Section 33-11-104 - Staff to council - Executive director(a)(1) The department shall serve as staff to the council and shall recommend to the council a candidate to serve as executive director of the council.(2) If a majority of the council votes to decline the department's recommendation within fourteen (14) calendar days of receiving the recommendation, the department shall submit a new candidate.(3) If a majority of the council either votes in favor of the department's recommendation or does not decline the recommendation in accordance with subdivision (a)(2), the candidate may be hired as the director and shall be an employee of the department.(b) The director must be a full-time position. The commissioner may recommend that a current department employee serve as the director, subject to subsection (a). The commissioner shall establish the director's salary and other compensation, which shall be no more than the department's highest-paid assistant commissioner. The director's salary and compensation shall be paid from the opioid abatement fund, as shall the salaries and compensation of other council staff and department employees the commissioner deems necessary to administer the council. The commissioner may hire two (2) full-time employees to staff the council in addition to the director and hire additional staff upon approval of the council. Salaries and compensation levels shall be comparable to department employees doing similar work. New or additional department costs and all expenditures related to the council shall be paid from the opioid abatement fund and not the general fund. The commissioner shall provide reports as the council may require on staffing, salaries, compensation, and other costs and expenditures related to the council.Added by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 491, s 7, eff. 5/24/2021.