Our regular monthly meeting of the City Council for November was an amicable and productive one.
We expected a favorable report concerning our financial condition as well as our accounting procedures. But the bound copies of the audit report presented to all members of the Council and critiqued by Mr. Richard Hill, Mitchell, Emert and Hill P.C. of Knoxville, exceedeed all expectations.
Mrs. Betty Hurst, City Recorder, had earlier reported our current fund balance at somewhere around $552,000.00. (And that after the $100,000.00 allocation for capital improvements). Mr. Hill pointed out that we have had an accumulation of $147,000.00 (income over expenditures) during the past year to establish that balance.
Our Community Development Fund has dropped significantly due to the expenditure of funds for the new building. But that fund is composed entirely of non-tax and non-city generated revenue and adjudged to be money well spent.
Expenditures for any number of purposes were randomly audited, e.g. purchases of supplies and equipment, equipment repair, telephone bills, services performed by the Utilities Department on behalf of the city of Jellico, etc. All were found to be well within acceptable levels and compare very favorably with other municipalities of our size (and even larger towns).
Mr. Hill summed up the entire report thusly, "For a small town, Jellico is in excellent financial condition." He also indicated that we are doing a good job in accounting for all income and expenditures and following applicable rules and regulations.
There are a few recommendations included for our consideration. All audits do include such recommendations and we are already in the process of implementing those recommendations.
Pastor Doug Martin, Seventh Day Adventist Church, addressed the Council and requested that the building on South Main Street formerly leased to Taylor Manufacturing, be made available to the church for it's Mission Center. According to Martin, the present center is too small and the church would like to move into the Taylor Building and to sell the building presently housing the center.
He is to prepare a prospectus pertaining to possible terms of transfer to include completion of renovations already underway, any obligations remaining with Taylor, building usage, etc. The prospectus will be presented to the Council at a "special call" meeting on December 9th (7:30 PM) or at the regular monthly meeting in January. (A special call meeting will be held on December 9th to take care of some of the deferred items and to allow for a short regular meeting on December 16th when community Christmas activities are scheduled).
The proposed Campbell County Animal Control and Protection Center was one such deferred item. Campbell County Commissioner Adrion Baird, sponsor, will be invited to the regular January meeting to respond to questions and concerns raised by Councilmen during our meetings when the proposed center has been discussed.
During the report of audit, a recommendation was made that we take a more aggressive approach to the collection of delinquent taxes. Fortunately I was able to verify that the city is already planning to take action. In fact it was the third item on the meeting agenda.
City Attorney Jeff Hall stated that he would have to have help in doing the research necessary to identify and process all delinquent situations. And I proposed hiring someone to assist the City Recorder and to learn the requirements of that job. I pointed out that working with tax collections would be a good training experience for any individual hired for that purpose since that is one of many functions of the Recorder's office.
The Council agreed for Mrs. Hurst and Councilman Allen McClary to draw up a job description for a possible position and to present it at a future meeting.
City Attorney Hall presented a draft for a proposed new Beer Ordinance. The draft will be discussed by the Beer Board at it's regular meeting on Thursday, December 16th (6:00 PM).
The Board will need to make a recommendation to the Council as to it's acceptance, rejection, or modification. (Only a two-thirds vote of the Council can amend the present ordinance).
I did not receive the report of inspection of our City Jail facilities by the Tennessee Corrections Institute until after the November meeting but it was a very favorable report. According to a letter addressed to me, our facilities meet all applicable minimum standards and concludes, "You are to be congratulated for attaining this degree of professionalism in your organization".
I was certainly glad to receive such an outstanding report. But I will have to pass the compliment on to the Chairman of the Public Safety Committee Jim Dobson and the members of the Police Department and other city employees that earned that praise from the State Office that oversees law enforcement agencies.
Charles Bruce has requested some wiring and possible structural change to the recycle building. Bruce now has a second press that will allow him to greatly expand the recycle program to successfully process both newsprint and plastic items. (Earlier attempts to process those items failed since only one press was available at the time).
What a great community wide Thanksgiving service - or more correctly communities wide Thanksgiving service - conducted at the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Several churches from the area were involved and the message was delivered by Reverend Robert Day, Pastor of the Newcomb First Baptist Church. I have always been proud of Robert's accomplishments (he is a former student) and he certainly did nothing to diminish that pride. I heard repeated compliments for Robert from the large audience representing many of our congregations and denominations.
