An Open Letter To The Citizens Of Jellico
From all indications many of our citizens are still unaware that a special call meeting of the city council hired Mr. David Cooper of Lafollette as our new city adminsitrator. Attending the meeting and voting for that action were Councilmen Bill Barton, Charles Violet, Jerry Neal and Lonnie Vann. The meeting was held at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, May 9th.
Word of the meeting and action by the four councilmen was slow to circulate. I did begin receiving calls late Tuesday night but my home phone began ringing almost constantly on Wednesday - in addition to the personal contacts.
Most stated their strong displeasure with the council's action. Only one individual said that he favored hiring a city administrator. But he too insisted that the hiring should have been done in a legal manner at a regularly scheduled meeting and at the regular starting time of 7:30 PM.
Some irate citizens have apparently contacted state officials and inquired about possible legal action under the provisions of the "Open Meeting (Sunshine)" Law. I was called to the telephone at work and had a conversation with a representative from a state official in Nashville. I was advised to thoroughly document as many details as possible connected with the meeting in the eventuality that legal proceedings should be initiated.
In keeping with that advice, I have prepared the following statement detailing the events to the best of my knowledge. Copies will be furnished to our local and state representatives for their information.
A notice for a special call meeting of the Jellico City council was apparently prepared by parties unknown at some location other than city hall. The notice appears to have been placed on computer prepared and non-official "City of Jellico" letterhead. The special call meeting was announced for Tuesday, May 9th at 5:00 PM and signed by a quorum of the council (four members). (Copies of official "City of Jellico" stationary and the notice of the special call meeting are available.)
Two of the signees delivered the notice of the meeting to the home of Jellico Chief of Police Ned Smiddy at approximately 9:45 PM, Sunday, May 7th - thereby allowing extremely limited time for notification of our citizens of the meeting. Chief Smiddy could not begin the process of notifying the two remaining councilmen and myself of the special call meeting until Monday, May 8th. The two councilmen received their notices sometime around mid-morning on Monday. I was working out of town and was given my notice by another police officer when I arrived at the mayor's office at 2:45 PM on that date.
Rumors eventually began spreading around town that a special call meeting had been scheduled. Telephone calls immediately began coming into the office of the city recorder requesting details about the meeting. But workers at city hall who normally process notifications of public meetings were totally unaware of what had taken place and appparently assured callers that no meeting would be conducted. The manager of our local radio station also heard those same rumors and came to city hall to obtain a copy of the special call notice. He too was given a similar response from the employees that no meeting had been scheduled based upon their best knowledge and belief.
Under the provisions of the Jellico City Charter, special call meetings can be called by the mayor and/or four members of council with as little as twenty-four (24) hours notice when true emergency situations arise. But the two items on the special call agenda were hiring of a city administrator and street repairs. Both items had been discussed at great length during many previous regular meetings with little or no demonstrated urgency. There was absolutely no sense of emergency in either case and certainly neither required action within a matter of hours.
But the hiring of a city administrator had become a highly debated and controversial issue and our people had shown a great deal of interest in the decision as to whether or not to continue with the new charter calling for a city administrator or to return to the old mayor/council form of government.
One or two of the handful of citizens opposed to the hiring who did learn of the meeting in time to attend, reportedly openly questioned its legality prior to the start of the proceedings. Councilman Jim Dobson and I did not attend the meeting because we also considered it to be illegally called. And we did not want to participate in any meeting seemingly designed to exclude the majority of our citizens. (It was the first regular or special call meeting of the council that I have missed since assuming office twenty-six months ago). Councilman Evans' schedule apparently did not allow his attendance and the quick notice conflicted with previous plans of the city recorder who was also absent. The city attorney was also absent for whatever reason.
One earlier regular monthly meeting discussed the issue and attracted one of our largest audiences to a council meeting in many years. And the last council vote prior to May 9th was 3-2 (one vacancy at that time) in favor of retaining the new city charter.
Our regular monthly meeting was scheduled for May 18th - a difference of only nine (9) days. Our regular meetings are always held on the third Thursday of each month and always at 7:30 PM. Those dates and times are traditional and any changes - no matter how slight - create confusion.
