Former Hamblen County Mayor David Purkey has been named Assistant Commissioner for Homeland Security by Governor-elect Bill Haslam. Click here.
In 2008, David pretty much left his job as Hamblen County Mayor to Commision Chair Stancil Ford and started campaigning for Haslam. David hoped to be Commissioner of Safety in Haslam's administration.
Haslam, however, tapped Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons for that position. With Purkey's appointment as Deputy Commissioner for Homeland Security, Purkey will have large amounts of taxpayer Homeland Security money at his disposal and wide access to personal information on citizens.
Hopefully, Gibbons and Haslam can keep David from putting the Homeland Security budget in the red like he put Hamblen County in the red in 2003 after 8 years as Mayor. For his multiple violations of law and general mishandling of county finances and driving the county to the brink of bankruptcy in 2003, click here, here, here, and here. Every single statement has been documented, and David has never attempted to refute any of the statements about his mishandling of county finances or putting a special friend on the county insurance plan even though he was not a county employee and not eligible for coverage.
Hopefully, Gibbons and Haslam can keep David from running around and ordering expensive shows of overwhelming force to shut down anti-illegal immigration rallies. For his use of Homeland Security, THP, and local enforcement in shutting down an anti-illegal immigration rally, click here and here.
Hopefully, Gibbons and Haslam can keep David from using Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers to assist him in violating election laws as David did in his 2006 run for County Mayor.
And, hopefully, Gibbons and Haslam can keep David from lying about his illegal actions when he gets caught violating laws or obtaining and using personal information to get political opponents directly or through their families.
He's out of Morristown/Hamblen County for now, but his use of state law enforcement and Homeland Security resources to stop an anti-illegal immigration rally in 2006, his bankrupting of the county in 2003, his accomplishment in having more audit findings than any other county in the state, his use of a Highway Patrol Trooper in 2006 to violate criminal election laws, his lying to a compliant press about his violation of criminal election laws in 2006, and his being given a pass by a district attorney for his criminal violations is a lasting, pitiful legacy to a man who plans to lead "Homeland Security" in Tennessee.
For someone who is going to be in a sensitive law enforcement position, the real kicker is Purkey's "use" of law enforcement trooper friends to violate election laws in 2006 followed by Purkey's blatant cover-up of his involvement in those violations by publicly denying any knowledge or involvement with an Election Eve postcard mailout in 2006-- a public statement that was later found to be false.
The "news"paper reported on the Election Eve postcard and published Purkey's strong denial of any involvement. The "news"paper also noted that an investigation had been ordered. Then there was total silence.
When the investigating District Attorney's letter/report was sent to Judge John Dugger in May 2007 stating that David was "apparently" involved in criminal election law violations related to the Election Eve postcard, the local "news"paper reporter (Bob Moore) ignored it. Why? The initial story was reported. Why no concluding story?
The local "news"paper reporter also ignored the fact that David had lied to Moore in 2006 when David denied any involvement or knowledge about the Election Eve postcard mailout, a postcard that said it was paid for by a John R. Jones, who, as it turned out, was David's special Highway Patrol law enforcement friend. Why? The initial statement was reported? Why no follow-up at the conclusion of the investigation?
[The District Attorney's letter/report referenced a TBI investigation and the fact that David Purkey apparently violated criminal election laws. The DA then refused to prosecute. Why? Because Purkey might demand a jury trial and this would cost some money and, heck, it might be difficult to seat a jury in Hamblen County!
Preliminary TBI reports gave the DA an early indication as to where the investigation was headed and the parties that were involved --David Purkey and his special friend Trooper John R. Jones. If the DA was going to give David and his law enforcement friend John R. Jones a pass even though all the evidence, interviews, and witnesses pointed one way, he should have stopped the investigation at the start and saved the money for prosecution of some little unknown person somewhere where seating a jury would be "easy."]
Many things can seem trivial when viewed in isolation. It's surprising that Haslam could not or did not attempt to find someone for this sensitive position who had not used law enforcement friends to help him break the law and had not then publicly lied about it.
It is David Purkey's use of law enforcement friends to assist him in breaking the law followed by his public lies to cover-up his actions and those of his THP law enforcement friends that make his selection for a sensitive position as Deputy Commissioner for Homeland Security singularly standout.
He used a Tennessee Highway Patrolmen in an election campaign in violation of criminal election laws and lied about it. What could he do or attempt to do to political opponents, their families, and their friends with his power as Deputy Commissioner of Homeland Security? Who watches the watchers?
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
December 29, 2010 Millennium Bidding Postponed Again
The Millennium Square Project Bidding has been postponed again. The new bid date is tentatively February 1, 2011. Click here, here, and here for recent posts.
The original bid date was December 14, 2010. However, on December 10, 2010, TDOT cancelled that bid date based on questions raised by contractors and information provided to TDOT by Councilman Gene Brooks about conflicts of interest and other contract-related issues. These issues still have to be addressed.
At about the same time, the architectural firm Brewer, Ingram & Fuller set a new bid date of 1/4/11.
Now, the Architects have set yet another new bid date of February 1, 2011, ostensibly at the request of the City of Morristown in order to work out contract-related items with TDOT (Tennessee Department of Transportation) and "others."
The conflicts and webs of relationships in this project are about as extensive as they can be. The Millennium Square owners are Tim and David Wild, James and Mira Craine, Tom Jones, Hiram Jones, Sid Boyd, and Bill Young.
In addition, the Craines and the Joneses are principals in the city's auditing firm Craine, Thompson & Jones. The Wilds are also principals in Wild Building Contractors. Millennium Square Partners/Craine Thompson & Jones/Wild Building Contractors are tightly knit.
Now the Craines and Joneses and Wilds not only want the city's ($890,000-$1,200,000) grant money for improvements to their Millennium property, they also want the Wilds to be able to take off their Millennium Owner hat and put on their Wild Building Contractors hat and bid to perform the actual construction work.
[Originally Millennium Partners/Wild Building Contractors wanted Wild to be "given" the contract for the construction work without any bidding. The plan was to have Wild designated as a "sole source" provider for the construction work. That plan didn't go very far, however, because construction work of this kind is NOT any type of specialty work that only Wild can do.
Had the attempt to pursue a "sole source" designation for Wild been successful, it was designed to enable the City to "select" Wild as contractor without any competitive bidding and keep the project and all the grant money in the Millennium Partners' hands.]
Apparently getting lots of free improvements of $890,000+ or - to their property and access to public parking that the Millennium employees could use is not enough for the Craines, Joneses, and Wilds.
The original bid date was December 14, 2010. However, on December 10, 2010, TDOT cancelled that bid date based on questions raised by contractors and information provided to TDOT by Councilman Gene Brooks about conflicts of interest and other contract-related issues. These issues still have to be addressed.
At about the same time, the architectural firm Brewer, Ingram & Fuller set a new bid date of 1/4/11.
Now, the Architects have set yet another new bid date of February 1, 2011, ostensibly at the request of the City of Morristown in order to work out contract-related items with TDOT (Tennessee Department of Transportation) and "others."
The conflicts and webs of relationships in this project are about as extensive as they can be. The Millennium Square owners are Tim and David Wild, James and Mira Craine, Tom Jones, Hiram Jones, Sid Boyd, and Bill Young.
In addition, the Craines and the Joneses are principals in the city's auditing firm Craine, Thompson & Jones. The Wilds are also principals in Wild Building Contractors. Millennium Square Partners/Craine Thompson & Jones/Wild Building Contractors are tightly knit.
Now the Craines and Joneses and Wilds not only want the city's ($890,000-$1,200,000) grant money for improvements to their Millennium property, they also want the Wilds to be able to take off their Millennium Owner hat and put on their Wild Building Contractors hat and bid to perform the actual construction work.
[Originally Millennium Partners/Wild Building Contractors wanted Wild to be "given" the contract for the construction work without any bidding. The plan was to have Wild designated as a "sole source" provider for the construction work. That plan didn't go very far, however, because construction work of this kind is NOT any type of specialty work that only Wild can do.
Had the attempt to pursue a "sole source" designation for Wild been successful, it was designed to enable the City to "select" Wild as contractor without any competitive bidding and keep the project and all the grant money in the Millennium Partners' hands.]
Apparently getting lots of free improvements of $890,000+ or - to their property and access to public parking that the Millennium employees could use is not enough for the Craines, Joneses, and Wilds.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
December 10, 2010 Downtown Millennium (Un)Square Deal
The Downtown Millennium (Un)Square Grant Deal will be coming under tighter and more intense scrutiny in the coming days.
Long ago, I posted about the obvious and multiple conflicts of interest in this set-up. Recent posts are here and here. As more people are becoming aware of the conflicts, hard questions are being asked and those involved and those who approved this (un)square deal are being asked to explain what's going on.
