Gratitude and Attitude

A few comments following the election.

First, thanks to the 607 people who got out and voted, including those of you who voted for Mr. Rutherford.

Thanks, too, to Mr. Rutherford, who ran an issue- and idea-driven campaign of which he can be proud.

Congratulations to Alderman Klatt and Aldermen-elect Burger and Randolph. Ladies, I look forward to getting to know and working with you. Kudos, too, to the other candidates who inspired voters and shaped the campaign with your own thoughts and ideals. We are all better off for your participation.

Special thanks from me to:

• my wife, who makes endless sacrifices in order that I can do the things I do;
• my family, who went door to door to door hundreds of times over without a complaint;
• K.S. (you truly went above and beyond – I hope you don’t get sick after yesterday!);
• J.B. and R.B. for mining and turning out votes I would never have found;
• the firefighters, especially those who went door to door for me, worked the polling places and put out and picked up signs on election day;
• the people who made contributions to the campaign;

and last but not least;

• the person with a Rutherford yard sign who slammed their door in my face and twisted the blinds closed as I came to ask for your vote – you truly inspired me to work even harder to be re-elected than I otherwise might have.

I think most people will agree that democracy works better with more participation rather than less. Like many others, I wish turnout had been higher than the approximate 8% in Ward 2. While turnout was low, I think for the most part the people that voted in this election - in all four wards - are voters who make a point to follow the campaigns, educate themselves on the candidates and issues, form thoughtful opinions, and then go vote. Turnout may not be the panacea it may at first seem if higher turnout dilutes the impact of the truly informed voters.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 25TH IS ELECTION DAY

Polls are open from 7AM-7PM.

Please vote. Only 224 of over 7,500 registered voters voted early in Ward 2. That doesn't project well for election day votes.

If you don't know where you vote or have any questions, you can call me at 310-3195 or the election office at 790-5711.

Sunshine, At Long Last.

Here's a recap of last night's Public Enterprise Committee Meeting as far as CCOF is concerned.

There is a draft lease with Carnton for 10 acres. Carnton will be required to run a "first class" interpretive center. Carnton will also be responsible for the renovation of the clubhouse to be the interpretive center or construction of the interpretive center. It was the concensus of the committee that Carnton will not be allowed to charge an admission fee for visitors to the battlefield park or to the interpretive center, although Carnton will still be able to charge a fee to enter the Carnton property. If Carnton ever fails to operate the "first class interpretive center," that will be a default under the lease and the City will resume possession of the premises. There is still work to be done to make clear what Carnton's responsibility is under the lease.

Assuming that there should be an interpretive center at the property, it makes sense to me to allow Carnton to operate such a thing. This relieves the city of the burden of doing it.

On the professional services agreement front, all professional services agreements that cost the city any money were rejected last night by the committee. The only PSA that will be entered by the city at this time is for a zero cost archeological survey conducted by a professor and, I presume, his students, from MTSU. This MTSU group is apparently extremely qualified and able to satisfy the requirements of the Battlefield Protection Program for further grants.

I anticipate that in the coming months, the committee will consider an agenda item that is more or less, “discussion regarding issuing requests for qualifications for professional services required at CCOF property.”

I, for one, am glad that a committee of the City of Franklin has finally been able to see and discuss the various plans for this endeavor. I am also glad that the committee has slowed down what appeared to me to be an unnecessary rush regarding executing this project. Finally, I am glad that the various players in this mix have finally embraced the warmth of the sun. I look for it to remain sunny, at least anywhere I go.

Two Quick Items:

1. To the 182 people who have voted in Ward 2 so far: thanks for participating in the process regardless whether you voted for me or not. To the other 7,400+ people registered to vote in Ward 2 who haven't voted so far, I hope you vote tomorrow (20 October 2005) or on Election Day (Tuesday, 25 October 2005).

2. On page v7 of the print edition of the Review Appeal today are pictures of "my boys," the Franklin Cowboys Pee Wee team. I've spent at least four days a week with these twenty six-year-olds, and I've become quite fond and proud of them. Check 'em out!

The longer I'm in politics, the more I like my dog.

Mayor Tom Miller quoted in Sunday's newspaper in response to my questions about the CCOF situation:

"It's an election year."
"Sometimes aldermen try to get too involved in operational details."
"There's not any deliberate action to keep the aldermen in the dark."

The Mayor says he is "unaware" of this blog. Good thing I put a copy of the "Enough Already" post in his mailbox last week, complete with the url for this blog.

Proud Papa

Both of my sons play football for the Franklin Cowboys. This year has been a lot of fun.