And the music was truly outstanding. Mrs. Bonnie Towles on piano and Mrs. Bonnie Wilkens on organ, provided the pre-service music/prelude. I had the impression that I was listening to a beautiful concert and in the words of Reverend Chuck Summers, it would have been a thoroughly enjoyable experience to have just listened to them play for the entire evening.
Both David Kidd's instrumental on guitar and the singing of Melinda Weaver, certainly earned the praise they received from an appreciative audience.
The service was concluded with Dr. David McCray expressing his appreciation as well as the appreciation of our entire community, to Reverend Summers for the work that he has performed here for a period of over ten years. Following Dr. McCray's comments, many in the audience gathered around Rev. and Mrs. Bonita Summers and sang, "God be with you till we meet again". It was an appropriate and moving closing for the service.
The administration is working hard to rebuild the sense of community that we once had in Jellico and activities such as the community wide services that bring us together can play a big part toward accomplishing that objective.
This column was written prior to the Christmas tree lighting service and I will have to report on that activity next week.
But we usually have a very good turn-out for that event and we were expecting an even greater attendance this year although the threat of rain was in the forecast.
Our meeting to organize for other Christmas activities was held at the Municipal Building on Monday, November 22nd.
Our "Christmas Downtown" activities will be held in Veterans Park Annex (stage) and are scheduled for Thursday, December 16th, Friday, December 17th and Saturday, December 18th. The hours will be 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM each evening.
Jenny Bowlin agreed to serve as contact person and to arrange for the scheduling of churches and groups (singing and live nativity scenes). Jenny can be reached at 784-6212. She will need to finalize the schedule after Monday, December 6th and those interested in participating should contact her by that date.
I hope that our Rescue Squad auxillary or some other group will have hot coffee, chocolate, cider, etc. for sale during those evenings. A few homemade and hot fried apple pies might not go too badly either.
The annual Christmas parade requires extensive planning and preparation and no one who has ever worked with such an event can possibly realize the amount of work that is involved.
I want to thank Tourism Director Joann Watts and all of the members of the Tourism Commission for the work they do each year in conducting the parade and the other tourism activities. Members of the Commission are Council Representative and Chairman Alvin Evans, Johnny Davis, Shirley Surber, Cathy Vann, Trula Housley, Vicki Payne, Faye Begluitti, John Davenport and James Edward Branam.
And they have the help of city employees and departments, the Utilities Department and other citizen volunteers. Some individuals who almost always donate their time and efforts to successfully organize and present the parade and related activities include George Hackler, Eva Dolcini, Philip Watts, Danny Ivey, Sandra Allen, Morgan Lay and Thelma Llewellyn.
And of course there are many other individuals, groups and organizations that make countless contributions too numerous to list in this column. But every contribution, large and small, is greatly appreciated and essential to the parade's success.
This year's parade will be held on Sunday, December 12th and begin at 2:00 PM. Units should start lining up at 1:30. As announced earlier Ken Schwall of Channel 10 ("Schwall's World") will serve as the Grand Marshal.
I have asked our downtown businesses to decorate this year and some had done so at the time this article was written (Davenport's Jellico Florists, Ideal Florists, Family Dollar Store and Hair Productions Beauty Shop). There may have been some that I overlooked and others may have decorated since that time.
We were also working to decorate the new city building and Municipal Building. I greatly appreciate the help of our city employees and utilities employees for all their hard work in getting us ready for the holiday activities.
It will be great if we ever reach the point where all downtown businesses will decorate and remain open at night during the Christmas shopping season.
An event that escaped me (until I was reminded by Mrs. Lisa Casey at Interstate 2000) occured with last week's article. And I am sure that some regular readers picked it up when they browsed through the "archives" - the column for November 23rd was the first anniversary on the internet. Site www.jellico.com/jellico/jellico.htm. I want to thank Interstate 2000 and all of the users for that truly outstanding achievement. Such success would not be possible without them.
It sure has been a quick year and it is almost beyond comprehension that this column on the net has become so popular so quickly. The number of "hits" (accesses) inlcuding repeaters will soon exceed 10,000 and is constantly increasing. Unbelievable!!!
I continuously emphasize how the internet continues to become more and more a part of our every day lives. I doubt that few, if any, topics can be identified that cannot be located somewhere on the net.
Last week the Tennessee Department of Agriculture announced the creation of a site location to inform everyone of farmers in their area with Christmas trees for sale. (I heard the site designation over the radio but I am not sure if it is www.picktennproducts or www.picktnproducts. Either will probably provide access.
Some may want to visit one of the farms and purchase a tree from a local farmer.