With the bid date of 12/14/10 fast approaching, the bidding may be postponed for completion of certain work by the Architect or his consultants. Since there are many other reasons to postpone the bidding and look closely at this deal, a postponement for any reason is a positive sign.
Stay tuned. Others are picking up on the conflicts and irregularities in the Millennium (Un)Square Deal.
Long ago, I posted about the obvious and multiple conflicts of interest in this set-up. Recent posts are here and here. As more people are becoming aware of the conflicts, hard questions are being asked and those involved and those who approved this (un)square deal are being asked to explain what's going on.
With the bid date of 12/14/10 fast approaching, the bidding may be postponed for completion of certain work by the Architect or his consultants. Since there are many other reasons to postpone the bidding and look closely at this deal, a postponement for any reason is a positive sign.
Stay tuned. Others are picking up on the conflicts and irregularities in the Millennium (Un)Square Deal.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
December 9, 2010 Haslam Picks DA Bill Gibbons As Safety Commissioner
Governor-elect Bill Haslam has selected Memphis/Shelby County DA Bill Gibbons as Commissioner of Safety.
Click here for the News-Sentinel story.
Former Hamblen County Mayor David Purkey has missed out on his dream job where he could run across the state undercover, in a limo, or with blue lights flashing and sirens screaming.
Lots of law enforcement gear and lots of personnel would have been at his disposal--from THP officers in riot gear, to THP helicopters, to rooftop snipers, to Homeland Security Command Centers.
Yep, all the gear and personnel that he assisted in calling to Hamblen County to intimidate and disrupt local citizens at an anti-illegal immigration rally in June 2006 while he observed.
Maybe the dream job is not there any more, but another opportunity will be right around the corner. Wait and see.
Click here for the News-Sentinel story.
Former Hamblen County Mayor David Purkey has missed out on his dream job where he could run across the state undercover, in a limo, or with blue lights flashing and sirens screaming.
Lots of law enforcement gear and lots of personnel would have been at his disposal--from THP officers in riot gear, to THP helicopters, to rooftop snipers, to Homeland Security Command Centers.
Yep, all the gear and personnel that he assisted in calling to Hamblen County to intimidate and disrupt local citizens at an anti-illegal immigration rally in June 2006 while he observed.
Maybe the dream job is not there any more, but another opportunity will be right around the corner. Wait and see.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
December 7, 2010 Alpha-Talbott Utility District Will Not Handle Morristown's New Garbage Billing
The gang that can't--or won't--shoot straight (City of Morristown) just got itself into another pickle over its belated efforts to have outside water utility districts include Morristown's $10/month garbage fee on the utility's water bills to city residents.
Yesterday, the Alpha-Talbott Utility District Board met and voted NOT to include the City of Morristown's $10/month garbage fee on AT water bills that go to city residents. AT won't do Morristown's dirty work--pun intended!
[Bobby Moore, "news"paper reporter/City of Morristown PR person, had reported on December 2: "Phillip Combs, Alpha-Talbott manager, said that if other utility districts don’t experience problems, he will start billing the 42 qualifying customers..."
Somebody missed the reporting boat or things took a dramatic turn from December 2 to December 6. On December 6th--4 days after Moore's quote from Combs--the AT Board met and voted NOT to bill for Morristown's garbage. It looks like Alpha-Talbott wasn't basing its decision on what other utilities did nor was AT waiting to see if other utility districts had problems.]
Next comes Russellville-Whitesburg Utility District. The Russellville-Whitesburg Utility District Board is scheduled to vote toward the end of December on whether to include the City of Morristown's $10/month garbage fee on RV-WB water bills that go to city residents.
[RV-WB is leaning strongly toward joining AT in refusing to do Morristown's dirty work, but you never know what will happen when Morristown power players jump in and start to twist arms.]
So far, the only outside utility district that Morristown has convinced to do Morristown's garbage billing is Witt Utility District. Coincidentally, Witt recently got an extension of its water contract with Morristown.
Now---is it legal to send some city residents a garbage fee bill while other city residents are not billed?
Who let this go for nearly four months before even giving these utility districts a billing list and officially asking them to do Morristown's garbage billings?
Yesterday, the Alpha-Talbott Utility District Board met and voted NOT to include the City of Morristown's $10/month garbage fee on AT water bills that go to city residents. AT won't do Morristown's dirty work--pun intended!
[Bobby Moore, "news"paper reporter/City of Morristown PR person, had reported on December 2: "Phillip Combs, Alpha-Talbott manager, said that if other utility districts don’t experience problems, he will start billing the 42 qualifying customers..."
Somebody missed the reporting boat or things took a dramatic turn from December 2 to December 6. On December 6th--4 days after Moore's quote from Combs--the AT Board met and voted NOT to bill for Morristown's garbage. It looks like Alpha-Talbott wasn't basing its decision on what other utilities did nor was AT waiting to see if other utility districts had problems.]
Next comes Russellville-Whitesburg Utility District. The Russellville-Whitesburg Utility District Board is scheduled to vote toward the end of December on whether to include the City of Morristown's $10/month garbage fee on RV-WB water bills that go to city residents.
[RV-WB is leaning strongly toward joining AT in refusing to do Morristown's dirty work, but you never know what will happen when Morristown power players jump in and start to twist arms.]
So far, the only outside utility district that Morristown has convinced to do Morristown's garbage billing is Witt Utility District. Coincidentally, Witt recently got an extension of its water contract with Morristown.
Now---is it legal to send some city residents a garbage fee bill while other city residents are not billed?
Who let this go for nearly four months before even giving these utility districts a billing list and officially asking them to do Morristown's garbage billings?
December 7, 2010 Pearl Harbor Day
To hear President Franklin D. Roosevelt address Congress after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, click here. A day which will live in infamy...
December 7, 2010 City Council Meets With Attorneys Again...Still No Public Discussion of Lowland Sewer Plant Contract and Future Costs
City Administrator Tony Cox is playing it close to the vest as he works behind the scenes to save the Lowland Wastewater Plant contract. It's a $5 Million purchase, but that's just the tip of the money iceberg.
Wilbur Smith & Associates has estimated that it will take another $70 Million to complete a 5-phase construction program with force mains, gravity lines, pump stations, excavation, storm and water system repairs, etc.
So far Tony is making sure that discussions with or by City Council about the Lowland Wastewater Plant continue to take place in closed sessions with City Attorney Dick Jessee and recently-hired outside counsel Mark Mamantov of Knoxville. Tony is not scheduling any public discussions yet.
After today's 4:00 PM City Council meeting, the Mayor, councilmembers, and Tony Cox will retreat to the Mayor's conference room or will clear out the council chambers so they can hold yet another closed meeting with Jessee and Mamantov. The last announced closed meeting took place on November 16, 2010.
In my opinion, Tony is trying to get a consensus among enough councilmembers (4) to approve a few cosmetic changes to the contract--call it a "lease," add an "out" clause, and continue to pay MPLG (Mike Ball and Joe Fielden) $182,500 every year for 25 years to go along with the $750,000 already paid to Ball and Fielden.
Once the votes are in place, Tony will schedule a perfunctory public vote at a public meeting but with as little public discussion as possible.
Tony has already made the decision---or, more likely, knows that he is to carry out the decision/wish of others. Tony and others are more than happy to have the hard-pressed sewer customers of the City of Morristown pay even higher sewer fees to help pay for a dilapidated plant ($5M) and for all or part of the the additional millions ($70+ Million) needed for construction and upgrades to make this plant fully operational--even though the City has let its own sewer system go to pieces and is in the middle of a multi-million dollar repair process in that arena!
City of Morristown and Sewer: Let what you have fall apart, raise sewer rates, and throw MILLIONS of other people's money at it. And, while you're at it, buy a dilapidated plant, raise sewer rates, and throw MEGA-MILLIONS MORE of other people's money at it.
Wilbur Smith & Associates has estimated that it will take another $70 Million to complete a 5-phase construction program with force mains, gravity lines, pump stations, excavation, storm and water system repairs, etc.
So far Tony is making sure that discussions with or by City Council about the Lowland Wastewater Plant continue to take place in closed sessions with City Attorney Dick Jessee and recently-hired outside counsel Mark Mamantov of Knoxville. Tony is not scheduling any public discussions yet.
After today's 4:00 PM City Council meeting, the Mayor, councilmembers, and Tony Cox will retreat to the Mayor's conference room or will clear out the council chambers so they can hold yet another closed meeting with Jessee and Mamantov. The last announced closed meeting took place on November 16, 2010.
In my opinion, Tony is trying to get a consensus among enough councilmembers (4) to approve a few cosmetic changes to the contract--call it a "lease," add an "out" clause, and continue to pay MPLG (Mike Ball and Joe Fielden) $182,500 every year for 25 years to go along with the $750,000 already paid to Ball and Fielden.
