A retirement reception will be held for Thomas “Tank” Strickland from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 in the Fifth Floor Atrium of the City County Building.

Tank has served four mayors over nearly two decades as the City’s Community Relations Director. Family, friends and colleagues can come by and wish him well in retirement and salute his many decades of public service. 

Strickland steps down Friday as Community Relations Director, a role he defined and expanded as he served as a highly-respected liaison between community organizations and the City.

The Community Relations Department administers City government’s Equal Employment Opportunity programs, which help recruit qualified minority and women job candidates and handle investigation of complaints of discrimination. Strickland also oversaw the City’s Police Advisory and Review Committee, Title VI and Equal Business Opportunity programs, as well as the Save Our Sons initiative that’s working to reduce violence and create opportunity for young men and boys of color.

Strickland also had served on the Knox County Commission, including service as its chairman. His accomplishments included constructing a new park in his 1st District, which was named in his honor when it opened in 2010, and leveraging reinvestment in the Five Points community.

Strickland was a founding member of both the InterFaith Health Clinic and the Howard Circle of Friends, a senior day-care group for people with Alzheimer’s. He recently received the national Jayne Thomas Grassroots Volunteer Recognition Award for community advocacy from the Community Action Partnership.