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.
posted by Alderman Dana McLendon at 7:18 AM
55 Comments:
Dana,
Did the city sign the CCOF contract or do ya'll BOMAers need to sign off it first???
Last week at the BOMA meeting, the BOMA approved the contract for sale by a vote of 6-2 (Feureborn and McLendon against).
So what's to discuss concerning the contract status on Thursday night? Also, are all the professional service contracts a given or will your committee have any input?
Anonymous @ 11:16:56:
Good questions. I don't know what's to discuss about the contract status except to perhaps inform the committee after the fact that it has been approved. Will the committee have any input into the professional service agreements? It is my intent that we will.
Gosh, you mean those contracts weren't bid out?
Not surprising!
How about not approving any of the contracts and requiring that they be bid out?????
It would be and would have been illegal to bid out any professional services. Professional services, under state law, cannot be bid.
Nonetheless, in my opinion, the appropriate method to obtain professional services would have been to issue a "request for qualifications" from a variety of providers.
The city routinely does this; to wit: the city solicited and received a couple dozen interested vendors when we put out the word on Harlinsdale. I do not understand why we wouldn't have done the same at CCOF. Perhaps there will be answers on Thursday night at the Public Enterprise Committee.
In making these remarks, I am not criticizing the capabilities of the firms that have submitted proposals. Indeed, I am familiar with some of them and have high regard for their skill. My criticism is of the process, or lack thereof, the Mayor and perhaps others have used to date in the CCOF scenario.
Have you found anything illegal going on?
Dana, Is this going to be a theme park, or a public park? Will we have to pay admission to enter either the 10 acre gate house/souvenir shop or the 100 acres? Why are these service contracts NOT bidded out if this is a theme park?
I do not suggest anything "illegal" has been done here. It would be illegal to bid out professional services (engineering, architect's services,etc.) as opposed to paving, grading, etc. that must be bid.
I do not know whether or, if so, what the plan is for admission fees or free public access. The fact I don't know is one reason I want the Mayor to get off the fast track and open this matter up for public discourse.
The mayor's comments to the paper suggest we remain in disagreement about this.
I don't always agree with your views but I appreciate your sense of ethics concerning BOMA matters like this one.
Sunlight is antiseptic. Take this preservation stuff out in the open. The impression left with voters are they (some BOMA members) are embarassed to disclose the real deal in the open. Most likely personal economic interests are involved.
Hang in there and continue to do the "right thing".
If it is illegal to bid out "professional services," does this mean that the mayor chose those companies, had the contract drawn up and then the BOMA voted for it?
Did anybody else have any input on the companies chosen for these services?
There has been no vote on the several professional services contracts related to CCOF. There are a number of professional services contracts at CCOF on the agenda for Thursday's Public Enterprise Committee meeting, which committee I chair. I hope to discover Thursday exactly how these firms were identified for participation in the process.
Was Heller going to do a housing rivitalization & improvement project on his land at CCoF before Franklin's Charge formed to keep it undeveloped?
Dana, let me give you a few names to listen for l. Wilburn & Assocs. 2. Littlejohn Construction Co. 3. Civil Constructors 4. Smith, Speckman and Reid, 5. Southern Land, 6. Boyles Investment and last but certainly not least, Suntrust Bank the money man. These seem to be "In" with the City of Franklin. These are the companies that are on the agenda every month. Month after month. So, no need for you to even to go to the meeting. It's a done deal.......
Alderman McLendon, This whole process has been a sham from the beginning.Even when it was brought to a public hearing before the original vote to pledge the 2.5, the organizers of opposition,(the members of CCOF) were told directly, by His Honor, to line up five people and no more to speak to the BOMA, which we did, then we were forced to sit quietly for the next hour and a half, and listen to half the members of The Charge along with a snottey nose Ashley Judd, tell us how this was the right thing to do. All the while staring at Her Majesty,with her smug smile,totally enjoying our futility.
We appreciate what you are attempting to do, as it is all we have asked for throughout this entire process. Have His Honor, Her Majesty,Bacon,Krieble,Phillips, and our City Attorney tell us what the heck is going on.