Once the votes are in place, Tony will schedule a perfunctory public vote at a public meeting but with as little public discussion as possible.
Tony has already made the decision---or, more likely, knows that he is to carry out the decision/wish of others. Tony and others are more than happy to have the hard-pressed sewer customers of the City of Morristown pay even higher sewer fees to help pay for a dilapidated plant ($5M) and for all or part of the the additional millions ($70+ Million) needed for construction and upgrades to make this plant fully operational--even though the City has let its own sewer system go to pieces and is in the middle of a multi-million dollar repair process in that arena!
City of Morristown and Sewer: Let what you have fall apart, raise sewer rates, and throw MILLIONS of other people's money at it. And, while you're at it, buy a dilapidated plant, raise sewer rates, and throw MEGA-MILLIONS MORE of other people's money at it.
Monday, December 06, 2010
December 6, 2010 Some Attendees at the Millennium Square Project Pre-Bid Meeting
Clint Harrison (foreground) Engineer and City of Morristown consultant for sewer for Millennium Square project.
Lisa Hoskins (Brewer, Ingram & Fuller, Architects) and Todd Morgan (Program Director, City of Morristown Community Development Corporation). Ed Hale (Hale Construction) is also pictured in the background looking at Millennium plans.
Sunday, December 05, 2010
December 5, 2010 How's That City of Morristown Garbage Fee Working Out For City Residents?
We're going on 4 months now, and the City of Morristown continues to bill its new $10/month garbage fee to some city residents but not to others.
Failure to bill is no problem if you are one of the unbilled city residents.
Failure to bill is very unfair, however, if you are getting a bill and paying for a city service (garbage pick-up) while the City has not sent a single bill to other city residents.
Graciously, the City has said that it doesn't intend to go back and bill the "unbilled" for the four months (as of now) of free garbage service. That's certainly fair to the unbilled.
But what's fair to those who have been paying for four months already? The City needs to stop billing the City residents who have already been billed for four months of garbage pick-up until all city residents have been billed an equal number of months. That's fair and equitable to ALL city residents.
The whole garbage fee and garbage billing fiasco are classic examples of government mismanagement at its best. City leaders should have taken care of the financial mess they created without inventing a new way to take money out of the wallets of the already suffering citizenry. But that's not the way things operate in the City "Taj Mahal" Center or in most any government building.
Instead of being accountable and trying to save money, Mayor Barile and company just increased property taxes, increased sales taxes through a "pick-your-poison" sales tax referendum, put in red light cameras, illegally transferred/loaned money from one fund to the other, and then tacked on a garbage fee for a city service that had always been provided through tax payments until new City Administrator Tony Cox arrived.
Bobby Moore, who writes press releases in the "news"paper for the City of Morrist, oops, who writes "news" for the Citizen Tribune, recently ran a second article on December 2, 2010, trying to explain the City's failure to bill some city residents (those city residents who receive water from Alpha-Talbott, Witt, and Russellville-Whitesburg Utility Districts) while going on and billing others (those city residents who receive water from MUS).
In his most recent opus, Bobby explains that the City has now (November 29) sent garbage fee billing lists to the three surrounding utility districts and has asked the utilities to include Morristown's garbage fee on the utility's water bills.
Bobby adds that the utility districts "could begin collecting Morristown's...$10/month garbage fee at the end of December." Actually, it's the billings that "could" go out in December (or not) but the collection of any money by the utility districts can't take place until January 2011 at the earliest. And even that is not a sure thing.
When Bobby Moore was doing his first CMA (Cover Morristown's rear-end) article on November 18, he reported that the failure to bill all city residents stemmed from "billing difficulties" with the Utility Districts. For some reason, Bobby failed to explain then that actually the City hadn't even sent a billing list to the Utility Districts.
I guess you could term not providing a list of city residents to the utility districts and not authorizing them to include Morristown garbage bills on the utility's water bills a "billing difficulty," but those certainly aren't billing difficulties created by the districts.
On November 24, I pointed out that the "billing difficulties" with the utility districts were that the City had not authorized the utility districts to bill the fee. Click here. Now Bobby reports pretty much the same thing and adds that the City has finally given each utility a list of garbage fee customers and has asked/authorized the utility districts to send out garbage bills.
Now that the City has given the Utility Districts a billing list and the go-ahead to bill, other problems have come out. At least one utility, RV-WB, doesn't have software with the capability of handling yet another billing task for the City of Morristown. [RV-WB already bills its customers for RV-WB water and includes Morristown sewer and Morristown stormwater charges on the bills that go to Morristown residents.]
The RV-WB utility board will meet toward the end of December and vote on Morristown's request that RV-WB include yet another Morristown fee on RV-WB water bills.
Since most customers look at their water bill as a lump sum, adding the $10/month Morristown garbage fee to RV-WB water bills may inadvertently create ill-will toward RV-WB, the billing agent, instead of ill-will toward the real culprit, the City of Morristown.
Watch for that RV-WB vote. Morristown power players will be applying behind-the-scenes pressure on RV-WB to go on and handle the Morristown garbage billings and not rock the boat. We'll see if TPTB can apply enough pressure to get another utility to take flak for Morristown's financial failings and continued lack of accountability.
Failure to bill is no problem if you are one of the unbilled city residents.
Failure to bill is very unfair, however, if you are getting a bill and paying for a city service (garbage pick-up) while the City has not sent a single bill to other city residents.
Graciously, the City has said that it doesn't intend to go back and bill the "unbilled" for the four months (as of now) of free garbage service. That's certainly fair to the unbilled.
But what's fair to those who have been paying for four months already? The City needs to stop billing the City residents who have already been billed for four months of garbage pick-up until all city residents have been billed an equal number of months. That's fair and equitable to ALL city residents.
The whole garbage fee and garbage billing fiasco are classic examples of government mismanagement at its best. City leaders should have taken care of the financial mess they created without inventing a new way to take money out of the wallets of the already suffering citizenry. But that's not the way things operate in the City "Taj Mahal" Center or in most any government building.
Instead of being accountable and trying to save money, Mayor Barile and company just increased property taxes, increased sales taxes through a "pick-your-poison" sales tax referendum, put in red light cameras, illegally transferred/loaned money from one fund to the other, and then tacked on a garbage fee for a city service that had always been provided through tax payments until new City Administrator Tony Cox arrived.
Bobby Moore, who writes press releases in the "news"paper for the City of Morrist, oops, who writes "news" for the Citizen Tribune, recently ran a second article on December 2, 2010, trying to explain the City's failure to bill some city residents (those city residents who receive water from Alpha-Talbott, Witt, and Russellville-Whitesburg Utility Districts) while going on and billing others (those city residents who receive water from MUS).
In his most recent opus, Bobby explains that the City has now (November 29) sent garbage fee billing lists to the three surrounding utility districts and has asked the utilities to include Morristown's garbage fee on the utility's water bills.
Bobby adds that the utility districts "could begin collecting Morristown's...$10/month garbage fee at the end of December." Actually, it's the billings that "could" go out in December (or not) but the collection of any money by the utility districts can't take place until January 2011 at the earliest. And even that is not a sure thing.
When Bobby Moore was doing his first CMA (Cover Morristown's rear-end) article on November 18, he reported that the failure to bill all city residents stemmed from "billing difficulties" with the Utility Districts. For some reason, Bobby failed to explain then that actually the City hadn't even sent a billing list to the Utility Districts.
I guess you could term not providing a list of city residents to the utility districts and not authorizing them to include Morristown garbage bills on the utility's water bills a "billing difficulty," but those certainly aren't billing difficulties created by the districts.
On November 24, I pointed out that the "billing difficulties" with the utility districts were that the City had not authorized the utility districts to bill the fee. Click here. Now Bobby reports pretty much the same thing and adds that the City has finally given each utility a list of garbage fee customers and has asked/authorized the utility districts to send out garbage bills.
Now that the City has given the Utility Districts a billing list and the go-ahead to bill, other problems have come out. At least one utility, RV-WB, doesn't have software with the capability of handling yet another billing task for the City of Morristown. [RV-WB already bills its customers for RV-WB water and includes Morristown sewer and Morristown stormwater charges on the bills that go to Morristown residents.]
The RV-WB utility board will meet toward the end of December and vote on Morristown's request that RV-WB include yet another Morristown fee on RV-WB water bills.
Since most customers look at their water bill as a lump sum, adding the $10/month Morristown garbage fee to RV-WB water bills may inadvertently create ill-will toward RV-WB, the billing agent, instead of ill-will toward the real culprit, the City of Morristown.
Watch for that RV-WB vote. Morristown power players will be applying behind-the-scenes pressure on RV-WB to go on and handle the Morristown garbage billings and not rock the boat. We'll see if TPTB can apply enough pressure to get another utility to take flak for Morristown's financial failings and continued lack of accountability.
