Notice
Of
Special Call Meeting
Of
Special Call Meeting
There will be a Special Call Meeting of the Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Tuesday, September 25, 2007, at 7:00 P.M. in the Courtroom at City Hall. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss Ordinance 07-37, the amended budget, actual revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 2006-2007. Ordinance 07-23, Fiscal Year 2007-2008 will also be discussed. The public is invited to attend.
22 comments:
No comments at all about the budget?
Since the gorilla is silent on this issue, people who are interested in the seriousness of the budget situation may want to know that the latest issue of The Informer has two articles on this issue that are very insightful. Not only does Charlie Schoenbrodt show where the money was spent, but he also exposes how the Board tried to cover this up by not releasing the city audit until nine months after it was complete.
How could our current mayor take what Ray Williams, Jim Gabriel, Bill Rusin and others had built up and squander it away with spending that is out of control? For all the plans and planning we are wasting our money on, our city has nothing to show for it. I miss the days when our city was run like a business.
I know why the gorilla is so silent about this, it is because he knows we are right!
Uh, are you going to tell me that the City of Spring Hill doesn't need planning? Please tell me you're joking! This City went TOO long without any planning, that's why the roads are a disaster and there are mistakes like Buckner Lane and New Port Royal Road where primary routes go right through the middle of neighborhoods. With planning or having a planning staff these things could and likely would have been avoided! If you need more examples of why we need planning let me know and I can provide many more examples, but I hope you don't have to look very far to see we have a need for planning.
By the way, what did Mastermind Charlie (who thinks the Zoning Ordinance is the plan for Spring Hill) have to say in the article?
The plan for the city should be exactly what was in place before (before the $150,000 spent on a document that goes on the back of the book shelf and collects dust). Spend within your means, communicate with those that invest in this community, and don't knee-jerk react every time somebody has a complaint. Sound like Danny, or sound like Ray?
You need to get your facts straight before you start talking about things...
1) There was NO plan before that was in place (thus the chaos that has taken place with uncontrolled development and poor road decisions) this is exactly the reason a plan was needed.
2) The amount spent on planning is no where near $150k. In fact, it's actually about half that according to my calculations ($80k).
Instead of pointing fingers and following Charlie's lead, why not do some research on your own? Does the Gorilla have to provide you all the details? I bet you would be surprised on what you might find regarding Mr. York and dating back to the Ray, Jim, and Bill Rusin days.....
Go ahead, give it a shot....don't tell me you want to be the guy who takes everything for face value and make assumptions. Educate yourselves instead of becoming a sheep.
Since the blogger is so silent on this issue, I thought that I would enlighten some of the others that are actually interested in the budget issues.
This is from the Charlie that some of you seem to love to hate.
Finally I have got the Report completed. It doesn't have everything I wanted but I just had to finish. This month, especially, comment and criticism is encouraged. Also please take the time to respond to the survey.
Your continued interest in our City is always appreciated.
Meeting of the Board of Mayor & Aldermen
September 17, 2007
V-6
Aldermen present: Michael Dinwiddie, Jonathan Duda, Mingo Gallardo, Rick Graham, Bruce Hull, Miles Johnson, Eliot Mitchell, Charles Raines, and Mayor Danny Leverette.
Absent: None.
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Leverette at 7:05 pm following the Public Hearing on items 5, 6, 7, 9, & 11 of the Consent Agenda.
Mr. Tom DeHart, resident of Rutherford Creek Acres asked about the annexation of lots at the south end of Clegg Dr. and if his lot could also be annexed. He was advised that annexation of his property would be considered if he completed the request for annexation form and paid the appropriate fee.
There were no other comments.
Consent Agenda: (all ordinances listed under the consent agenda are second and
final reading)
1. Board approval:
Cash balance statement of August 2007.
Regular meeting minutes of August 20, 2007.
2. Committee Reports:
Fire Department (Swindle)
Police Department (Smith)
Library (Fulkerson)
Building/Planning (White)
Water (Monhollen)
Parks & Recreation (Fischer)
3. Reports/Minutes Planning Commission & Board of Zoning Appeals of August 13, 2007.
4. Board appointments to the following committees:
Mike Dinwiddie � Historical Review Committee
Jonathan Duda � Planning Commission and Historical Review Committee
Mingo Gallardo � Parks and Recreation Commission
Rick Graham � Library Board of Trustees
Bruce Hull � Maury County Planning Committee
Miles Johnson � Board of Zoning Appeals
Eliot Mitchell � Economic Development Commission
Charles Raines � Storm Water Program MS-4 Appointment
5. Ordinance 07-36, rezoning property of Redstone Investments at 999 Old Kedron Rd. from M-1 (light industrial) to B-4 (central business)
6. Ordinance 07-35, rezoning of property of KBMH General Partners at 933 Old Kedron Rd. from R-1 (residential low density) to B-4.