The two items (city administrator and street repairs) were already planned for inclusion on the regular May agenda with adequate public notice given one week in advance. The special call meeting was set for 5:00 PM following a 4:00 PM meeting "for the council to talk with the prospective CA" was attached as almost an after thought. (Copy available). Both times virtually precluded a large percentage of working people from attending either meeting and/or participating in the discussion at either meeting - even if they were aware that the meeting had been so hastily scheduled.
Our normal procedure for announcing all meetings has the notices prepared on official stationary in the office of the mayor with assistance from the city recorder who also prepares and distributes copies to the media. Those copies are sent to all members of council; city attorney; affected individuals, groups, etc.; local radio station; newspaper; and cable TV outlet. Apparently none of those things were done prior to the special call meeting.
In addition to the above information and mentioned copies of official letterhead and the notice of special call meeting, I have also prepared a packet containing other information including a copy of the Jellico Advance-Sentinel announcing that the hiring of a city administrator would be discussed at the May meeting, and audio tape of the special call meeting and a copy of the minutes which will be made available upon request.
Last week I reported on the success that we have been having in attracting new jobs to Jellico and our general area.
A representative from Taylor Manufacturing stopped by to tell me that that firm too has recently hired (and is presently training) new employees. Our employment situation has not looked this good in many years!!!
Some of us have continued to work at bringing in new jobs and our efforts have paid off!
I mentioned in last week's column that I hope that everyone will remember our deceased veterans on Memorial day. The following was taken from "Parade Magazine" date May 7, 2000. "In an effort to put the memorial back in Memorial Day, Sens. Bob Kerry (D. Neb.) and Chuck Hagel (R. Neb) are sponsoring a resolution to create a national moment of remembrance. At 3:00 PM local time each Memorial Day (this year May 29th), Americans will be asked to pause a moment to remember the 1.8 million who've died serving this nation since 1775. In public places, "taps" will be played in their honor.
Gail Garrett did know the location of the H.T. Hackney Company when it was established and operating in Jellico!!! According to Gail, it was located on the property now occupied by Creekmore & Son Grocery. Gail sent me word to that affect and also that she greatly enjoys this weekly column.
FINAL NOTE:
The "Letter to all Citizens" signed by several of our Jellico business leaders and placed on the Internet and in local papers is clearly misleading. It includes an incorrect statement that some who placed their names to the letter apparently did not realize. According to the letter, the reasons (for the proposed recall) are an "unwillingness to work with the mayor and unresponsiveness to the citizens of Jellico".
I obtained copies of the recall petitions and nowhere in the stated reasons for the recall is the word "mayor" used. Instead they refer to the "inability to cooperate and properly legislate the business affairs of the city of Jellico and (the named councilman) are totally unresponsive to the majority of our citizens". I always attempt to be as accurate in my statements as possible. And I believe that whoever prepared that letter for signing and publication should be held to the same standards and should have made the named business people aware of the inaccuracy. Whether placing the word "mayor" in the letter was, or was not intentionally meant to be misleading - it certainly had had that effect.
But one businessman has apparently already had his name removed from the "Letter to All Citizens". One has told me that he was totally confused in the meaning of the letter and would not have signed had he known its true intent.
Another signer has apologized to me repeatedly and admitted that he had not thoroughly read the letter when he allowed use of his name. A non-signing businessman has told me that his name "Had better not show up on the letter". He said signing a letter like that one is the "best way in the world to kill your business". I have been told that two other business owners have expressed a similar opinion and that one of them adamantly refused to sign the leter when requested to do so.
A signer on the Internet "guestbook" states that most of the signers of the letter have never even attended a single meeting of the city council to see for themselves why a recall election is so badly needed. Another signer insists that some of them never attended even a single activity in the park last summer although those activities required a tremendous amount of work and were designed to bring potential customers into town to benefit their businesses.
But the item of most interest to me is the question posed by someone as to why business leaders would oppose the removal from office of those who have constantly attempted to block progress which would benefit them as well as everyone else. It's a good question regardless of who is doing the asking.
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