Friday, December 03, 2010
December 3, 2010 Millennium Project To Bid on December 14, 2010
Several months ago, the City of Morristown sought and got approval to transfer around $890,000 of former Morristown College grant money to a downtown project owned by Millennium Square partnership.
The partners in Millennium Square as of August 2010 are D&T Partners (Tim Wild, David Wild); C&J Partners (James Craine, Mira Jones Craine, Hiram Jones, Tom Jones); Sidney Boyd; and Bill Young.
Millennium Square Partners will get the $890,000+ in grant funds to build a shell for their retail building on West Main Street next to their Millennium Square Building.
What does the City get? Some rooftop parking in downtown Morristown. Yep. The roof of the retail shell will have 22 parking spaces that will be available for public parking for 25 years.
A pre-bid construction meeting was held this past Tuesday at the City Center for prospective bidders. Construction bids will be received on December 14, 2010.
Because of the economic situation and the depressed construction industry, many contractors were present at the pre-bid meeting. Messer Construction, Merit Construction, Southern Constructors, Inland Construction, Burwil Construction, Wild Building Contractors, Hale Construction, Joseph Construction, D&S Builders, and Trent Excavating.
Wild Building Contractors? Yes, David and Tim Wild, who are partners in Millennium Square, are apparently planning to bid on the newest City/Millennium Square project.
Who else was present? James Craine. Craine, like David and Tim Wild, is a Millennium partner and is also a principal in the City's auditing firm Craine, Thompson & Jones.
So David and Tim Wild (Wild Building Contractors) will be bidding for the construction contract on a project where they benefit as the end owners (Millennium Square Partnership) of the finished retail shell.
Craine, Thompson & Jones, as the City's auditing firm, will audit the spending of the approimately $890,000 in grant money that benefits James & Mira Craine, Hiram Jones, and Tom Jones as end owners (Millennium Square Partnership) of the finished retail shell.
Sweet. The City gives the Wilds, Craines, and Joneses $890,000 of grant money to pay for construction of a downtown retail building for the Wilds, Craines, & Joneses. In return, the City gets some some rooftop parking for 25 years.
Oh, the City points out that it's all "grant money" and that the Millennium partners will graciously pay the city's 10% local grant match in order to get the other 90% free. That's nice. And that's a great deal for Millennium partners.
Did anyone else get offered this great deal? Did the City give any other local business people a chance to submit a proposal for building themselves a brand new store by paying just 10% and getting 90% "free"? No.
The partners in Millennium Square as of August 2010 are D&T Partners (Tim Wild, David Wild); C&J Partners (James Craine, Mira Jones Craine, Hiram Jones, Tom Jones); Sidney Boyd; and Bill Young.
Millennium Square Partners will get the $890,000+ in grant funds to build a shell for their retail building on West Main Street next to their Millennium Square Building.
What does the City get? Some rooftop parking in downtown Morristown. Yep. The roof of the retail shell will have 22 parking spaces that will be available for public parking for 25 years.
A pre-bid construction meeting was held this past Tuesday at the City Center for prospective bidders. Construction bids will be received on December 14, 2010.
Because of the economic situation and the depressed construction industry, many contractors were present at the pre-bid meeting. Messer Construction, Merit Construction, Southern Constructors, Inland Construction, Burwil Construction, Wild Building Contractors, Hale Construction, Joseph Construction, D&S Builders, and Trent Excavating.
Wild Building Contractors? Yes, David and Tim Wild, who are partners in Millennium Square, are apparently planning to bid on the newest City/Millennium Square project.
Who else was present? James Craine. Craine, like David and Tim Wild, is a Millennium partner and is also a principal in the City's auditing firm Craine, Thompson & Jones.
So David and Tim Wild (Wild Building Contractors) will be bidding for the construction contract on a project where they benefit as the end owners (Millennium Square Partnership) of the finished retail shell.
Craine, Thompson & Jones, as the City's auditing firm, will audit the spending of the approimately $890,000 in grant money that benefits James & Mira Craine, Hiram Jones, and Tom Jones as end owners (Millennium Square Partnership) of the finished retail shell.
Sweet. The City gives the Wilds, Craines, and Joneses $890,000 of grant money to pay for construction of a downtown retail building for the Wilds, Craines, & Joneses. In return, the City gets some some rooftop parking for 25 years.
Oh, the City points out that it's all "grant money" and that the Millennium partners will graciously pay the city's 10% local grant match in order to get the other 90% free. That's nice. And that's a great deal for Millennium partners.
Did anyone else get offered this great deal? Did the City give any other local business people a chance to submit a proposal for building themselves a brand new store by paying just 10% and getting 90% "free"? No.
Friday, November 26, 2010
November 26, 2010 Final Judgment in Holden v. Swann: Hamblen County Ethics Committee and Its Members Violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act
The Tennessee Open Meetings Act, like the Tennessee Public Records Act, is an extremely important law for those who truly support open and accountable government.
Ironically, the Hamblen County ETHICS Committee violated this law in December 2008 and failed to even attempt to correct its violation of the law until after a citizen, Gwen Holden, filed suit on February 17, 2009. I represented Ms. Holden in this matter (Holden v. Swann, et al)
The 3-page Final Judgment in Holden v. Swann was signed on October 1, 2010, finding that the Defendants (Hamblen County Ethics Committee, Joe Swann, Stancil Ford, Bill Brittain, James Harrison, and Jack Cartwright) violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act.
The Judgment enjoins the Defendants from future violations of the Open Meetings Act and provides that the County pay all court costs ($282.50) in the matter and pay $1500 for attorney fees and discretionary costs incurred by Ms. Holden.
You can click on each page to enlarge, read, and print it out.
Interestingly, the Hamblen County Ethics Committee was dissolved by the Hamblen County Commission on February 18, 2010, while Holden v. Swann was still pending and before any Judgment had become final in this case.
When it dissolved the Ethics Committee, the Hamblen County Commission, in a divided vote, appointed the county's attorney, Frank "Rusty" Cantwell, as the "County Ethics Officer." [Cantwell, acting as county attorney, represented the Ethics Committee and the individual defendants in Holden v. Swann, et al.]
All future Ethics Complaints against a county official or county employee will be referred to County Ethics Officer Cantwell.
Then County Ethics Officer Cantwell, who is also the county's attorney for county officials and employees, will decide what to do with any complaint against his client(s). More on this set-up later.
Ironically, the Hamblen County ETHICS Committee violated this law in December 2008 and failed to even attempt to correct its violation of the law until after a citizen, Gwen Holden, filed suit on February 17, 2009. I represented Ms. Holden in this matter (Holden v. Swann, et al)
The 3-page Final Judgment in Holden v. Swann was signed on October 1, 2010, finding that the Defendants (Hamblen County Ethics Committee, Joe Swann, Stancil Ford, Bill Brittain, James Harrison, and Jack Cartwright) violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act.
The Judgment enjoins the Defendants from future violations of the Open Meetings Act and provides that the County pay all court costs ($282.50) in the matter and pay $1500 for attorney fees and discretionary costs incurred by Ms. Holden.
You can click on each page to enlarge, read, and print it out.
Interestingly, the Hamblen County Ethics Committee was dissolved by the Hamblen County Commission on February 18, 2010, while Holden v. Swann was still pending and before any Judgment had become final in this case.
When it dissolved the Ethics Committee, the Hamblen County Commission, in a divided vote, appointed the county's attorney, Frank "Rusty" Cantwell, as the "County Ethics Officer." [Cantwell, acting as county attorney, represented the Ethics Committee and the individual defendants in Holden v. Swann, et al.]
All future Ethics Complaints against a county official or county employee will be referred to County Ethics Officer Cantwell.
Then County Ethics Officer Cantwell, who is also the county's attorney for county officials and employees, will decide what to do with any complaint against his client(s). More on this set-up later.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
November 24, 2010 Morristown Sends Bill for New $10/Month Garbage Fee To Some City Residents But Not To Others
I asked a simple question at the Morristown City Council meeting on November 16.
Short Question: Are some city residents paying the garbage fee while other city residents are not?
Short Answer: Yes.
My question and City Administrator Tony Cox's response were not reported in the "news"paper, but two days later Bob Moore had a front page article trying to provide cover for the fact that the City of Morristown is charging the new $10/month garbage fee to some city residents but not to others.
After this came out on November 16, Moore talked to Asst. City Administrator Buddy Fielder. Fielder apparently said that the city's billing system is 95% complete and added that the City is resolving all MUS-related bills before addressing billing difficulties in the Alpha-Talbott, Witt, and Russellville-Whitesburg utility districts.
For some reason, Moore didn't describe the billing difficulties that the City needs to address in AT, Witt, and RV-WB utility districts. Why?