7. Ordinance 07-34, annexing property of Arrowhead Land Co. at Saturn Pkwy. and Main St. consisting of 22.75 acres.
8. Resolution 07-34, adopting a plan of services for property of Arrowhead Land Co. at Saturn Pkwy. and Main St.
9. Ordinance 07-33, annexing property of Jeremy Golden located at 3470 Clegg Dr. consisting of 6.94 acres.
10. Resolution 07-46, adopting a plan of services for property of Jeremy Golden at 3470 Clegg Dr.
11. Ordinance 07-32, annexing property of Jeremy Golden located at 3470 Clegg Dr. consisting of 1.76 acres.
12. Resolution 07-46, adopting a plan of services for property of Jeremy Golden at 3470 Clegg Dr.
The Consent Agenda passed unanimously.
Old Business: (all ordinances listed under old business are second and final reading unless otherwise indicated.)
There was no old business.
New Business: (all ordinances listed under new business are first reading unless
otherwise indicated)
Unanimously approved Resolution 07-44, authorizing a change order amendment to the contract for the Miles Johnson Pkwy. project authorized by Resolution 07-34. (see note #1 below)
Unanimously approved Ordinance 07-38, annexing a portion of property of Julian Kemp located at 2793 Buckner Ln. consisting of 6.5 acres.
Unanimously deferred Ordinance 07-39, to amend the appropriated revenues and expenses of the City of Spring Hill Tennessee, funds for the expense of operating and maintaining the departmental functions for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007. (see note #2 below)
Approved Ordinance 07-40 for the Shoppes of Belshire PUD with rezoning from B-4 to Mixed use PUD by vote of 6 � 3 with Dinwiddie, Mitchell, and Raines voting nay.
Unanimously approved Cobblestone Subdivision PUD, rezoning from R-2 to R-2 PUD as amended to require sidewalks on both sides of all streets 50 ft. or wider in the subdivision by vote of 5-4 with Hull, Johnson, Raines, and Leverette voting nay.
Unanimously ratified the appointment of John McCord as interim City Administrator. (see note #3 below)
The meeting adjourned at 8:09 PM.
From other Meetings:
Special Call Meeting Board of Mayor & Aldermen: September 25, 2007
Approved first reading of Ordinance 07-37, to amend the appropriated revenues and expenses of the City of Spring Hill, funds for the expense of operating and maintaining the departmental functions for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007, by vote of 8 � 1 with Raines voting nay. (see note #5 below)
Mayor Leverette gave an update on the revision of Ordinance 07-23, current fiscal year budget. He indicated that he has met with Dept. Heads and directed that each reduce his/her department�s budget by 9.5%.
Beer Board: September 17, 2007
Unanimously approved application for on premises consumption of beer by Janice Sheremet at the Tavern on the Corner, 5228A Main St. This is the former Pub location.
Work Session, Board of Mayor & Aldermen: September 10, 2007
This was the meeting in which the first mention of over spending of $3 million. Almost all present seemed to be in a state of shock.
Municipal Planning Commission: September 10, 2007
Meeting was called to order at 5:30 pm.
Members present: Chairman Jeff Martin, Tommy Duncan, Jonathan Duda, and Mayor Leverette. Gwynne Evans arrived at 6:21 pm.
Unanimously approved final plat for Spring Hill Place, section two, a 10.32 acre tract with 28 lots off Buckner Ln.
Unanimously approved final plat, Prot Royal Estates, section two, 25.35 acres, with 68 lots on Port Royal Rd.
Unanimously approved preliminary plat, Royalton Woods Subdivision, 5.06 acres with 16 lots off Port Royal and Kedron Rds.
