lf we were living in Nazi Germany during the early 1930's, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Communist Russia) in later years, we might have expected what happened during our City Council meeting of Thursday, June 21st. But we don't We live in America which we consider to be a democracy with governments subject to the will of the people.
I have lived in Jellico all my life and have always been proud of my town and my heritage. But the action of some councilmen and a handful of their supporters made me ashamed for them and for our town.
The meeting was obviously being drawn out needlessly by some members of the council. As it drug on and on and on, more and more of our citizens became worn out and left the meeting until by around 10:00 PM, only a small handful of spectators remained.
Suddenly as we were about to adjourn and with no notice to the public or even with any mention on the agenda, Stephanie Smith announced her resignation as acting city administrator. Her resignation was quickly accepted by the Council majority and it became clear that we were about to witness a well planned takeover that had been carried out totally without any notification to the public.
Realizing by that time what was about to take place, I quickly proposed combining the position of mayor and city administrator and to work it during evenings, weekends, holidays, etc.. And I further agreed to work the position of city administrator until the next election in April at absolutely no cost to the taxpayers and the city of Jellico. My offer came as a total surprise and a setback to the plans of the councilmen involved. And there were some puzzled looks from one or two.
However their confusion was only short lived and they quickly rejected my offer. They of course then placed the name of Stephanie's brother-in-law, Tom Barclay, in nomination to take the position for however long. (And no one doubts that that will be at least until the election when our people will finally get a chance to have their say.) And he will be paid a salary from taxpayer money although I offered to work for nothing. Someone predicted after the meeting that the council will eventually add a lucrative "buy-out" clause into his contract since there is a good chance that the position will be eliminated after the election.
The few in the audience who still remained until so late in the evening were highly upset that the council majority would act in such a manner and continue to operate in complete secrecy for which they have developed such a reputation. Someone mentioned that they had just figuratively thumbed their noses at over 2,400 citizens of Jellico. But it was made painfully obvious to everyone in attendance that they did not even care what the people of Jellico think abont their actions.
Those who have filed the lawsuit to force the council majority to quit operating in secrecy and to bring public business before the public, assured everyone that this latest fiasco will be added to their lawsuit. And it certainly needs to be heard in a court of law. We have got to once again return our town to our citizens and take it out of the complete control of 8 to 10 people who operate totally unbeknown to our people.
Two ladies (there for the first time) who stayed until the very end of the meeting made it a point to talk to me afterward. Both stated that they had never witnessed such arrogance and disrespect towards me and to anyone who happened to disagree with anything that the majority decided to do.
We presently have a cancer in our town. And as is true of all malignancies, if not cut out, it will continue to grow and destroy. The recall election was narrowly averted when people were intimidated and signatures thrown out for technicalities. But our next election cannot be killed and we will finally have our say.
We have been discussing the possibility of some type of retirement for our city employees for the past several years but the cost of instituting any type of retirement program has been prohibitive. However we have had faithfull employees to spend well over twenty years in the service of the city with no employer retirement benefits and we need badly to correct that situation.
Debbie Cole, an insurance broker from Jacksboro who has worked with several governmental entities and private businesses, appeared at our budget workshop on June 12th and presented a plan where we could provide retirement to our city employees with an initial payment of $40,000.00 and with future matching contributions from the city of Jellico and the employees. Those contributions could run as low as one percent (1%) although they would need to be somewhat larger to insure meaningful monthly benefits to a retiree.
Compared to the great morale boost for our employees (especially those with several years of service), the figure of $40,000.00 pales in comparison. And if our citizens vote in April for candidates wanting to return to our old city charter and thereby eliminating the position of city administrator (CA), the money required to fund the CA's salary and benefits for that position can then be utilized to virtually completely pay for the proposed retirement program. That $40,000.00 would provide enough money that we would not necessarily even need matching funds from our employees.
It would be hard for me to believe that retaining a city administrator would have the same positive affect upon our city employees that providing retirement benefits would produce. I personally believe that retirement benefits would motivate our city employees who already do a good job, to even greater production. We would have to make special provisions in the program for the long time employees but it's only the right thing to do and its well past due!
The roster of city employees classified as "full-time* currently are:
A proposal to add more hours for keeping our public library open to our citizens especially on Saturday was equally appealing to me. A good public library is truly a valuable asset to a community and needs to be available to our citizens to the greatest extent possible.