As soon as Fielder said there were billing difficulties with AT, Witt, and RV-WB, a reporter would ask certain obvious questions especially for a front-page news article: What are the billing difficulties with AT, Witt, and RV-WB? What are you doing to address these difficulties? When will these difficulties be resolved?
But IF Moore had asked the obvious questions, then Fielder's statement about billing difficulties in the Alpha, Witt, or RV-WB utility districts would have unraveled.
There are no current billing difficulties to address with the Alpha, Witt, and RV-WB utility districts. Alpha, Witt, and RV-WB have NOT sent a single bill for the city's garbage fee to city residents in their areas because the City has NOT yet asked or authorized them to add the city's garbage fee to water bills of city residents.
Moore, in my opinion, wrote the article solely or primarily to allow the City to provide front-page "spin" for its actions in billing some residents and not others. To make sure that the City had free rein to "spin" its response, Moore adopted a new journalism standard that could be described as "don't ask (the obvious questions) and don't tell (what's really going on)." Just front-page governmental "spin."
What we have is the City directing MUS to jump in and add the $10/month garbage fee to water bills for city residents in September 2010, but the City did NOT and still has NOT (as of November 16) directed or authorized AT, Witt, or RV-WB to add the $10/month garbage fee to water bills for city residents in September or in October or in November. Why start billing some but not others?
Assistant City Administrator Buddy Fielder said that City residents who weren't billed for September, October, and November won't be charged for past service. "Those were issues on our part, not on their part....I don't think it makes sense to do that."
As a matter of fairness, Fielder is probably right that the City should not go back and try to collect past garbage fees from city residents who didn't receive a garbage fee on their utility bill because of the city's "issues." Especially when the "issue" in this whole thing is that the City didn't even try to bill city residents served by AT, Witt, or RV-WB.
But what do Fielder and City Administrator Tony Cox and Mayor Barile and City Councilmembers think about the flip-side of this mess? What about those city residents who did receive a bill and who did pay the $10/month garbage fee for a service that others didn't pay for? What's fair for them?
Just looking at what's fair and addressing some potential legal problems in this "charge some/don't charge others" situation, the City should stop billing the garbage fee to city residents served by MUS until the city residents served by Alpha, Witt, and RV-WB utility districts have been billed an equal number of months.
After all city residents served by Alpha, Witt, RV-WB utilities have been billed for the same number of months that MUS customers have already been billed for, then billing of city customers thru MUS would resume.
Sadly, this post is about proper billing of a new garbage fee instead of the fee itself. The new garbage fee is the city's poster child for years and years of financial mismanagement and an almost total lack of accountability.
The new garbage fee is nothing more than a way for the Mayor and City Council to take more money from the citizens and use that money for pet projects--like brick pavers on city roads--while providing financial cover for the problems brought about by years of financial mismanagement, sweetheart deals, and illegal money switcheroos.
It's not rocket science. Mayor Sami Barile and City Council wanted more of "other people's money" so they decided to make city residents start paying a separate and new "fee" for garbage pick-up, a service which used to be provided thru property taxes and other city revenues.
[The only person to vote against the new $10/month garbage fee was Councilman Gene Brooks.]
Of course, making the taxpayers shoulder the financial burden created by the Mayor and City Council's years of financial mismanagement, neglect, and lack of accountability is nothing new.
Let's see...property tax increase in 2007, sales tax increase in 2008, red light cameras, sewer increases almost every year, and now a new garbage fee! Next year?
Short Question: Are some city residents paying the garbage fee while other city residents are not?
Short Answer: Yes.
My question and City Administrator Tony Cox's response were not reported in the "news"paper, but two days later Bob Moore had a front page article trying to provide cover for the fact that the City of Morristown is charging the new $10/month garbage fee to some city residents but not to others.
After this came out on November 16, Moore talked to Asst. City Administrator Buddy Fielder. Fielder apparently said that the city's billing system is 95% complete and added that the City is resolving all MUS-related bills before addressing billing difficulties in the Alpha-Talbott, Witt, and Russellville-Whitesburg utility districts.
For some reason, Moore didn't describe the billing difficulties that the City needs to address in AT, Witt, and RV-WB utility districts. Why?
As soon as Fielder said there were billing difficulties with AT, Witt, and RV-WB, a reporter would ask certain obvious questions especially for a front-page news article: What are the billing difficulties with AT, Witt, and RV-WB? What are you doing to address these difficulties? When will these difficulties be resolved?
But IF Moore had asked the obvious questions, then Fielder's statement about billing difficulties in the Alpha, Witt, or RV-WB utility districts would have unraveled.
There are no current billing difficulties to address with the Alpha, Witt, and RV-WB utility districts. Alpha, Witt, and RV-WB have NOT sent a single bill for the city's garbage fee to city residents in their areas because the City has NOT yet asked or authorized them to add the city's garbage fee to water bills of city residents.
Moore, in my opinion, wrote the article solely or primarily to allow the City to provide front-page "spin" for its actions in billing some residents and not others. To make sure that the City had free rein to "spin" its response, Moore adopted a new journalism standard that could be described as "don't ask (the obvious questions) and don't tell (what's really going on)." Just front-page governmental "spin."
What we have is the City directing MUS to jump in and add the $10/month garbage fee to water bills for city residents in September 2010, but the City did NOT and still has NOT (as of November 16) directed or authorized AT, Witt, or RV-WB to add the $10/month garbage fee to water bills for city residents in September or in October or in November. Why start billing some but not others?
Assistant City Administrator Buddy Fielder said that City residents who weren't billed for September, October, and November won't be charged for past service. "Those were issues on our part, not on their part....I don't think it makes sense to do that."
As a matter of fairness, Fielder is probably right that the City should not go back and try to collect past garbage fees from city residents who didn't receive a garbage fee on their utility bill because of the city's "issues." Especially when the "issue" in this whole thing is that the City didn't even try to bill city residents served by AT, Witt, or RV-WB.
But what do Fielder and City Administrator Tony Cox and Mayor Barile and City Councilmembers think about the flip-side of this mess? What about those city residents who did receive a bill and who did pay the $10/month garbage fee for a service that others didn't pay for? What's fair for them?
Just looking at what's fair and addressing some potential legal problems in this "charge some/don't charge others" situation, the City should stop billing the garbage fee to city residents served by MUS until the city residents served by Alpha, Witt, and RV-WB utility districts have been billed an equal number of months.
After all city residents served by Alpha, Witt, RV-WB utilities have been billed for the same number of months that MUS customers have already been billed for, then billing of city customers thru MUS would resume.
Sadly, this post is about proper billing of a new garbage fee instead of the fee itself. The new garbage fee is the city's poster child for years and years of financial mismanagement and an almost total lack of accountability.
The new garbage fee is nothing more than a way for the Mayor and City Council to take more money from the citizens and use that money for pet projects--like brick pavers on city roads--while providing financial cover for the problems brought about by years of financial mismanagement, sweetheart deals, and illegal money switcheroos.
It's not rocket science. Mayor Sami Barile and City Council wanted more of "other people's money" so they decided to make city residents start paying a separate and new "fee" for garbage pick-up, a service which used to be provided thru property taxes and other city revenues.
[The only person to vote against the new $10/month garbage fee was Councilman Gene Brooks.]
Of course, making the taxpayers shoulder the financial burden created by the Mayor and City Council's years of financial mismanagement, neglect, and lack of accountability is nothing new.
Let's see...property tax increase in 2007, sales tax increase in 2008, red light cameras, sewer increases almost every year, and now a new garbage fee! Next year?
Sunday, November 21, 2010
November 21, 2010 The Lowland "Asset Purchase Agreement" (15- Page Contract)
Above this post is Page 1 and following are Pages 2-15 of the Lowland "Asset Purchase Agreement" that was negotiated by former City Administrator Jim Crumley and that was approved by the previous City Council in a 5-1 vote in February 2009. Voting YES: Mayor Barile, Claude Jinks, Frank McGuffin, Doc Rooney,and Kay Senter. Voting NO: Rick Trent. Click on each page to enlarge and read or to print the page.
When two new councilmen were elected in May 2009, one of them--Gene Brooks--spearheaded the initiative to terminate Crumley who "retired" in the face of termination proceedings. This was probably the most important action of the new council. Everything else has been like peeling an onion as the true magnitude of Crumley's financial shenanigans have gradually come out layer by layer.
After addressing the Crumley matter, Brooks turned to another major concern and campaign platform-- the Lowland Wastewater deal with MPLG (Mike Ball and Joe Fielden). After new City Administrator Tony Cox was in place, Brooks told Cox of his concerns about the Lowland purchase and requested copies of all Lowland documents. Brooks reviewed the documents, showed them to several people, and continued to have serious concerns not only about the Lowland Agreement but also other financial issues.
