I have been contacted by several readers of these articles requesting additional copies for mailing to out of area relatives and friends. If you desire extra copies, just let me know and I will try to get them to you. I was convinced in my mind that since an estimated 150,000,000 in this country are now on the Internet that the column would get widespread distribution. But then I remembered that that figure represents only half of our population and another 150,000,000 do not have access to the net.
One of those who does read my column from the net is Jim Murray. Mr. Murray signed on to the special forum for discussing my column with the following comments: "Thank you mayor, I have checked this site faithfully....................Please keep your column on the net. It means more than you know." That is a great compliment and I sincerely appreciate Mr. Murray's comments. His location is www.poncho7745@AOL.com. (I have had e-mail problems recently and may not have received all mail.) I recently wrote about one of my former students who told me that he is saving every article. Since that time
I have learned that a Jellico lady is also saving them and placing them in book form in a binder. That too is a wonderful compliment and just verifies what I have said all along - Jellico residents and former Jellico residents are hungry for Jellico news. I will continue to try to get the news out to them.
Anyone wanting to witness a lesson in "Civics 101 "as to the proper workings of small town democracy in action should have been present for the June 7th meeting of the Jellico Planning Commission. Attorney Tom Barclay presented a request to the Commission for the approval of placing what in actuality would have been an office, in a residence at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Welch Street. Barclay made the request on behalf of Mr. David Gaither, administrator of Beech Tree Manor Nursing Home. A petition was presented to the Commission bearing the names of some residents of that neighboibood in support of approval.
No member of the Commission who was present for the meeting lives in that area and none had any preconceived opinion as to what position to take on the issue. However Chairman Sam Sharp reported that he had been contacted several times by residents in opposition to the proposed office. I also informed the members and audience that I had been visited in my office at work by a resident stating that he and his wife were in total opposition. He had commented that a couple who had signed the petition in favor now regretted their action and wanted their names removed. (My refusal to reveal the names of the four individuals did not sit well but I had not asked for permission to reveal their names so I would not. However one of the residents in attendance later indicated that he was aware of those same individuals and confirmed what I had told the Commission.)
Our advisor from the Tennessee State Planning Commission read the current Ordinance dealing with waivers of zoning regulations and warned us that the requirements could not be waived by the Commission in the interest of placing an office in such a clearly residential area.
Several representatives of the Cumberland Avenue area were in attendance at the meeting and expressed their total opposition to granting any waiver of the present zoning restrictions. One resident then presented a much longer petition bearing the signatures of residents also in opposition. Others who followed took similar positions concerning the issue and every single respondent was adamant in their opposing the proposed change in zoning.
I, and others, thanked Mr. Gaither for the outstanding job that he does as the administrator of our local nursing home but we explained to him that the two are totally separate considerations. No member would make a motion to waive the zoning restrictions based upon the advice of the state planner and the fact that a clear majority of the residents of the area were definitely in opposition.
Following the meeting I received telephone calls until nearly midnight. Some were from those who had attended the meeting thanking me and the other members of the Commission for our actions in refusing to act upon the request. Others were from residents who had not attended the meeting but wanted to express their opposition. The calls and contacts continued well into the following day and every caller and contact without exception wanted to oppose any waiver should the issue ever arise again in the future. There were a couple of expressions of anger for the perceived gathering of signatures on the petition from only those who supported the action. But for the most part, residents just seemed to be greatly relieved that the requested approval had not been granted.
As I have stated and written many times in the past, our citizens can make a difference when they get involved in their city government That is why it is so important that meetings and issues be made known to the public. And if anyone questions why some citizens have taken legal action to insure that meetings and issues in the future are not dealt with in secrecy, he or she certainly got their answer at that meeting of the Jellico Planning Commission.
Serving on the Planning Commission is a thankless task and few are willing to take on the responsibility. There is no compensation for serving and almost every issue is controversial. Decisions made by the body are intended to improve our town through the enforcement of established rules and regulations but every issue must still be decided upon its merits in the judgment of the members. Regardless of the final decision dealing with an issue, it seems that some are made happy while others are angered. I certainly appreciate those who are willing to perform the public service and I greatly appreciate the time and efforts of past chairman Roy Price and current chairman Sam Sharp. Both have worked hard to learn the rules and regulations, to enforce them as fairly as possible and to make Jellico a great place to live and raise families. Everything does not always work out as we would like but the dedication and effort are certainly there on the part of all members of the Commission.
I still fear that we are going to have a serious accident at the median between the two Rocky Top Markets. No one has ever yet been able to explain why the wrong end was cut off of that island with a state approved plan available plainly designating the other end. Motorists exiting the Wendy's/Rocky Top cannot cross over the median to go back to the Interstate and there is also a sign indicating "No Left Turn". As one frustrated motorist was heard to ask "What in the (expletive) am I supposed to do?". Good question!!!
