Eleventh Hour Storm at City Hall

From The Informer: Eleventh Hour Storm at City Hall
By Charlie Schoenbrodt,

Monday night, February 12th at Spring Hill City Hall there was not only a marathon, but the evening ended like an after shock of Hurricane Katrina. The monthly work session of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen started at 8:15 pm and ended at 11:40 pm. Obviously, there was much discussion and debate, but it wasn't until after 11:00 pm that the "tornado" hit.

During the round table of Aldermen, things were quiet until it came to Jonathan Duda. He had his usual list of comments but the last one seemed to increase the "wind velocity." Duda pointed out that recent news articles about early posting of political campaign signs define a clear violation of the City's codes and the reported reason for this violations is that "someone in City Hall" has directed that the ordinance not be enforced. He voiced his opinion that ordinances on the books should either be enforced or rescinded.

Following Alderman Duda's comments, Alderwoman Sharron Cantrell presented a prepared list of concerns and the "wind shear" was evident. She started by saying "I think Ray Williams was an outstanding mayor. Ray and I did not always agree on the issues, but Ray respected that when we did differ, I was representing the citizens who had asked me to vote a certain way on any issue."

Like this? (Video of February 2006 BOMA: Victims of a Campaign)

She went on to challenge Ken York, "I do not know why you chose to lie about my involvement in a collusion over the term of the Mayor." She then addressed Eliot Mitchell saying, "The board voted unanimously to reduce the term of the Mayor and we had discussed that in our work session, an open meeting." Mayor Leverette was next in line as Cantrell questioned why he tipped off the press to the deposition being on the web site. "How did the deposition get on the web site?" Cantrell asked. When Leverette denied the accusation, she reminded him that Mr. Mitchell was quoted as saying that he knew nothing about the testimony in the deposition until Mayor Leverette told him. Mayor Leverette stated, "I will not defend myself," however, he went on to say that he did not know who tipped the newspaper, and it was not him.

D. Frank Smith of The Daily Herald probably downloaded the full Ken York Deposition here.

Alderwoman Cantrell went on to her next item regarding resident voting. She indicated that she had inquired about the status of the resolution with regard to it being submitted to the State and was told that it had not been forwarded. She said that she does not understand why a resolution passed by the Board early last year was not acted upon until someone questioned it many months later.

In case anybody is interested, you can track the status of the House Bill and the Senate Bill here: HB-0158 and SB-0221, Amends TCA Section 6-1-204

Cantrell next expressed a concern that there may be favoritism in the area of development, residential and commercial. She cited a letter from Hardings Landing Associates, which referred to the "arbitrary and capricious delaying actions by the City." She stated that this incident alone is not concerning but that she has heard the same comment from many others developers. Alderwoman Cantrell also addressed the campaign sign issue. She reminded the Board that they had passed an ordinance that strengthened the sign ordinance about two years ago. Real estate signs had gotten out of control. The Board was advised by legal council that they needed to "put some teeth in the ordinance," to make it more enforceable. "We did that, but now we are ignoring the ordinance," she said. She asked Mayor Leverette if he had directed that the ordinance not be enforced and he said "no." Cantrell closed by saying that she plans to run a clean campaign, will abide by all the laws of the City, and continue to represent the citizens of Spring Hill, regardless of what her opponents choose to do.

Alderman Charles Raines followed Alderwoman Cantrell and raised the "wind velocity" even higher. He requested that Mr. York provide him with a financial report of the last three months of each of the last three years that includes balances of accounts, list of checks written, funds moved from one account to another, and income added to each account. He stated that he wants to look at this information in order to better understand the needs for the next five years. Mr. York offered to give him the audit reports from the last three years (they are now available on the city's website for all years going back to 1999), but Raines asked for it in the format that he had outlined so that he could better understand it go on a fishing expedition. Mr. York indicated that it would take him some time to put it all together.

Come on Charles, if you have something specific in mind, come on out and just say it! Could you imagine if The Gorilla went up to city hall and made a request to get copies of all checks and financial documents for the city for the past 3 years? What would you, and other at city hall, say about me then? I can only imagine what investigation Mr. Raines wants to do? I have a hunch, but I will let you all continue on with Mr. Schoenbrodt's article for now.

Alderman Brandon McCulloch also had a number of items on his list, but ended the meeting be referring back to the "collusion" issue. He also suggested that Mayor Leverette had initiated a recent article suggesting conspiracy between aldermen. McCulloch explained that he had to be convinced to change the term of mayor from two years to four years back in 1999. He said he relented and voted to change it to four years then only because of his respect and trust of Mayor Williams. He said that he still feels that the term should be two years, and really resented the untrue testimony. He said that he is unhappy with the fact that some Aldermen get information from the Mayor that others do not and that he feel that everybody should get the same information. Mayor Leverette stated that he does not feel guilty about anything, "I put my head on my pillow every night and sleep well," said Leverette.

There is quite a bit there don't you think? Where do we begin?

First off, to Mr. Schoenbrodt, I do not think it is any secret how to get your hands on public documents. Just like in the hospital discussion a few months ago, any document that you would ever care to read is probably "open to the public" somewhere. Before anyone starts pointing fingers, just give me a call and ask me directly. I would be more than happy to walk you through the process. Quite frankly, I have tried to call and email several alderman to ask a few questions on several occasions, but most would rather not even speak to me. When that happens (if you are still interested) you find information through other means, like public records. I will promise you one thing Mr. Schoenbrodt, any time you want to ask a question of me, I will pick up the phone, return the email, or call you back. I am VERY open to dissenting views, and would welcome your phone call any time (unlike some of our elected officials who do not really want to know what the CITIZENS think).

Now on to favoritism...

I know it is rare, but here again, Mrs. Cantrell and I agree on something! Absolutely there is favoritism going on at City Hall. You tell me who is being favored? Once you figure out who the few favored people or businesses are, let me know if Sharon Cantrell still agrees that it is a problem.

The problem in this city right now is in the ACTIVE spreading of half truths as well as flat out lies by a few. I have absolutely NO problem with a mix of differing ideas. I do have a HUGE problem with back room deals, closed government, special favors to a few, uneven playing fields, etc. etc. etc.

The funniest part of the whole deal is that "the gorilla" is very pro business. If the few MOST angry with me right now would listen to me, as well as the majority of the citizens in this city, we would be in the middle of a win win win deal. Everyone would come out smelling like a rose.

Until then, keep fighting us if you like. Let's see how far that gets you?

More to come later, including those pesky financial records (and their purpose). I have paying work to do, and maybe a little golf...