Since the State Comptroller was already looking at city financial actions, Brooks went to Nashville to discuss his concerns about the Lowland Agreenent, illegal interfund "loans," and other financial questions directly with the Comptroller's Division of State and Local Finance. Carl Murphy and I accompanied Brooks. (Carl is Gene's father-in-law.) Shortly after that meeting, the Comptroller's Office sent a letter to the City in July 2010, pointing out discrepancies in the 2009 audit, raising questions about illegal interfund "loans," and perhaps most importantly raising serious questions about the Lowland Wastewater Plant Agreement. Click here to see the Comptroller's 5-page July 8, 2010, letter. Click here for a very brief discussion of just a few of the questions that surround the terms of the Lowland Agreement and its approval.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
November 17, 2010 Mayor, City Council, And the Nutty Lowland Sewer Contract
Yesterday, City Council approved ("ratified") City Administrator Tony Cox's hiring several weeks or maybe a month or more ago of an outside attorney (Mark Mamantov) to help the Council handle numerous financial issues with the State Comptroller's Office. Click here for the State Comptroller's July 8, 2010, 5-page letter to the City.
[Cox did not have the authority to hire outside counsel. A City Ordinance states that the Council, not the City Administrator, may hire outside counsel. Council's after-the-fact approval of what Tony had already done provided cover for Cox's violation of the City Ordinance. There is no doubt that Mr. Mamantov is an outstanding attorney. Cox, however, jumped the gun and exceeded his authority in presuming to retain an attorney without a vote by Council.]
The big issue that Mamantov, City Attorney Dick Jessee, Mayor Barile, and City Councilmembers must deal with is the Lowland Sewer Contract ("Asset Purchase Agreement" is its title).
I'll put the contract on the blog soon. Yesterday, I spoke about the contract briefly during public comments. Much of the Lowland agreement is one-sided with just about every major term in favor of the Sellers (MPLG/Joe Fielden/Mike Ball). Parts of the contract are outrageous/borderline outrageous. Former City Administrator Jim Crumley apparently negotiated the terms of the agreement and then brought the contract to Council in February 2009.
Crumley may have fed the Council a lot of bull when he presented the contract to them, but even with Crumley's sugarcoating, there is no doubt that several provisions in the contract should have raised serious questions and should have caused the current contract to be rejected by the entire Council in February 2009. Instead, five voted in favor of the contract (Mayor Barile, Councilmembers Rooney, Senter, McGuffin, and Jinks) and only one councilman (Rick Trent) voted "no."
Here are three of the contract terms that should have raised red flags and caused the contract to be revised or rejected:
1) Flow fees: The contract provided that the City would make a one-time payment of $750,000 to the Sellers and then pay "flow fees" of $182,500+ per year to the Sellers for 25 years. A total payout of about $5 Million. Then a CPA came in for the City and converted the "flow fee" payments to a principal and interest schedule. This 25-year flow fee/principal and interest schedule sent up big, red flags at the Comptroller's Office. Apparently, the State Comptroller views the 25-year agreement (whether flow fees or principal and interest disguised as flow fees) as the equivalent of a long-term loan--the type of loan agreement that requires approval by the State Comptroller's Office. The City, of course, never requested approval of this contract/loan by the Comptroller's Office. Had it gone through that office as required, some of this mess might have been straightened out at the start.
2) Abandonment clause: This is a one-sided contract term that leaves you scratching your head. The City paid $750,000 down for the plant and has already made the first $182,500 annual "flow fee" payment. The City will have to spend $50-$70 million or more in improvements to the plant. The "abandonment clause" says that if the City later decides to abandon or quit operating the Lowland Sewer Plant, the City must GIVE the Plant with the millions of dollars of improvements back to the Sellers AND still make all remaining payments for the 25-year term of the contract. Sweet clause for the Sellers. Poison clause for the City.
That's like a businessman buying a small store, making a downpayment of $5,000, making payments of $10,000/yr, fixing it up at his expense, and then when he decides to quit operating the store, the contract says that he can't sell the store with the improvements he has made to the best bidder and pay off what he owes and keep the rest----no, he has to GIVE it back to the person who sold it to him AND STILL MAKE THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS to that person. No sane businessman would sign a contract with such a clause.
If you agree to make the payments NO MATTER WHAT, why would you ever agree to GIVE the plant back if you decide to quit operating it? If you have to make the payments, for Pete's sake make sure the contract says that you get to keep the plant or that you can sell it to whoever you want to!!
And, no, this nutty abandon, give it back, and keep paying clause was not hidden in legalese in the 2009 contract. It was in plain English in black-and-white. It makes you wonder if the Lowland Sewer Contract was like the national healthcare bill. Nobody paid attention and read it.
3) Operating permit: Before approving the Lowland contract in 2009, the City knew that it would have to get a permit to operate the Lowland Wastewater Plant. According to a statement made at yesterday's meeting by George Haggard, the City does not have an operating permit. Sixteen months after purchasing the plant and $932,000+ later, the City doesn't have a permit to operate a plant that it "owns."
The City may get a permit --later. The crazy part of the contract is that any businessman who was spending his own money would have held off on signing the contract or would have simply paid some earnest money and included a clause stating that the contract would not take effect and no further payments would be made until such time as the City obtained an operating permit. [Sort of like a real estate contract where you put down earnest money with the provision that you will make a good faith effort to obtain a loan, but if you are unable to get a loan, then the whole purchase agreement is void and you get your earnest money back. The City, like any business or individual, should have had a clause stating that nothing would be paid until the City got its operating permit.]
Councilman Gene Brooks stated that he had been concerned about the Lowland deal before he was elected in May 2009. Brooks added that he got the Lowland documents, reviewed them, and went to Nashville to discuss this situation and other financial matters with the Comptroller. Carl Murphy and I went with Gene on that lengthy trip to discuss the legality of terms of the Lowland contract, the "flow fees" and principal/ interest schedule, and the illegal sewer fund to general fund loans that had been made in 07,08, and 09.
George Haggard, a local businessman, made some strong and important public comments yesterday. Haggard noted that the City paid $750,000 down and has paid out over $182,000 more and still has no permit to operate the plant. Haggard added that the Lowland facility is in poor shape, that the Lowland contract was a bad deal, that Jim Crumley did not tell them the truth back in 2009, and that the City should try to get out of or renegotiate the Lowland contract now that the Comptroller has stepped in and everyone is looking more closely and questioning the original contract.
Although Councilman Brooks requested public discussion of this matter, the Mayor cut his remarks short. Brooks then added that Tony Cox has asked councilmembers to talk to Dick Jessee one-on-one about the Lowland deal. If Cox has his way, there will be little, if any, public discussion about the Lowland Contract and the huge costs that loom ahead if the City doesn't at least try to get out of this.
Once Cox decides that he has the magic number (four) in hand, then he'll put it on the agenda for a quick vote. There will be little or no public discussion because all the discussion will have taken place outside of the public eye. Cox wants to minimize public deliberation by Council in regular meetings. and the Mayor and most councilmembers are going along for the ride with Cox just like they did with Crumley. And we know where that got us!
Cox has made it clear that he prefers a tiny, cosmetic "patch" to the contract and then proceed down the $50-$70 million dollar path of more debt. Now the public is waiting to see if and when the Mayor or any councilmember has the courage to engage in public discussion of this important public issue.
[Cox did not have the authority to hire outside counsel. A City Ordinance states that the Council, not the City Administrator, may hire outside counsel. Council's after-the-fact approval of what Tony had already done provided cover for Cox's violation of the City Ordinance. There is no doubt that Mr. Mamantov is an outstanding attorney. Cox, however, jumped the gun and exceeded his authority in presuming to retain an attorney without a vote by Council.]
The big issue that Mamantov, City Attorney Dick Jessee, Mayor Barile, and City Councilmembers must deal with is the Lowland Sewer Contract ("Asset Purchase Agreement" is its title).
I'll put the contract on the blog soon. Yesterday, I spoke about the contract briefly during public comments. Much of the Lowland agreement is one-sided with just about every major term in favor of the Sellers (MPLG/Joe Fielden/Mike Ball). Parts of the contract are outrageous/borderline outrageous. Former City Administrator Jim Crumley apparently negotiated the terms of the agreement and then brought the contract to Council in February 2009.
Crumley may have fed the Council a lot of bull when he presented the contract to them, but even with Crumley's sugarcoating, there is no doubt that several provisions in the contract should have raised serious questions and should have caused the current contract to be rejected by the entire Council in February 2009. Instead, five voted in favor of the contract (Mayor Barile, Councilmembers Rooney, Senter, McGuffin, and Jinks) and only one councilman (Rick Trent) voted "no."