Denied sketch plat O�Hallorn Place, 19.50 acres with 10 commercial lots located on the Fitts property off Main St. by vote of 1 � 3with Duncan voting yea. (see note #6 below)
Conditionally approved sketch plan for Newport North, 25.97 acres with 163 residential dwellings located on New Port Royal Rd. by vote of 3 � 1 with Duncan voting nay. (see note #7 below)
Approved the Sketch Plan for Chili�s, a 5,925 sq. ft. building located on a 1.41 acre lot in the Crossings of Spring Hill on parcel C. by vote of 4 � 0 � 1 with Evans abstaining. The only issue on this item was the size of the �pepper� logo on the restaurant sign.
Unanimously approved the site plan for Utility Equipment Services for an addition to the original structure, a new building, and increased paved area. This is a 5.177 acre tract located on Tom Lunn Rd.
Unanimously approved the revised preliminary PUD plan for Port Royal Estates, Area B, 14.99 acres with 172 units on Port Royal Rd.
Meeting adjourned at 6:35 PM.
Statistics, Notes, Observations
Residential growth statistics: September 2007
Single family permits issued 236 (see note #4 below)
Valuation of permits $14,427,295
Revenue from permits $59,537
Impact fees $263,685.50
Grading permits: $2,379
Revenue from water taps, sewer taps, and meters $213,267
Water reserve $56,100
Sewer reserve $334,262.50
Estimated population 23,957
Commercial growth statistics: September 2007
Commercial permit(s) issued: 8
Revenue from Commercial Permits: $230, 619.25
A & R Office Storage Cracker Barrel
3710 John Lunn Rd. (4B) 2020 Crossings Cr.
Valuation of permit $30,000 Valuation of permit $922,732
Revenue from permit $260 Revenue from permit $4,625
Dr. Kenneth Young Kohl�s Dept. Store
5407 Main St. Ste 400 1020 Crossings Blvd.
Valuation of permit $17,000 Valuation of permit $4,035,537
Revenue from permit $860 Revenue from permit $20,180
Office Building The Crossings of Spring Hill
4922 Port Royal Rd. Ste. C-1 1000 Crossings Blvd. Bldg. 2 Valuation of permit $23,850 & nbsp; Valuation of permit $135,935
Revenue from permit $230 Revenue from permit $6,810
Miami Tans Logan�s Roadhouse
4910 Port Royal Rd. Ste. D 2008 Crossings Cr.
Valuation of permit $9,627 Valuation of permit $850,000
Revenue from permit $60 Revenue from permit $4,710
1. Charles Raines expressed his feelings that, in the future, request to amend contracts which require authorization to spend additional money, be put out for bid before being brought before the Board for approval. He indicated that while the cost for boring through dirt is $2.04 per linear foot, he currently has a project to bore under Highway 31 at the cost of $1.50 per linear foot. He indicated that he did not want to hold up this project that has been delayed for a long time already.
2. The Aldermen had not had but 3 days to review this important document
and felt that more time to study it was needed before voting on it. Mayor
Leverette announced that he had called a special meeting to deal with the
budget for Tuesday, September 25.
John McCord, once again, steps in to assist the City with a vital need. During his time as a City employee, he has acted unofficially as the Assistant City Administrator. He has, in the past, served as interim Police Chief several times, and has been the Director of Public Works over the past ten years. Prior to John�s service to the City of Spring Hill, he was a member of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and retired with the rank of Major.
While the number of residential permits is high for September, most of the were for apartments. Single family units will usually have a value of over $100,000 and the permit fee will be about $600. You will note that in September the value average of the 236 is just over $50,000 with the average permit fee of only $252. So, while the growth seems high, the income for the City is only about what we would get for about 100 single family units.
At the special call meeting to amend the 2006-07 budget, Charles Raines voted nay. He indicated that he was still not sure of �the numbers� in the document provided to the Aldermen. The Board members seemed more interested in how it would appear by passing this Ordinance than complying with the laws of the State of Tennessee. While fear of legal action prevents them from naming who they want to blame for the overspending, the responsibility is clearly on the Board and in particular on Mayor Danny Leverette. Mr. Raines is absolutely correct in his assessment of the document, it does still contain questionable entries when compared to the original budget passed in 2006. Bruce Hull indicated that he had talked with several Dept. Heads and they did not even know what their budget contained. Rick Graham gave a long prepared speech about not having the tool needed to evaluate the finances of the City before but now he has trust that those tool will be available. Jonathan Duda indicated that approving the ordinance revising the 2006-06 budget was not an admission that the Board approved of the spending. He also seemed to wake up some people by stating that the Board is now responsible to replace the money transferred from the restricted reserve funds. As sales tax revenue increases, it will have to be applied to the reserve funds. (I am not sure where that increase in sales tax will come from.)