The ship has sailed, the CCOF is no more, There are a few good members left, but many of us have moved on. About forty members moved to one club outside of Franklin, and are currently spending over a quarter of a million a year in dues alone. Money we would have gladly spent, in Franklin.
We feel your pain, as they are being no more up front with any of the members of BOMA, that hazard the questions, of what is going on, than they were with us, that opposed this purchase from the beginning.
Good luck in your search for the truth, there are many out here pulling for you. But these folks have perfected the end run so well, that the only place I would like to see them, is in Randy Sanders job..,
Could the CCoF members have bought the land from Heller?
nope. the deal was pipelined all the way with Bacon promising Heller years ago he would secure funding through the city. there were many spin cycles over the years, including the mirage of townhouse development to weave a tale of battlefield drama.
Can you prove that? Dana: Is that true?
Before Heller bought the property, I presume anyone with adequate funds could have made a play to buy it.
I have no information regarding the allegation that Heller had reason to think even before he bought it that he could sell it to the City of Franklin / Franklin's Charge.
A professional service agreement involves, "professional services" such as provided by an accountant, architect, engineer or lawyer to name a few. Services like road and utility construction, grading, demolition, etc. are not "professional services." It is not a question of how the contract is worded; it is a question of the nature of the work to be done. By state law, professional services CANNOT be bid and, generally speaking, "non-professional" services MUST be bid. I don't necessarily support this distinction and the result it creates, but it is the law of this state.
The fact that professional services cannot be bid does not, however, mean that the city cannot compare and contrast would-be vendors. The process to evaluate professional services vendors is by soliciting "requests for qualifications" from them. We solicited 36 requests for qualifications with respect to Harlinsdale and 30 vendors responded. The city was then able to pick the best professionals from among almost three dozen.
In my opinion, all professional services to be rendered in connection with the CCOF should have been put through a "request for qualifications" process. Why this has been done so differently from Harlinsdale eludes me. Perhaps the Mayor can shed some light on this on Thursday.
The entire CCoF was a sham to start with, and was only to stir up the voter interest around the golf course, since two of the candidates in close proximity to Carnton. Franklin has a low voter turnout and this would inject a reason to show interest at the polls. They want everybody to think this would be a public park/green space, but all along the intent was there to make it a theme park, so the Heritage Foundation could bring in tourism revenue into Franklin. This land would never have been purchased or funded by the Federal Goverment because of the fact it is a theme park and not a public park.
you are kidding yourself if you do not think that the Feds are going to play a roll.
Marsha (oh, oh, there's Bill and W! How's my hair look?) and Lincoln (I'm fer a tariff on Chinese built goods.....say, when's that new Wal-Mart Supercenter coming in?) Davis have already toured the CC of F land by helicoptor some months ago.
With the way that W spends money like a drunken sailor in port, its only a matter of time before the money is appropriated for federal purchase, and annual funding by the Feds.
Get ready for park rangers, and guided tours about what "happened" on the land (for a nominal fee of course...and don't forget your $15 Johnny Reb cap and $25 JB Hood shot glass and flask set!). Over time, the lie of what happened there will take on a life of its own. To use one analogy, Salzburg, Austria's most popular tour for Americans is the "Sound of Music" tour. To cite one exampe, "Edelweiss" was composed for Broadway by Rodgers and Hammerstein. 50 years later, its the flippen Austrian national anthem to most folks!
The further from today we get, the more likley that your average civil war tourist will be asking to see "the place where Zachariah Cashwell died."
As well, do not be at all suprised to see the possibility of "imminent domain" used at some point in the future to clear out residences around the Pizza Hut. Its already gone to the Supreme Court where they seemed to warm to the idea of diminishing property rights.
You think BOMA ran roughshod over Hinchyville? You aint seen nothing yet!
I have been very involved in the organization that was trying to stop the city’s purchase of the CCOF land. I have a very thick file of newspaper articles, emails to and from Miller and BOMA members, and notes of meetings and phone conversations held with Miller and BOMA members. Other members of our group have similar files although I do not know the contents of their files.