A recent article left me red faced!!! I wrote the column following a teaching session in American History at Whitley County High School. One of the topics that arose was the "Marshal Plan" that was begun under President Truman and originated by Five Star General George C. Marshal, then Secretary of State. The plan saved a starving Europe following World War II.
I mentioned in the subject column that I plan to eventually do an article on the troop train wreck and somehow subconsciously used the words "Marshal Law" instead of "Martial Law". I'm not going to tell my students because they would make me write it one-hundred times. I hope that nobody else tells on me.
I continue to receive names of area veterans and true to my earlier commitment, I plan to run them in this column as long as they become available to me. New additions to the list are David Gaither, Charles Perkins, Junior Hurst, "Mo" Moses, James Head, David Lamb, Bobby Smith, Paul Bowlin, Robert Parrott, J.M. Partin, James F. Rigney, Michael McGhee, James H. Gilreath, William B. Gilreath, Glen Moses, Glen Douglas.
I earlier mentioned Sgt. Danny Joe Dobson as a veteran. Danny Joe has just retired from the U.S. Air Force at Tullahoma, Tennessee. He was awardeed several commendations for his years of service to our country. Danny Joe is the son of Councilman Jim Dobson and Mrs. Margetta Dobson and the grandson of Bessy Dobson.
The Utilities Department has given me an up-date on our Y2K preparations. According to Director John Leach, all computers are now Y2K ready with the exception of one and it should soon be converted. Neither our local utilities nor the Tennessee Valley Authority forsee any problems at all on the night of December 31st. But the TVA will have most of it's employees on duty or standby as a precaution. And Leach says that he will assign people to the sub-station and our water purification plants as an added precaution.
He points out that both the new water purification plant and the old plant are capable of supplying enough water to meet our needs for an extended period of time and they are completely interchangeable.
Final Note:
A short discussion of the position of City Administrator during our regular November meeting revealed that several resumes had been received. They were given to Search Committee Chairman Allen McClary to copy and pass to other members of the Council for their consideration. I took no part in that discussion. I did agree in my own mind with Councilman Jim Dobson's declaration that we no longer need the services of a City Administrator - but that a local person should be hired if some members of the Coucnil are successful in carrying through with their determination to hire a second individual. (It was pointed out that there have been no local applicants. But as I cited three weeks ago, the previous Council, including myself, set the standards far too high for any local person to have had time to qualify for the job).
And I also agree fully with Councilman Alvin Evan's statement of oppositon to the hiring of a City Administrator. Accoring to Evans, we do not need the position or the expense and effort involved in advertising for applicants, the interview process, etc.
I personally meet and talk with a lot of our citizens on a daily basis. I meet them on the streets, in the post office, in the bank, in the new building, at the Municipal Building, at local restaurants, at numerous public events and gatherings, etc. And that does not include the telephone conversations that I have at the office and on my home phone. I have kept no figures of course, but I am relatively cerain that at least twenty-five individuals have commented to me on the hiring of a City Administrator. Only one that I can recall expressed the opiniion that we should do so - and he was only lukewarm in his support.
That is certainly no scientific poll and the margin for sampling errors would certainly be great. But 24-1 would be a pretty good margin even if playing in the "Tom Thumb League" (to quote former Kentucky Governor and Commissioner of Baseball, the late A.B. "Happy" Chandler.)
I agree with the Councilmen who feel that we should just drop the idea of a City Administrator and go ahead and pass an ordinance favoring a return to the Mayor/Council form of city government. That ordinance could be forwarded to the Tennessee State Legislature for passage as a private act when that body convenes in January. (As I stated three weeks ago, I believe that we should return to that governmental structure with some modifications. We badly need to first establish some minimum qualifications for eligibility to qualify as a candidate for the office. And the job should be made full time and salaried starting with the election of April, 2002. A salaried mayor's position should attract qualified and capable candidates and put us on an equal footing with other towns that have long had a full time person).
As everyone knows, I was originally an advocate for a City Aministrator because I felt that we needed a full time person and I was not fully aware of what could be accomplished in the mayor's office. We have operated for fifteen of the past twenty months without a City Administrator and we are in great fiscal condition and making very visible physical progress. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!
I have recently talked with individuals who originally supported the idea of a City Administrator, but they too have had a change of heart. I sincerely believe that a public referendum (if permissable under the law) endorsing the position, would now fail by a large margin.
I feel personally that it is time to quit beating a horse that if not already dead, has certainly "fallen and can't get up" on it's own.
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