The issue with the O�Hallorn Place commercial development is the extension of O�Hallorn Dr. through the development to connect with Commonwealth Dr. in the adjoining (not yet presented) development. The key term here is �traffic flow.� More and more delays by the Planning Commission have come from this term. It seems that they are trying to find the way to keep traffic flowing without ANY inconvenience to ANYBODY.
The condition for approval of the Newport Crossing North development was that the Town of Thompson�s Station approve a curb cut for New Port Royal Rd. to intersect into Thompson�s Station Rd. Since the Planning Commission meeting, the Town of Thompson�s Station gave an overwhelming answer for the request, NO. It appears that the Newport Crossing North development is dead.
An Old Man�s Logic:
In 2003, when I started publishing the Spring Hill Governmental Newsletter, I was so proud that it was a �good news� source. It was easy to write and report then. Since, however, it has become a �bad news� Report and is a burden that I dread each month. My pride in the City of Spring Hill still flourishes, but I am embarrassed by the corruption in City Hall. I have searched for a good side to the current situation and the only thing that I can come up with is that it will, hopefully, get Dann y Leverette out of City Hall. The bad side is that our wonderful City is at the point of being flat BROKE financially. There is only about $3 million left in the restricted reserve funds and there are more obligations already out there than we have cash for which to pay. We are unable to borrow money because the only fixed income we have is the water and sewer each month. Most of that income is obligated for operation. Mayor Leverette keeps bragging about how he has done more planning in the past two years than has ever been done in the City in the past. Well, planning that involves the spending of more money than you have is not valuable.&n bsp; While I am proud of our City, I am embarrassed that it has fallen so far, and in just 29 months. I hope that the blame for this calamity is not misplaced. It was not the fault of any City staff member, certainly not Ken York. Remember, Ken York was the City Administrator for over six years before Danny Leverette became Mayor. During that six years the City�s financial state was enviable. We operated on a cash basis with over $6 million in reserve. We reduced the property tax each year by a small amount and were still in the black each year. Mr. York was a loyal employee of the City of Spring Hill. He often did not do what he wanted to do because he was told to do something else by his BOSS. When Ray Williams told him to do something other than what he wanted to do, it was almost always for the betterment of the City of Spring Hill. I can�t say that about the past 29 months.
As a matter of fact Ken York gave some very pointed hints to the Board during open meetings, usually at work sessions, concerning the decline of the City�s financial status. On October 9, 2006, Alderman Mitchell asked at the end of the Board work session about road improvements. Mr. York responded that in order to start road improvements the City would need to float a Bond Issue, but that would require a good bond rating and to get a good bond rating the City needs a fixed income. Si nce there is no fixed income for the City (no property tax) there is no way to float a bond issue. There were no questions by Board members, about use of reserve funds for that purpose. On February 12, 2007, in the Board work session, Mr. York indicated that the equipment needed for the new Fire Ladder truck could be paid for from the General Fund. No one asked about the status of the Impact Fee Fund. Such equipment qualifies for purchase from the Impact Fee Fund. The need for a Ladder truck resulted from growth. Impact fee funds are for one time cost created by growth. On April 9, 2007, in the Board work session Mr. York stated that the City�s greatest financial challenge was insuring that there was $200,000 in the General Fund account each two weeks to meet payroll. In that same meeting, Mr. York reported that the City had paid the Tennessee Municipal League $428,000 for City insurance. There was no question about how much was budgeted for insurance. It was only $24,250
It was Ken York who suggested the hiring of a Finance Director instead of a Planning Director because of the increased demand in keeping up with the finance of the City. When discussing the purchase of property to be used for expansion of the Water Treatment Plant, Mr. York spoke of paying for the property with funds from the General Fund. No one asked why the money in the Water Reserve Fund would not be used. Apparently no one on the Board was listening. I hope that it�s not too late for the Board to apply what they have learned from this event.
Responses to survey:
There were 11 responses to last month�s survey.
#1 How wide should Main St. be in the downtown area? Leave it as is � 1 2 lanes � 2
4 lanes � 4 5 lanes � 3 As wide as possible without disturbing historic
buildings � 2
#2 Has your property value increased, decreased, or stayed the same?