I coach the defense for my younger son's team. This merry bad of six-year-olds is 7-1 with six shutouts. We have home field advantage for the playoffs and I fully expect we will be in the state championship game. My son, Benjamin, is a second year player. He is also a ninety-five pound lineman who blew open some big holes today as we beat Murfreesboro to secure our home field advantage.

My older son, Calvin, is playing his first year. Cal is 9 and is playing with kids who are 11 and some who have played for several years. His team is 7-0 and has also locked up home field advantage for the playoffs. Calvin scored his first touchdown today, and I just couldn't be any more proud of him.

Go Cowboys!

Enough Already.

At last night's Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, the surprises just kept coming. Let's recap recent events surrounding the CCOF situation before diving into the latest unpleasant surprise.
In recent meetings of the Enterprise Committee, which I chair and which ostensibly has oversight over the city's parks department, the Enterprise Committee had asked questions to the administration regarding plans for the CCOF. The current year budget includes $125,000 for the CCOF, but no details. When pressed at a recent Enterprise Committee meeting, the Mayor announced - and it was news to me and others on the committee - that specific firms had been picked to do certain services at the CCOF after the purchase (survey work, grading, roadbuilding). The Mayor further announced that these firms had also - again, news to me and others - committed to make contributions to Franklin's Charge in an amount equal to the amount they had been paid by the City of Franklin for their work at CCOF.
What hacked me off about this was that the Mayor, and perhaps other officials in this administration, had clearly been off striking deals in the proverbial "back room" without so much as a "by your leave" to other elected officials and citizens who have a responsibility for this endeavor, too. Additionally, the nature of these deals is highly unusual and completely bypassed the ordinary means by which the city obtains services. This is to say nothing whatsoever about the law that requires that we bid services like grading and road-building. I thought I had made it clear to anyone watching that these back-room deals over the CCOF were bad form, to say the nicest thing possible. I had hoped that the people who are pushing this entire deal would realize that it was in the best interest of the endeavor that everyone involved go beyond the call of duty with respect to openness and attention to procedural requirements.
Apparently my message was lost or mattered not at all to the people to whom it was directed. Last night, at the BOMA meeting, we were presented with the contract for sale of the CCOF. This is the document by which the city is to obtain the 110 acres that the BOMA has committed to purchase. In my opinion, the contract for sale should be nothing other than what is necessary to consummate the purchase of the 110 acres. There are standard form contracts for this type of transaction.
Instead, what we got, for the first time, was news that BEFORE the purchase and AS A CONDITION OF THE PURCHASE the BOMA will be required to enter into a long term (how long?) lease of 10 acres of the 110 with the lessee being the Carnton Association. The terms of this "long term" lease have not been shared with me, nor has this lease arrangement even been mentioned in the appropriate committee, the Enterprise Committee. I don't want to sound churlish about this, but the Mayor and obviously other members of this administration have again end-run the appropriate methods for conducting the business of the people in a head long dash for the result they intend.
It also turns out that a large chunk of the money Franklin's Charge is supposed to bring to the table is contingent upon a donor's blessing of a battlefield conservation easement being placed on the property- again, AS A CONDITION OF THE PURCHASE. In other words, Franklin's Charge doesn't really have $2.5 million to put in this deal, they have a lot of money with strings attached to it that they maybe can put into this deal, if everyone contorts themselves to the benefactors' satisfaction.
When will anyone see this lease that six aldermen apparently didn't think mattered enough to delay the approval of the contract of sale?
What will the terms of that lease be?
Is anyone naive enough to think the rent will be other than nominal?
Doesn't that really mean what we now propose to do is buy 110 acres only to immediately in effect donate 10 acres to the Carnton Association?
Will the Carnton Association then use the nearly free premises to generate proceeds for itself?
If that is so, then hasn't the City made an even larger "donation" than the $2.5M to purchase the property? Indeed, if the "rent" is nominal, hasn't the city agreed to an annual donation to the Carnton Association for the entire duration of the lease? That is a flagrant violation of our city policy on appropriations for charitable and community service organizations.
What other demands will the seller and "donors" to Franklin's Charge make as the closing nears?
Here's my challenge to my fellow BOMA members and the other people who want to see this deal get done: If you are proud of this endeavor, start acting like it and do it properly. No more surpises, no more back room deals. Enough already.

The Response

City Administrator Jay Johnson has provided the following in response to my inquiry regarding the recent retirement of two suspended police officers.

RealiTV

Tune in to the Candidate's Forum on 06 October 2005 at 7:00 p.m. on Comcast Channel 10 in Franklin to see the candidates for Alderman answer questions.