The City of Jellico has received a letter from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency in Nashville: "Thank you for your application for funding under the 2001 HOME Program. This year we received 123 applications, but were only able to fund a total of 53. Unfortunately, the available dollars were not sufficient to fund your project given its ranking on the funding matrix."
I hated to receive that rejection of our grant application developed with the help of Gwen Brown at Barge, Wagner, Cannon and Sumner because I have had several contacts from citizens stating that they need home repairs for which they do not have the required funds. But we will try again next year!
During a recent workshop at city hall, we discussed updating our computer software. Computers are such a vital part of today's business activities that it is hard to understand how we ever got along without them. And the technology is changing so rapidly that we must constantly remain cognizant of those changes and continuously update both our hardware and our software.
Stephanie Smith stated that overall we are in pretty good shape with the equipment and software that we presently have in place. Preparing for the "Y2K scare" helped us a lot in that respect. But some of those upgrades have already become obsolete. And as I explained during the workshop, we need to constant]y monitor what is happening with technology and update our computer capabilities as we go along - rather than waiting until everything must be replaced all at one time.
Whether we like computers and even if we fear them, they are now a fact of life and dominate many aspects of our daily lives. And we have to keep the city of Jellico current with the technology in order to maintain working files and programs that are compatible with other governmental entities.
I am like most men in that I love to look at old cars (especially those from the early days and into the 1950's). I am looking forward to the car show on June 23rd. (I am also still hopeful that the Model-T club that I contacted several months ago will bring their vehicles to Jellico for a show. Their "Tin Lizzies" are all authentic with only period repair parts utilized. And they still travel the highways reaching the unheard of speed for their day of 35 miles per hour.)
I am glad that our Fourth of July activities have been scheduled for the weekend prior to the Fourth. For many years I seldom ever missed being among the estimated 250,000 at the World's Fair Site for that holiday. The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra's concert under the direction of Kirk Trevor is something that I looked forward to from year to year. However after being named to the city council and later as mayor, I have of course remained in Jellico for our activities if the two functions happened to conflict This year I will have the opportunity to do both.
(Anyone who has never heard the KSO when it goes into Tchaikovsky's "War of 1812 Overture", builds to a crescendo and then breaks off into John Phillip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" just as the fireworks display begins overhead - has truly missed something. That will run the cold chills up and down the spine of anyone with an ounce of patriotism in their soul. And what better time for that than the day that we have sat aside for celebrating our independence? The traffic is unbelievable upon the completion but I have always found it to be well worth the trouble.
I have been asked what my policy is concerning the use of names when I write since I sometimes name individuals and other times I do not. If anything pertains to public business - then I list the names of those involved. However I only use the names of others if I have explicitly received their permission to do so. Many do not mind my quoting them but they do not want their names printed along with their quotes. And I respect their wishes.
However I make sure that I can document any statements, claims, etc. that I make should I ever be required to do so. And as I have made known since the time that I began writing about our town, should I ever make any statements proven to be untrue or misleading, I will not only retract the statements but I will also print an apology. But that has not happened as yet.
I write a lot about the issue of city administrator (CA) and I do so for a very good reason - mainly because that is a topic that everyone seems to want to discuss. I rarely talk to any of our citizens for any length of time without the topic arising. Although I have numerous such conversations in recent weeks and months, two of them continue to stick out in my mind.
One of my friends never liked the idea of a CA from the very beginning. But I had explained to him that it would not hurt to give the concept a try and if it did not work out - that we could always return to the mayor/council form of city government. And in deference to me, he did not become involved in the expressed opposition to hiring our first CA.
When we talked recently, I did not give him time to say, "I told you so" because I beat him to the punch. I blurted out, "YOU told me so" before we could even get into the subject. I gave him a conservative estimate that sentiment is now running 75% to 25% for returning to the mayor/council form. His reply was, "No way! " According to him there is no way that supporters of a CA can include 25% of our citizens. He meets and talks with a wide cross-section of our citizens and acconding to him, outside of a certain group who openly continue to favor the position, few can be found who want to continue with the CA following the next election.
A second individual has "taken Jellico's temperature" and he totally agrees. According to him, it will be hard for candidates favoring a CA to garner 250 votes. He believes opponents of the CA position can look forward to receiving a winning margin to be decided only by the size of voter turnout. And he predicts that there will be a large turnout due to the issue.
The truth is that none of us can predict with any certainty what will happen in an election. There are just too many factors involved and situations and opinions are constantly changing. But as I wrote in a previous article, our town has few, if any, elections that has been so widely anticipated and/or so badly needed. The issue of returning to our old city charter needs to be settled once and for all.
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Mail any comments or suggestions, etc. to:
John Clifton
P.O. Box 533
Jellico, TN 37762
E-mail: jclifton@whitley.kl2.ky.us
or enter your comments here in the special forum that Interstate 2000, Inc. has created for response to and discussion of these Mayor's Columns.