Increased � 9 Decreased � 0 Stayed same � 2
#3 Send e-mail notice of special call meetings? Yes � 10 No � 1
This month�s survey questions:
#1 Compare your confidence rating of the City Board of Mayor & Aldermen today
with that of three years ago. (10 Highest and 1 lowest)
#2. Have you noticed a decrease in your homeowner�s insurance premium since the
City Fire rating was increased as of July 1, 2007? How much?
Next Meetings:
Planning Commission Work Session: 5:30 pm Monday October 1, 2007
Planning commission Voting meeting: 5:30 pm Monday October 8, 2007
Board of Mayor & Aldermen Work Session: 7:30 pm Monday October 8, 2007
Board of Mayor & Aldermen Voting meeting: 7:00 pm Monday October 15, 2007
I almost feel sorry for what is about to happen to all of you that have been carrying around the pitchforks. Let Charlie and company keep talking. Let me hear again really quickly how this is all Mayor Leverette's fault. Let me hear again really quickly how this has only happened with the new BOMA. And let me hear one more time how none of the previous aldermen had ANYTHING to do with this! Go ahead, get all of that rope out and let's see what you all think in a day or two when I am finished compiling all of this information that has been uncovered.
So please enlighten me---who was the BOSS of Ken York who had him filing false/altered financial items to the state?
Again, do some research instead of following the blind.
You will see who Ken York's "bosses" have been. You will find out FAR more than you EVER wanted to know about this issue. Again...keep on flapping your lips. There is more than enough blame to go around on this one and yes some of it comes back to Mayor Leverette. The good news for our situation is that our current administration (led by Mayor Leverette) is the one leading the charge to uncover all of this and make it right. That CANNOT be said of any previous boards OR mayors.
Keep on flapping your lips.
By the way...you are really going to hate me in a couple of weeks. I am giddy just thinking about it!
The gorilla, for whatever reason, has other priorities now. (which is fine). I do thank him for having this forum available to us leading up to the crucial last election. He comments... couple of days, then couple of weeks. We're missing opportunities.
Why don't we carry this discussion over to dospringhill.com? We can start our own threads rather than comment on others. Maybe we can get DRM to establish a "BOMA" section just for these discussions. Sure, you have to register but that's easiest enough. You can stay anonymous behind a username too.
And, no. I don't have anything to gain from "dospringhill" an active open discussion.
Thanks for listening...
I'd be more than happy to see some discussion take place over at the dospringhill.com forums. not as a replacement for the info that is passed on here, but as a place for more discussion to take place - since the blog format is not really the ideal for citizen anybody to bring up a topic of their own choosing.
Wheres Ole' Charlie S. and the sheep. The State Comptroller is on the way to Spring Hill for an audit of the Finances, past budgets, lack of budget amendments dating back to 2000, Ordinances, and project change orders, etc. Yet Charlie and the sheep are not jumping up and down. Sounds like the program has been messed up for a considerable length of time and is currently being purged.
....or maybe because the "truth" is about to come out and their personal, vindicative smear campaign targeting the current BOMA is about to start taking on water!
Hey Gorilla.... Look at your calendar. Two weeks is up? Where's the information you teased us with?
anon. @ 19:48
Charlie will never get over the mayoral loss to Mr. Leverette. His mental faculties are so clouded he cannot see what occurred before his catastrophic loss 29 months ago. In other words, according to his newsletter, he is so intent on correcting his loss to Mr. Leverette that he cannot see the truth.
By the way Charlie, I am glad you acknowledged the fact that Ken York was employed six years prior to the current administration. According to what I read in the Sunday papers it would appear that the mistakes starting occurring in or around that period. Interesting!
Thankfully the current administration decided to end the employment of Ken York!
... and bought his silence, uh... paid him off... uh, gave him a golden parachute of $20,000. That had to be pulled out of reserves!!!!!
...or maybe meet a contractual obligation which headed off potential litigation costing the city much more in the long run. The city saved money by reducing the budgeted expense of the Administrators salary.
If it was a contractual obligation, it would have already been voted on when he was hired. It would not have been a separate deal to be voted on by the BOMA. No... this was throwing good money after bad.
As for reducing the cost to the city, I have never saved money by paying less and hiring less qualified people. The $37,000 salary for a "finance director" is a joke. A qualified candidate for this job should cost $60k easy, probably more. Had we had qualifed people in palce, we wouldn't have had a $3M miss in revenue vs. expenditure.
Speaking of flapping lips, Gorilla, it sounds like you are sitting on some confidential information. How did you come by that? Have you damaged the entire case by exposing a breach in the attorney-client relationship?
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