The information I have shows many strange and contradictory twists in our leaders handling of this matter. I do not know the legality of all the actions but there appears to be a lot of manipulating of procedures so that Miller, Bacon, et al could get their wish. I do not have the file with me. The information in this post is pretty much from memory
The 10-acre fiasco was never a part of the PUBLIC discussion.
In answer to anonymous 10 17 4:59, I had discussions with Heller over a year ago, he advised his last resort would be to allow the land to be developed. He also wrote this in a letter to the Williamson AM. The land is zoned Medium Residential. As such the density is limited to two residences per acre. BOMA would have had to allow a zoning change to build higher density condos. The information presented by Juliann Bibb to BOMA included a letter from the former owner to Heller outlining the profitability of high-density development.
I am the person who received the call from Tom Miller that Canronwood refers to in his post dated 10 17 at 5:25. Miller called me, stated he felt there would be so much time spent at the meeting with a lot of people saying the same thing over and over again and told me he wanted to limit the presentations from each side to twenty minutes. I agreed. The night of the meeting Julian Bibb introduced himself as a representative of Franklin’s charge and went on to list many groups that were part of the Franklins charge. He gave his presentation on behalf of the many groups he represented, and had a couple of other people make a few statements. We gave our presentation, were running over the allotted time but Ernie Bacon was very firm in his desire to cut us off at twenty minutes. I was the last anti-purchase presenter and was cut off in mid-sentence.
When we were finished Miller started calling up other people who identified themselves as members, officers, or former officers of the many organizations Bibb stated he represented. Most of the presenters were wearing tags identifying themselves as members of Franklin’s Charge, of whom Bibb said he was representing. There are Robert’s rules of procedure and Miller’s Rules of getting his way.
This is another example of many that I have which shows the integrity of Miller and his group. Actually it would not have made any difference, the results were obviously finalized a long time ago.
In answer to anonymous 10/17 5:44, Heller never made an offer to sell the land to CCOF members. If he had done so the members would not have raised the $5,000,000 for this land. It was not worth it to them, there is a glut of golf courses on the market. There are a lot of courses running specials for new members. It is my understanding that Forest crossing could be purchased for less than half the $5,000,000.
In answer to anonymous 10 17 5:47, I am not sure what you know about this deal and your statement about Bacon but all the correspondence I have seen and all the meetings on which I have documents involve Miller and Heller. I have also spoken with Heller on several occasions and he never mentioned Bacon. I would not bet against him being in the background.
In answer to Dana posts 10 17, 7:23, the former owners, Greenlinks, allegedly offered the club to the members for $5,000,000 if they could come up with the money in ten days. I have never found a member who was aware of this. As stated earlier, the property is not worth that much money as a golf course. Also, we did not have access to the six or seven banks that are lending money to Franklins charge without collateral or proof of income. If we had known about the banks willingness to lend money on pledges we could have signed off on five million in pledges and got the loan from the bank.
Anonymous, 10 17 1:19, and everyone else, the only way we can find out if there is anything illegal going on is to get an outside investigation. The attorney generals address and email is listed below:
Paul Summers
State of Tennessee Attorney General
425 Fifth Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243
Paul.summers@state.tn.us
Posting anonymous or screen name comments on blogs will not get anything accomplished. We the taxpayers need outside help. We do not have the organizational strength to stop this waste of our money on our own.
hudytn@aol.com
If Heller wanted to build condos or whatever is not my question. My question is : Now that the city owns the land as a city park, what kind of park will it be? I'm pretty sure it won't be what they call an "active park" with ball fields, lights etc. and probably shouldn't be. But will it be a "passive park" that is open to the public or a theme park? Or is this "theme park" stuff just more negative crap put out on these blogs to influence voters - particularly in the 3rd ward?
The city does not, yet, own the property. Closing is tentatively set for 30 November 2005, not coincidentally to coincide with the anniversary date of the battle.
My understanding is that there will not be any sort of "active" park (there will be no ball fields, exercise equipment, playground equipment).
