My thanks to everyone who let me know that they missed my column during the period that I experienced the flu. It's good to know that so many people find it interesting reading.
And not only is it read directly from the paper, but it has been placed on the Jellico internet page provided by Interstate 2000. Beginning date for our city web site was October 19th and by 4:00 PM, March 11th, there had been a total of 5,506 "hits" (accesses) to our site. www.jellico.com/jellico/jellico.htm.
I appreciate Interstate 2000 for providing that site as well as the other sites they have for publicizing information about Jellico.
American indian tribes were reputed to have a saying, "Never criticize another brave until you have walked a mile in his moccasins."
Many times throughout my life I have experienced the wisdom of that statement and especially while I served in the United States Army. On more than one occasion I volunteered for an assignment because it looked easier to me than the one I normally performed. But often times the new job that had looked so easy with someone else doing it turned out to be much, much tougher than it had appeared to be.
A good case in point is the job done by our City Recorder, Mrs. Betty Hurst. It is easy to see that she stays busy but I did not realize just how busy until I assumed the office of Mayor and worked with her for a few days.
Mrs. Hurst actually performs the responsibilities of Recorder, Secretary and Receptionist although she was hired only as City Recorder. She accounts for and deposits all monies received for taxes, fees, licenses, etc.; picks up and distributes the mail; is responsible for countless reports and all filings; compiles the agendas and minutes for all meetings; works with permits, city documents, court documents, etc.; maintains all financial records; answers the telephone; works the office counter; attends meetings and workshops during regular working hours and after-hours; furnishes required records upon request to judges, auditors, attorneys, engineers, etc.; serves virtually as a historian as to previous city actions and can almost instantly call up past ordinances, resolutions, bond issues, etc; and performs a multitude of other tasks too numerous to list.
She has been a great help to me during the past year and I want to publicly thank her for that help.
During our special call Council Meeting of March 11th, we were unable to hire a City Attorney due to the fact that the Council wanted more information concerning salary and other fees. We hope to obtain that information and hire someone at this Thursday night's regular Council Meeting.
We did appoint Charles Allen to the Utilities Board to fill the existing vacancy. Charles is director of our local Human Services office located inside the city; resides outside the city; and owns property in Kentucky which will add representation for that area that is now our largest user of electric power.
Also during that special call meeting, Public Safety Chairman Jim Dobson addressed some of the problems presently faced by the police and fire departments due to a shortage of personnel.
The number of personnel available to those departments has been reduced due to illness and other reasons requiring overtime and "doubling-up". There have been shifts when only one individual was available for duty and responsible for patrolling the entire town.
Dobson made transfers within the departments to better utilize personnel according to certifications for the present time. However the problem will have to be addressed during the upcoming budget hearings for the next fiscal year and Dobson has also applied for grants that would enable us to hire additional personnel.
We recently re-inspected the new Trammell Building replacement (library, office of tourism, community conference room) and decided to sign the Building Acceptance Form since the building is finished for all intents and purposes. And we needed to begin moving those offices to the new facility.
However we will hold final payment for the building until all cited deficiencies are corrected. Most of the deficiencies are minor in nature but there was a large leak cited that required extensive action. The contractor has done repair work and stated that the problem was created by the absence of guttering and down-spouts on the adjoining building that allowed such a large volume of water to pour down upon the new roof. According to the contractor, much of it eventually soaked through the wall and entered the building.
However we will again inspect the building after a heavy rain to see that the corrective action is acceptable before we release the final payment.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel recently announced that Governor Don Sundquist plans for an "upper Cumberland highway" to run 163 miles from Wilson County in middle Tennessee to Campbell County in east Tennessee. The highway is to cost $ 308,000.000 and is projected to be completed within the next ten years.
I do not know if the highway is to reach only Caryville or if it will extend all the way to our end of the county (it could also connect with highway 63 at the Royal Blue exit).
And I do not know if the projected new interchange on I-75 just south of Jellico (top of the mountain) is in any way to be connected with the proposed new highway.
I have received no official confirmation that the interchange is to become a reality but a good source has indicated that it will be included in the next State Highway budget.
I mentioned in an earlier article that we have had very few electric power outages this winter and those that we have experienced have been for relatively short periods of time. That in spite of the fact that this has been one of the worst years on record for tornados, storms and damaging high winds.
As I talk to people from other towns and areas I realize just how fortunate we have been in having power available during some of those periods of high winds. Most towns and areas report outages of hours, days and even a week or longer.
And again I want to emphasize that I believe that our good fortune has been the result of some excellent planning and preparation on the part of the Utilities Board, Utilities Director Cheryl Tidwell and dedicated employees of the Utility Department. Mrs. Tidwell has constantly emphasized trimming of trees along primary power lines throughout the summer months that has resulted in few trees and limbs being blown across our main lines during high winds.
Newspaper, television and radio news accounts have been full of stories and photos of power outages caused by trees and limbs breaking power lines but so far we have experienced comparatively little damage from winds in the areas that have received consistent trimming.
And of course the work done on our sub-station several years ago has been a great help also.
Final note: I sometimes think that I may be a step ahead in some respects. A few days ago I declared a "Show Your Orange Pride Day" in Jellico to commemorate our football National Championship. I asked everyone to wear orange that day and to fly University of Tennessee flags at their homes and on vehicles, decorate windows, etc.
Last week in Lexington, Kentucky, Mayor Pam Miller declared March 12-14 as "Blue and White Weekend" in that city. And according to one of our local "Big Blue" fans, her proclamation sounded very similar to my earlier one.
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