Here are three of the contract terms that should have raised red flags and caused the contract to be revised or rejected:
1) Flow fees: The contract provided that the City would make a one-time payment of $750,000 to the Sellers and then pay "flow fees" of $182,500+ per year to the Sellers for 25 years. A total payout of about $5 Million. Then a CPA came in for the City and converted the "flow fee" payments to a principal and interest schedule. This 25-year flow fee/principal and interest schedule sent up big, red flags at the Comptroller's Office. Apparently, the State Comptroller views the 25-year agreement (whether flow fees or principal and interest disguised as flow fees) as the equivalent of a long-term loan--the type of loan agreement that requires approval by the State Comptroller's Office. The City, of course, never requested approval of this contract/loan by the Comptroller's Office. Had it gone through that office as required, some of this mess might have been straightened out at the start.
2) Abandonment clause: This is a one-sided contract term that leaves you scratching your head. The City paid $750,000 down for the plant and has already made the first $182,500 annual "flow fee" payment. The City will have to spend $50-$70 million or more in improvements to the plant. The "abandonment clause" says that if the City later decides to abandon or quit operating the Lowland Sewer Plant, the City must GIVE the Plant with the millions of dollars of improvements back to the Sellers AND still make all remaining payments for the 25-year term of the contract. Sweet clause for the Sellers. Poison clause for the City.
That's like a businessman buying a small store, making a downpayment of $5,000, making payments of $10,000/yr, fixing it up at his expense, and then when he decides to quit operating the store, the contract says that he can't sell the store with the improvements he has made to the best bidder and pay off what he owes and keep the rest----no, he has to GIVE it back to the person who sold it to him AND STILL MAKE THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS to that person. No sane businessman would sign a contract with such a clause.
If you agree to make the payments NO MATTER WHAT, why would you ever agree to GIVE the plant back if you decide to quit operating it? If you have to make the payments, for Pete's sake make sure the contract says that you get to keep the plant or that you can sell it to whoever you want to!!
And, no, this nutty abandon, give it back, and keep paying clause was not hidden in legalese in the 2009 contract. It was in plain English in black-and-white. It makes you wonder if the Lowland Sewer Contract was like the national healthcare bill. Nobody paid attention and read it.
3) Operating permit: Before approving the Lowland contract in 2009, the City knew that it would have to get a permit to operate the Lowland Wastewater Plant. According to a statement made at yesterday's meeting by George Haggard, the City does not have an operating permit. Sixteen months after purchasing the plant and $932,000+ later, the City doesn't have a permit to operate a plant that it "owns."
The City may get a permit --later. The crazy part of the contract is that any businessman who was spending his own money would have held off on signing the contract or would have simply paid some earnest money and included a clause stating that the contract would not take effect and no further payments would be made until such time as the City obtained an operating permit. [Sort of like a real estate contract where you put down earnest money with the provision that you will make a good faith effort to obtain a loan, but if you are unable to get a loan, then the whole purchase agreement is void and you get your earnest money back. The City, like any business or individual, should have had a clause stating that nothing would be paid until the City got its operating permit.]
Councilman Gene Brooks stated that he had been concerned about the Lowland deal before he was elected in May 2009. Brooks added that he got the Lowland documents, reviewed them, and went to Nashville to discuss this situation and other financial matters with the Comptroller. Carl Murphy and I went with Gene on that lengthy trip to discuss the legality of terms of the Lowland contract, the "flow fees" and principal/ interest schedule, and the illegal sewer fund to general fund loans that had been made in 07,08, and 09.
George Haggard, a local businessman, made some strong and important public comments yesterday. Haggard noted that the City paid $750,000 down and has paid out over $182,000 more and still has no permit to operate the plant. Haggard added that the Lowland facility is in poor shape, that the Lowland contract was a bad deal, that Jim Crumley did not tell them the truth back in 2009, and that the City should try to get out of or renegotiate the Lowland contract now that the Comptroller has stepped in and everyone is looking more closely and questioning the original contract.
Although Councilman Brooks requested public discussion of this matter, the Mayor cut his remarks short. Brooks then added that Tony Cox has asked councilmembers to talk to Dick Jessee one-on-one about the Lowland deal. If Cox has his way, there will be little, if any, public discussion about the Lowland Contract and the huge costs that loom ahead if the City doesn't at least try to get out of this.
Once Cox decides that he has the magic number (four) in hand, then he'll put it on the agenda for a quick vote. There will be little or no public discussion because all the discussion will have taken place outside of the public eye. Cox wants to minimize public deliberation by Council in regular meetings. and the Mayor and most councilmembers are going along for the ride with Cox just like they did with Crumley. And we know where that got us!
Cox has made it clear that he prefers a tiny, cosmetic "patch" to the contract and then proceed down the $50-$70 million dollar path of more debt. Now the public is waiting to see if and when the Mayor or any councilmember has the courage to engage in public discussion of this important public issue.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
November 11, 2010 Veterans Day
In honor of all who currently serve the United States of America in the armed forces at home and abroad...
In remembrance of all who, in service to the United States of America, gave the last full measure of devotion...
The American Soldier
It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who gives us freedom.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
October 27, 2010 Hamblen County Commissioner Guy Collins Passes Away
The longest serving county commissioner in the history of Hamblen County and in the State of Tennessee has passed away. [Update: Guy, according to the Tribune, was actually #2 to some other county commissioner somewhere in the state. No name or county was provided about the other commissioner. Guy was #1 in Hamblen County and #2 in the State in terms of total years of service on what was the old Quarterly Court which later became the modern Hamblen County Legislative Body or Hamblen County Commission.]
Guy, who represented the 11th District encompassing Witt and Roe Junction, died at home several weeks after being released from the hospital after an extended stay. He attended the last Committee meetings on October 18.
Several years ago when I was on the Commission, we attended a meeting of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association in Knoxville, TN. Guy was honored back then for his long years of service.
Everybody knew then that Guy would keep on running and keep on being re-elected as long as wanted to. I don't think anyone doubted that Guy would be serving on the Hamblen County Commission until the day he died. And that is exactly what happened.
I'm sure that there will be a special moment of silence and many well-deserved words of praise for Guy during tomorrow's County Commission meeting at the Courthouse at 5:00 PM and in the days to come.
More in a future post.
Guy, who represented the 11th District encompassing Witt and Roe Junction, died at home several weeks after being released from the hospital after an extended stay. He attended the last Committee meetings on October 18.
Several years ago when I was on the Commission, we attended a meeting of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association in Knoxville, TN. Guy was honored back then for his long years of service.
Everybody knew then that Guy would keep on running and keep on being re-elected as long as wanted to. I don't think anyone doubted that Guy would be serving on the Hamblen County Commission until the day he died. And that is exactly what happened.
I'm sure that there will be a special moment of silence and many well-deserved words of praise for Guy during tomorrow's County Commission meeting at the Courthouse at 5:00 PM and in the days to come.
More in a future post.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
October 23, 2010 Rockwood, TN and Morristown, TN: Illegal Loans From Utility Funds
Morristown City government is not alone in violating state law in making illegal loans from one fund to another.
Recently, the Utility Board of the City of Rockwood--in Roane County--got busted by the State Comptroller's Office for making illegal loans from its gas department to its sewer and water departments. Click here for the news article.
Rockwood city officials have now abolished their misbehaving Utility Board and City officials will oversee these departments and pay back the illegal loans of $1.3 Million--or officials could face ouster proceedings.
Morristown City officials have done the same thing for years! Illegal loans from the sewer fund to the general fund and from the sewer fund to the stormwater fund. The difference in Morristown is that it was the CITY ITSELF that was violating the law instead of some board that City officials could ceremoniously abolish to "solve" the problem.
The Comptroller's Office found out about Morristown's shenanigans in the last year. Morristown's violations had gone on for several years before that, however, but were NOT reported as audit "findings" until the 2009 Audit was issued by the local auditors Craine, Thompson, & Jones in early 2010.
With citizens' reviewing audits and asking questions, the gig was up in 2009, and an audit finding appeared. As people became aware of the illegal loans, an auditor's e-mail was sent admitting that an auditor (Tom Jones) had been in a meeting with former City Administrator Jim Crumley and Finance Director Dynise Robertson during which Crumley directed that the illegal loans/transfers be made to cover up the poor financial situation of the City.
See Auditor's e-mail here. "Mr. Crumley suggested the entry due to the general fund's cash situation looking poor. He authorized the entry in a meeting with Dynise Robertson and Tom Jones." Both Terry Winstead, who wrote the e-mail, and Tom Jones, to whom Winstead refers, are auditors with Craine, Thompson & Jones, the city's longtime auditors. Winstead's take is that Jones was in the meeting and knew that Crumley ordered the loan/transfer, but, since Jones didn't actually pick up a pencil and make the entry for the illegal loan, there is no auditing independence issue.