The intent of the purchase is to create a battlefield park. The contract for sale requires that the property be restored to its status as of 1864, to the extent we can know that today. The documents I have seen contemplate an "interpretive center" which suggests something to me but leaves many questions unanswered.
I don't know if that qualifies as a "theme park" or not. I have seen nothing that answers whether this is to be free and open to the public or if there is to be an admission fee.
The theme would be a( BATTLEFIELD PARK) not a Disney World PARK.
There are lots of battlefield parks in the country that are free and open to wander around. There are some that are "historical" things that charge admission. I would like this one to be open and free. Don't know what other people want, but if it's in the city's ownership then it should accessible without fees. Touring Carnton could be a fee as it is, but to access the interpretive center area and the rest of the park area should be free.
So if the city doesn't close, will Heller then go back to this revitalization idea thing for the property - like what he does in Wash. DC?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I think all of the concerns above tend to sum up the kneejerk, eyes-wide-as-saucers, head-first approach that a selective few have involved this city and taxpayers.
Moreover, the obvious surreptitious manner in which all of this has been handled certainly compunds getting any definite answers.
I think the goal should be that the public see to it that the park remain open and accesible to the public.
Or, that the Mayor is open and accessible, to and by the RESIDENTS of Franklin.
I'll say it ... the guy is out of control and it's not right when you continually backdoor the 'governing body' supposedly tasked with representing us.
That whole area has been owned in the past by different entities whose purpose was to keep "someone " out. Wasn't that where Willow Plunge used to be? That closed after desegregation in order to keep the blacks out. Then came Carnton Country Club with the same ideas of exclusiveness and dues and fees. Then came CCoF with membership dues and fees. If it is indeed going to be anything about the Civil War then it needs to exibit what the war was fought for and not be another exclusive center. A CITY owned park should not continue the "you can only come in here if you have the money" attitude of past owners of this property.
If Carnton wants to fund and operate the interpretive center that's okay with me, but they need to pay a lease that is true market value. If they want to continue to raise money for Carnton on Carnton owned land (not the 110 acres) in white tents or with begging bowls is not important to the citizens. But they do need to pay the city what it's worth to operate a center/giftshop whatever on the 10 acres or let someone else do it who is willing to compensate the city for the space.
If the city buys the land for a public golf course, doesn't it then cost the city 5 million instead of 2.5? If the city doesn't buy the land then can't it be developed according to whatever it's zoned for? Maybe Heller will just donate the whole property to the city or to Carnton or to the CCoF out of the goodness of his heart.
Heller is a relative of the McGavock family.
Please refrain from calling this a battlefield park as there was no battle anywhere near the golf course. I too was in this from the beginning and I begged, pleaded, even offered ransom if anyone, anywhere had any evidence whatsoever in any form---diary, note, journal, map, letter, newspaper article, RUMOR-- that could show that anything of any significance whatsoever took place on this land. I wrote CWPT, local papers, other historians and it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen----the silence was deafening.
This was never about a battlefield and that is one reason why getting the contributions from Civil War Buffs and folks in one of the richest counties in the world has been such an uphill fight. To my knowledge they still don’t have enough to close so bring on the politics.
Give me a piece of land where the fighting was real, like the library and I’ll raise the whole 5 million in two hours!
Dana: I appreciate you having this blog. The other ones are so obviously being run by some nasty group of people with an agenda for the election. Maybe we can get some real info instead of all this slanted journalism from the cyber-pals.
Anon above,
Oh gosh, you caught me!
You're right - I've got an agenda for the election: Elect people with a brain whose dedication is to their Ward and the entire City of Franklin.
Know any good candidates?
hellernot: that still leaves the question. What happens to the land if the city doesn't buy it?
Has anyone ever asked Alderman Edmonson why he voted for this? He didn't seem to be too hooked in to the Carnton people.
anon 11:29
Why cant it be a private golf course? Or public for that matter. It was doing fine until the carpetbagger showed up.
Is the Enterprise Committee meeting televised on Channel 10?