Mrs. Dorothy Potter, librarian, has informed me that the summer reading program has had extremely high participation this year and it continues to grow with each passing summer. What better way to expend taxpayer money than getting our young people to read and enhancing their learning?
We again discussed the budget during a second workshop on Tuesday, Juen 19th to include the above items. The Christmas lights and five additional hours for the library were added for the first reading of the 2001-2002 budget. (I also proposed adding Douglas Lane to the list of streets for blacktopping and relayed a request from the residents of West Davis Lane for blacktopping.) And another insurance broker, Gary Siddons of Knoxville, made separate proposals dealing with retirement and insurance plans.
The money for a retirement plan and for health insurance was included in our budget that was passed on first reading during the council meeting. But we do have a lot of details to be worked out. Additionally we heard a request from a citizen during the council meeting that corrective action be taken on the Tennessee State Welcome Station road. And that request too is well justified.
Double congratulations are in order for Carl Branam and Jerome Cummins - to Carl upon his retirement from the Tennessee Park Service after many years of service, and to Jerome who will aparently now assume tbe position of manager of our Indian Mountain State Park.
I worked closely with both during the three years that I directed "Christmas in the Park" and I had great cooperation and help from the entire staff including Kenny lvey, George Perkins (and his wife Novella), Jim Leach and all employees at the park. "Christmas in the Park" was truly a citizen of Jellico and community effort and I miss it during the holiday season, I often wish that I had had the time to continue with that activity - although flooding and high winds did make it stressful at times.)
I have always heard that old-time prospectors for gold almost always made their lucky "strikes" when they least expected. And I felt like I had struck gold the other day at the Post Office when Gary Douglas out of a clear blue sky, presented me with a copy of a recipe.
When my generetion (and the previous generation) was growing up in Jellico, one of the supreme culinary delights was to go to Lois Hall's restaurant on South Main Street for what had to be the best chili and hot dogs on our planet. Although at that time I had seldom been outside of Jellico and had no frame of reference for comparison with the rest of the world, I later lived for over two years in New York City and I ate at a lot of different restaurants - including some "genuine" Mexican restaurants. And none of them had chili that even came to close to matching the flavor of Lois's chili. I cannot recall having ever eaten at Mike Nappi's restaurant (later Meldies and then Mary's Kitchen) but it too had a reputation for good chili.
As kids we used to save pennies (and even nickels if times happened to be especially good) in order to go to Lois's for those dreamed about hot dogs. My younger sister Sue and I even split one on occasion when she generally accused me of taking the "biggest half". We didnt always have money for anything to drink but that was not important. Our main objective was to get a "fix" from that chili to which we had become badly addicted. (Gary said that he always took "chili dogs" because Lois could get more chili on the bun that way. The "winnie was not even a consideration when compared to that chili.) Everbody knew that there was something about Lois's chili that gave it that distinct mouh-waterng flavor, but no one could ever figure out just what the ingredients were. And the recipe seemed to be a well guarded secret But she apparently did give the recipe to Jo Ann Watts and Gary Douglas later somehow got his hands on a copy.
What were those ingredients? Ground chuck, salt, black pepper, Mexican chili powder, papkika, tomato juice, garlic powder, steak sauce, and many of the typical spices used in chili. So what was the magic potion that made it so good?
I can now reveal for the first time that shockingly, Lois added a little cooking Sherry to the mixture. (I hope that my finally revealing her secret will not create a scandal in our small town.) All poor attempts at humor aside, Lois was a wonderful person, a marvelous cook, and a favorite of just about everybody. I dont fear any disagreement on that statement from anyone who ever had the pleasure of knowing her and eating her chili and hotdogs. And I seldom ever look at the location on South Main Street where she had her restaurant without remembering her and her hotdogs and chili. What I wouldnt give to sit at that lunch counter one more time and have two hot dogs (with mustard and onions of course), a big bowl of chili, a bunch of crackers, one of those 12 ounce Pepsis in the glass bottles that we used to have, and a big Moon Pie. What's more, I know that there are several others still around who would love to join me!!!
And I continue to believe that if anyone ever again opens a restaurant serving chili made according to Lois's recipe and with her special touch - they too will "strike gold".
I may skip writing for the next two or three weeks. I am going to take a few days off from my regular job to "vacation" by doing a lot of badly needed yard work at home. But I will resume this column after any short break.
And I keep telling folks that someday we will have our own newspaper written, printed and distributed right here in Jellico. These articles are proof that a local newspaper can succeed!
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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
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