Feb. 12 BOMA (work session)

Isn't it funny how quickly things change? I was not able to attend the meeting Monday night, but have talked to a couple of people that were there (and frankly the meeting ended past 12:00 with only 3 citizens left in attendance). For those that did stay, the last hour or so might have been the most power packed hour in city politics in a long while. For those that can stay until the end, the "round table" usually drums up quite a bit of fire. Anyway, here is a thumbnail sketch of the agenda, and I will discuss the round table at the end (most of this is second hand, but the opinions are my own).

The planning commission was fairly interesting as well. I will share some thoughts on that later, but you will have plenty to read today. Moving on...

1. Consider Second and Final reading, Ordinance 07-01, creating a Historic
Commission

Apparently there was not too much dissension here, which surprises me a little bit. Jonathan Duda prepared a little slide show providing examples of how certain areas would be helped by this Historic Commission. According to several in the room, this cleared up quite a few questions, and there will probably not be too much of a fight on Monday night about this. Having said that, this BOMA can very easily surprise us all and this could flare up again in a few days to become a nice roaring fire by Monday at 7:00. Currently Mr. Raines, Mrs. Cantrell, Ms. Pickard, and Mr. McCulloch are keeping their mouth shut on the topic, and probably will right up to their no vote. For three of them it will be political suicide to oppose this. We'll wait and see on this one.

2. Maury County Flood Maps

Not too much here.

3. Consider approval of the Harvest Point PUD development.

This will probably pass, despite some glaring problems. I think that I will create an entire post regarding the proposed school sites, and I will discuss Harvest Point to a pretty great extent in that post. For now, it will probably pass with little fanfare, though it really should be scrutinized much more than it will be. 1,200 Lots on Cleburne Road? Does anybody really realize that this will be the largest single subdivision that this city has ever seen? At the planning commission meeting in December, the only road improvements that the developer proposed was some turn lanes into the development and possibly some improvement to the Beechcroft Road intersection. Cleburne Road needs to be entirely rebuilt NOW by the DEVELOPER before we even start thinking about putting the largest subdivision in the city and a middle school out there.

4. Consider First Reading, Ordinance 07-03, adopting a Code of Ethics in
compliance with the requirements of the State of Tennessee Public Chapter 1.

Don't get me started here. I am not sure that there was too much discussion at the meeting, but I have a lot of ethical questions to pose to many on the BOMA. I have a post prepared that needs a little tweaking in the next day or so, but we can talk ETHICS all day long in this city (and Thompson's Station). I think that we are finally starting to clean some of it up, but there is a lot to clean and it will take some more time.

5. Consider Resolution 07-04, recognizing the accomplishments and
achievements of Peter Jenkins.

Not too much discussion here, but if there were ever a person to be honored in this city, it would be Mr. Jenkins. In fact, as we have now begun working our way through honoring every citizen in the city, it should have begun with Peter Jenkins. Just my opinion.

Hey, by the way, how long will it take to have a day for the Gorilla?

6. Consider increasing the amount of the lease for the Fire Ladder Truck to
include necessary fire fighting equipment.

I have heard from a couple of people that there was a little bit of tension here. As I understand it, Mr. Duda asked why we did not consider the "equipping" of the ladder truck when we agreed to finance the purchase of the fire truck. The truck was about $600,000 and the equipment for the truck is somewhere around $200,000. Mr. Duda and Mr. McCulloch crossed horns a little bit when discussing whether this should be paid in cash or financed. I find it funny that now McCulloch seems to be laying in wait to pounce on Duda when any opportunity presents itself. More on that later.

7. Discuss the issue of merging Dakota Pointe and Buckner Crossing
subdivisions into one Homeowners Association.

I'm not sure how the city is involved here, but apparently the developer for Buckner Crossing (which is close to 75% complete) is also the same of a neighboring development called Dakota Pointe (which is only about 20% complete). Buckner Crossing residents have eagerly been awaiting the moment when they can have control of their Home Owners' Association (what a great idea, since they are the ones paying the dues.) The developer still retains control of both Home Owners' Associations, and has announced that he intends to combine the two into one. Doesn't seem like too much of an unreasonable request on the surface. The problem here is that if the developer does do this, the Buckner Crossing residents who were approaching the 75% or 80% buildout clause where they get ownership of the HOA, will have to wait a few more years until Dakota Pointe builds out and the developer will continue to retain control of the HOA. The only reason why I would think a developer would want to do this is if the developer has done something inappropriately with the money, because most developers would rather the residents take care of paying for landscaping, etc. through the HOA.

8. First Reading, Annexation Huntly Gordon Derryberry Lane.

An annexation, not too much here. BUT in other Huntley Gordon news, he was told by Mr. York (in the middle of another discussion I might add) that a property he was trying to get rezoned is already in fact the zoning he was applying for. Which leads me back to a question that has been asked for months..."What is going on up at city hall?" Do we know what our codes and zonings are, or is it all just one big question mark? Even those that we do know...how many do we follow?

9. Discuss amending the Municipal Code to move concerned citizens closer to the top of the meeting agenda.

It is about time! I stay through meetings in case I need to speak, but many people cannot. With our meetings getting more complex and running later every month, this is LONG overdue. I have even heard rumor that this might pass. A few Aldermen in particular will now actually have to listen to concerned citizens before the votes are taken, instead of just CALLING THE QUESTION when they begin to lose momentum.

10. Discuss amending the PUD Ordinance to require that signs be posted.

I agree that this courtesy should be extended to all land change type of events, especially PUD's. Now, while we are talking about PUD's, the city needs to actually take all of the steps outlined. You could type up an Ayn Rand size novel dealing with the steps that are not being followed by this city in regard to PUD's. We will see if any of that changes in the near future.

