The County Mayor Rex Lynch's duties include administering the day-to-day activities of county government and serving as the county's chief financial officer and the official spokesperson for Anderson County. The County Mayor also allocates particular duties of the county to departments of his choosing and organization. He is then responsible for appointing individuals to head and staff the departments he creates, as well as supervising those appointees The County Mayor is elected to a four-year term by majority vote of county residents; Mr. Lynch was first elected in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002 and 2006.

An early priority of Mayor Lynch's administration has been to bring a higher level of professionalism to the daily operations of county government and maintain the tax level or reduce taxes.. During Mr. Lynch's first administration, he has accomplished the following goals:

• Presents no tax increase budgets to County Commission each budget year
• Reduced County debt by 20+ million dollars
• Changed the practice of full time employees only being required to work 35 hours each week to the normal industry standard of 40 hours/week
• Increased undesignated fund balance from $200,000 in 1998 to approximately $5 million today
• Secured funding for the Coal Creek Bank Stabilization Project, Vowell Mountain Water Project, and the Claxton Sewer Project
• Recognized on a National Level for Project Impact
• Established a summer intern program so that area students can receive on the job training while learning about County Government
• Combine Zoning and Solid Waste to create the Public Works Department to create a department that better serves the citizens of Anderson County.
• Continually secure grants to provide water to rural areas
• Aggressively secured grants with nearly $2 million of grants being administered each year.
• In 2005, Mayor Lynch re-organized  the Anderson County Emergency Management department to a new department called the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security of Anderson County (OEMHS).
• Through the OEMHS office, Mayor Lynch along with Director, Steve Payne have secured nearly $2 million in grants for Anderson County since 2003.

Mayor Lynch was born in Oak Ridge and is a lifetime resident of Anderson County. He graduated from Clinton High School in 1982 and in 1988 received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of Tennessee. Until being elected as County Mayor, Mr. Lynch worked as an engineer at the Y-12 plant. From 1994 to 1998, he also represented District 2 on the Anderson County Commission, serving as chairman of its Operation Committee and Highway and Public Safety Committee. Mr. Lynch is a member of Clinton's Second Baptist Church and has served as Budget Committee Chairperson for the Anderson County Republican Party. Mr. Lynch is married to Jamie Denton-Lynch.  Jamie is currently a teacher for Anderson County School system and is head coach of the cheerleading squad.  They have two sons, Jake and Clint who both attend Clinton High School. Mr. Lynch is also a member of the following organizations:

• 2001 Graduate of the Certified Public Administration from the University of Tennessee
• Received the Certification of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 1998-2007
• Member if Alpha Lodge #376
• Member of Second Baptist Church of Clinton
• Chair of Anderson County Development District
• Board of Directors Member for The Anderson County Development Association
• Anderson County Budget Committee Chairperson
• Board Member of CROET
• Board Member of the East Tennessee Economic Council
• Board Member of the East Tennessee Development District
• Board Member of the East Tennessee Human Resource Agency
• Board Member of the Cumberland Mountain RC&D
• Board Member of the Anderson County E911
• Board Member of the Tennessee Association of County Mayors