The meeting is not listed on Channel 10's schedule. I plan to attend and hope the room is packed.
BRING THE ROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hellernot: But it's that carpetbagger who owns the land.
The Civil War Preservation Trust has done at least three major mailings, soliciting contributions for the purchase of the golf course. Never to my knowledge have they done more than two and even that is very rare, AND their own contribution, despite the fact that Mr. Heller is their chairman, can only be considered anemic considering the way they throw money at other targets.
The first mailing had the map featured on Kool-aid but since that map didn’t show the battle anywhere near the golf course, they realized they made a giant mistake and reissued the mailing with a revised map that began this whole “Eastern Flank” nonsense. Clearly the first map was correct. Both were posted at Kool-aid and I encourage you take a look at them. In addition they threw in the picture of the golf course with these horrific looking condos on it—something that simply could not possibly have been done as pointed out by several others. Joseph Goebbels would be very proud at this monstrous propaganda machine.
In addition at least three Civil War magazines (The ones that I get) have featured either Battle of Franklin articles or downright pleas to contribute. Although never mentioned in the historical articles because that would be stupid, the pleas continue to use that most excellent phrase—“Eastern Flank”.
Now the cheese gets binding. This month’s North and South magazine has a full page plea to get more contributions “Franklins Charge has gained ground but reinforcements are needed.” The pictures imply that Carnton and the graveyard are at severe risk and despite an entire page dedicated to the golf course the only reference to “History” (which is why “buffs” give in the first place) is that wonderful word “Eastern Flank”. It appears from the article that the money just isn’t there.
And last for the moment---how about this 450,000 interest, fees and closing costs. Was this ever mentioned or was it always the 5 mil? We found out about this (although we should have known) after the 5 mil was reached. Deliberate???
If you cant see what’s going on here—that’s fine—just sit back and have Ya’ another big ol’ cup of Franklin Kool Aid.
So if for some reason the deal doesn't work out will CCoF try to buy the land from Heller?
Dana: I'm confused about these "professional services". I guess that's the engineering /plans stuff. Should the city have paid to have that work done before they bought or buy the property?
anon 2:27:21 I personally asked Alderman Edmondson why he voted for it and his answer: After the President of Heath place Subdivision announced in the public hearing that given to choice between a park and condos that the residents of Heath Place would prefer a park.
I'm sick of this,and tired of His Honor,Her Majesty,and all of the AT Large Aldermen.
I only ask at this time, we be informed, when and where, this deal is to be done, and how to go about obtaining a permit to assemble peacefully in protest to this total waste of our tax dollars.
I'm willing to bet we can come up with more unhappy voters, to protest,(maybe get a little media coverage), than the Heritage or the Charge have in attendance.
I have no problem with the Heritage Foundation, or the Charge, being run as a private non profit organization. But it appears to have become a City Sponsored and City subsidized political action commitee.
Dotson's!! Where they cook everything in the same pot!! And you can tell!
Dana,
Good job last night. Well done.
Thanks!
Dana: The federal money that is holding up the deal - is that part of the city's money or Franklin Charge's? If it is Franklin Charge money, why are we so accommodating to them to keep pushing back the closing date? I thought they had until July 1 to raise the money.
The "Federal Money" is supposed to come from the National Parks board. It is many years, if ever, in the future. The Senate and the House have to pass a bill allowing the National Parks board to conduct a lengthy study and survey as to whether the CCOF land qualifies as battlefield land. The faux battlefield land will probably not pass that part of the selection. If it does Franklin will join a lot of others for the limited park money available through the Federal Government.
The July 1, actually July 31, deadline was Heller's. His contract with the golf course management company had a 90 day cancellation clause. Heller had to invoke the clause 90 days prior to October 31. The final delivery date for Franklin’s charge can and will be moved to accommodate the preservationist fundraisers until Miller, Bacon, Bibb et. Al., figure some way to make good on their promise.
No official word but Franklin’s Charge seems to be falling further behind.
Miller may have to stick another gun in the taxpayers back to get more than the 2.5 million of our money that he pledged for this fiasco.
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