11. Consider First Reading, Ordinance 07-05 amending the Zoning Ordinance
increasing the allowable height of all buildings from 35 feet to 50 feet.

Let's really start looking at our zoning ordinances and subdivision regulations. Frankly, the city should be looking to change at least 3 outdated regulations a week. I have heard over and over again that it is too big a "nut" to crack at once, so I ask...When are we going to start cracking it in pieces?

12. Consider Resolution 07-05, authorizing the purchase of the John Ring
property adjacent to the Community room on Maury Hill Street.

Absolutely should be done. Almost any adjacent property to current city parks and buildings should be purchased in the near future (if they can be at a fair price) before prices dictate that we cannot buy any land anywhere.

13. Consider purchasing the property adjacent to the Water Treatment plant
for future expansion needs.

Same as above

14-16 Consider First Reading, rezoning Property of Michelle Barrett on Old
Kedron Road from Agricultural to B-3 and B-4.

Now, on to the fireworks...ROUND TABLE! (Again this is second hand information, so if anything is incorrect I might update the post.)

Apparently it started off with Charles Raines asking Ken York for financial statements of all departments for the last 3 months of the past 3 years in an effort to understand where money is being spent, and so he can personally project our expenditures for the next 5 years. Lines are being drawn in the sand, and it now appears that Mr. Raines, Mrs. Cantrell (who I will get to in a minute), and Mr. McCulloch are now in hot pursuit of Ken York, especially now that he may have "outed" their back room meetings.

I have known others on this BOMA to ask questions of Mr. York in the past and have been firmly scolded and attacked by many of those now asking the questions. WAKE UP! There were then, as there still are now, MANY things going on that do not always add up. If Charles, Sharon, and Brandon wanted to get really frustrated, look a little closer and ask a few more questions. Maybe then they will see why Mr. Duda and Mr. Mitchell have been so frustrated about lack of information, mis-statements, and lack of procedure displayed by City Hall on numerous occasions.

Anyway, moving along to Mrs. Cantrell.

Sharon Cantrell then gave her prepared statement (which I am trying to get a hard copy of) attacking Ken York for his deposition and calling him a liar. Now, here is where I am a little torn. SOMEONE is definitely lying! In fact, all parties may be fibbing a little bit. I have many friends that are lawyers, and the first thing they teach you in law school is "don't ask a question that you don't know the answer to." I have every reason in the world to think that the lawyer in this case KNEW exactly where this was headed.

She also seemed to accuse Danny of leaking this information to a "blogger." Sharon, I will tell you what I told Williamson Medical during that whole fight...PUBLIC INFORMATION IS PUBLIC INFORMATION. Danny does not have to leak information for it to be found out, just like Tri-Star did not leak information from past CON's. The amazing part about our country is that it is relatively transparent (except at times in our city). Things that are said in meetings and in depositions are in fact recorded and listened to by some, scrutinized by others. In fact many of those things will also come back up to possibly bite you in the future.

Mrs. Cantrell, I would love to have a copy of the statement that you made on Monday night. If it is true that Ken York lied under oath in a deposition, you should scream it from the mountain tops. I will tell you that you will have an uphill battle in the court of public opinion, because this "rumor" has been pretty widespread for quite a while, and there are many long time residents that seem to "know" without a shadow of a doubt that it took place. Also, if the conversations did not take place, I would love to know your reasoning for wanting to reduce the mayor term to 2 years? Wait, I think that I already know, it is about Power and Control isn't it?

The second accusation in this prepared statement was that the Mayor looked the other way on sign ordinance enforcement because he is actively campaigning against her with Tommy Duncan and others. She then asked that all campaign signs be removed until they are legally allowed.

Sharon, I absolutely agree that our codes should be enforced to the letter, ALL OF THEM. If we decide that we don't like something then change it, but it should be enforced if it is on the books. As far as Mr. Leverette being campaign manager to Mr. Dudley, that is one heck of a stretch. If you can connect the dots on that one I would love to chat. By the way, it does appear that Mr. Duncan has taken down most of his signs in public areas. Those in yards are allowed at any time, and should be.

In many ways, I envy Mr. Leverette's position right now. He has an opportunity to clean up some things that have been going on around here for a long time. The first step right now to cleaning up our current situation is Transparency and Procedure. People are always going to be upset about things that happen, but they will expect to be treated openly, and with some semblance of a procedure. A couple of people on our city staff, and a few on our BOMA both now and in the past have been able to cause quite a bit of damage to our city by dealing in vagueness and "forgetfulness." Our city manager is FAR too smart for vagueness and ambiguity.

Our city government needs to be as TRANSPARENT as possible. Everything should be viewable by all. We have a city website which would be the perfect medium to place meeting agenda (before the meeting takes place), passed resolutions, passed ordinances, UPDATED zoning maps, PUD procedures, permit procedures, etc, etc, etc.

Use it!

Our city government needs to follow the PROCEDURES that we expect citizens to follow. PUD approval should move along as it is written, not on some other made up timetable. Developers should be on the agenda when they are supposed to be. I have heard of several developers that have planned to be on the agenda only to hear "Mr. _____ we were not able to place you on the agenda this month. We will make sure it is on next months agenda." Some of these things get passed along like this for several months, only to embarrass the developer and his/her client. And most importantly, procedure should be made relatively clear and easy to understand for everyone wishing to do business with the city! Our director of the Codes department should not only know the codes and procedures inside and out, but should respect them and not vary from them...PERIOD!

I will have more later, but for now I need to go do some paying work.