR) and IPMA-HR-Southern Region (SRIPMA-HR).  I am the Executive Director of the TN Chapter of IPMA-HR.

I am certified by the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR) as a “Senior Certified Professional” (IPMA-SCP).  I am also certified by the Society for Human Resource Management as a "Certified Professional" and by the Human Resource Certification Institute as a  “Professional in Human Resources” (PHR).