But what about 2007 and 2008? Craine, Thompson & Jones were aware of and reported multiple fund loans/ transfers/switcheroos in the audits for those years. Why did CTJ fail to issue audit "findings" on illegal loans/transfers/switcheroos in the 2007 and 2008 audits? Click here for a fuller discussion of the illegal loans and other problems with the 2009 Audit.
Of course, members of CTJ are not only the city's auditors but they are also members of Millennium Square Partners, a lucky group that recently received an $890,000+ grant from the City of Morristown to help Millennium Square Partners build stores on Main Street where the old Gazette-Mail used to be.
But I digress. The Millennium Square deal is enough fodder for several separate posts...as the public waits to hear that two of the Millennium Square partners (David and Tim Wild/Wild Contractors) have managed to submit the low bid and win the contract to build Millennium Square Partners' new stores on Main Street and the City will pay $890,000 of the costs through a grant. Sweet!
Recently, the Utility Board of the City of Rockwood--in Roane County--got busted by the State Comptroller's Office for making illegal loans from its gas department to its sewer and water departments. Click here for the news article.
Rockwood city officials have now abolished their misbehaving Utility Board and City officials will oversee these departments and pay back the illegal loans of $1.3 Million--or officials could face ouster proceedings.
Morristown City officials have done the same thing for years! Illegal loans from the sewer fund to the general fund and from the sewer fund to the stormwater fund. The difference in Morristown is that it was the CITY ITSELF that was violating the law instead of some board that City officials could ceremoniously abolish to "solve" the problem.
The Comptroller's Office found out about Morristown's shenanigans in the last year. Morristown's violations had gone on for several years before that, however, but were NOT reported as audit "findings" until the 2009 Audit was issued by the local auditors Craine, Thompson, & Jones in early 2010.
With citizens' reviewing audits and asking questions, the gig was up in 2009, and an audit finding appeared. As people became aware of the illegal loans, an auditor's e-mail was sent admitting that an auditor (Tom Jones) had been in a meeting with former City Administrator Jim Crumley and Finance Director Dynise Robertson during which Crumley directed that the illegal loans/transfers be made to cover up the poor financial situation of the City.
See Auditor's e-mail here. "Mr. Crumley suggested the entry due to the general fund's cash situation looking poor. He authorized the entry in a meeting with Dynise Robertson and Tom Jones." Both Terry Winstead, who wrote the e-mail, and Tom Jones, to whom Winstead refers, are auditors with Craine, Thompson & Jones, the city's longtime auditors. Winstead's take is that Jones was in the meeting and knew that Crumley ordered the loan/transfer, but, since Jones didn't actually pick up a pencil and make the entry for the illegal loan, there is no auditing independence issue.
But what about 2007 and 2008? Craine, Thompson & Jones were aware of and reported multiple fund loans/ transfers/switcheroos in the audits for those years. Why did CTJ fail to issue audit "findings" on illegal loans/transfers/switcheroos in the 2007 and 2008 audits? Click here for a fuller discussion of the illegal loans and other problems with the 2009 Audit.
Of course, members of CTJ are not only the city's auditors but they are also members of Millennium Square Partners, a lucky group that recently received an $890,000+ grant from the City of Morristown to help Millennium Square Partners build stores on Main Street where the old Gazette-Mail used to be.
But I digress. The Millennium Square deal is enough fodder for several separate posts...as the public waits to hear that two of the Millennium Square partners (David and Tim Wild/Wild Contractors) have managed to submit the low bid and win the contract to build Millennium Square Partners' new stores on Main Street and the City will pay $890,000 of the costs through a grant. Sweet!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
October 21, 2010 How To Fix Congress ---Adaptable to State Legislatures, County Commissions, City Councils, School Boards, etc.
Congressional Reform Act of 2010 (Excellent ideas received in an e-mail)
1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below..
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
2. No Tenure/No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
3. Congress (past, present, & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future
funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these
contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below..
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
2. No Tenure/No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
3. Congress (past, present, & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future
funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these
contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
October 20, 2010 Morristown Budget Mess: $116,000 Due for 2010 Appraisal Costs But ZERO Is in the Budget To Pay This
During the City Council work session yesterday, another city budget shoe dropped, putting the City Administrator, Mayor Barile, and Council in a pickle as they try to find $116,000 to pay for the 2010 re-appraisal costs!!
The Hamblen County Assessor completed re-appraisal of all property in the City and County in early 2010. On July 30, 2010, Hamblen County billed the City of Morristown $116,000+ for the city's share of the re-appraisal costs. Yesterday, the City Council was told that the City budget that they passed in June 2010 contained exactly ZERO to pay this bill.
No one asked and no one offered an explanation as to why City Administrator Tony Cox and (former) Budget Director Brian Janish put ZERO in the 2010-2011 budget to pay for 2010 re-appraisal costs. No one asked why there was a delay of nearly three months (late July to mid-October) in bringing a bill for unbudgeted costs of $116,000 to council's attention!
Tony Cox was not at yesterday's meeting. He apparently took or was getting ready to take a trip to California to attend a meeting. Hopefully, it is a meeting that tells City Administrators how to make unbudgeted bills go away! In fairness to Cox, he came here from Virginia in early 2010--maybe he didn't understand, didn't ask, and wasn't told that the City would get a bill from the County for the re-appraisal costs.
Everyone else involved in the budget process, however, knows how the re-appraisal process goes. Budget Director Brian Janish was around during the last appraisal cycle in 2005 and knew that the City would get a bill. Of course, Janish was not at yesterday's meeting. He resigned or was "let go" by the City a few months ago, taking his vacation days and officially leaving in August after coming under fire for harassing Finance head Dynise Robertson and for numerous budgeting errors through the years.
Buddy Fielder, assistant City Administrator, was present yesterday but said nothing about the failure to include re-appraisal costs in the budget. His major "job" seems to revolve around the local airport.
According to Finance head Dynise Robertson, failing to budget for re-appraisal costs is not exactly new around here. Former City Administrator Jim Crumley and his buddy Brian Janish apparently didn't put anything in previous budgets to pay for the 2005 re-appraisal costs. Robertson said that when the bill for the 2005 re-appraisal costs came in, Crumley just miraculously "found" money to pay the bill in the Finance Department's budget. Of course, Crumley was always finding money or shifting money around and making illegal transfers between funds.
The Mayor, City Council, and City Administrator Tony Cox may have trouble "finding" $116,000 to pay for the re-appraisal in the current budget. To make it easier, I know where some money--maybe as much as $80,000--can be "found" in the current budget. Take $30,000 from the City Administrator's new slush/contingency fund (or whatever is left in that line item) and take approximately $50,000 from the Council's new $100,000 slush/contingency fund (or whatever is left in that line item) and put that money toward the City's re-appraisal bill.
Then eliminate retreats and travel by the Administrator, Mayor, and Council for the rest of the year and apply that to the bill, too. These are the people who forgot to budget anything to pay the re-appraisal bill, so most or all of the money to pay for the re-appraisal ought to come out of their budget before they make other departments pay for their mistake.
MORE BACKGROUND: Re-appraisals in Hamblen County generally take place every five years. The previous re-appraisal year was 2005. Back then, Hamblen County billed the City for its share of the 2005 re-appraisal costs (approximately $71,000) just like Hamblen County billed the City for 2010 re-appraisal costs ($116,000). If it's a re-appraisal year, everyone at the City knows this and knows that a bill will be coming! Yesterday, no one could explain why ZERO is budgeted to pay this bill.
Election years present the same situation. In election years, Hamblen County pays the election costs and bills the City for the costs of the City election. The City knows which years are election years and the City DOES put money in the budget to pay those costs.
Why do you budget for elections in election years, but you don't budget for re-appraisals in re-appraisal years?
The Hamblen County Assessor completed re-appraisal of all property in the City and County in early 2010. On July 30, 2010, Hamblen County billed the City of Morristown $116,000+ for the city's share of the re-appraisal costs. Yesterday, the City Council was told that the City budget that they passed in June 2010 contained exactly ZERO to pay this bill.
No one asked and no one offered an explanation as to why City Administrator Tony Cox and (former) Budget Director Brian Janish put ZERO in the 2010-2011 budget to pay for 2010 re-appraisal costs. No one asked why there was a delay of nearly three months (late July to mid-October) in bringing a bill for unbudgeted costs of $116,000 to council's attention!
Tony Cox was not at yesterday's meeting. He apparently took or was getting ready to take a trip to California to attend a meeting. Hopefully, it is a meeting that tells City Administrators how to make unbudgeted bills go away! In fairness to Cox, he came here from Virginia in early 2010--maybe he didn't understand, didn't ask, and wasn't told that the City would get a bill from the County for the re-appraisal costs.
Everyone else involved in the budget process, however, knows how the re-appraisal process goes. Budget Director Brian Janish was around during the last appraisal cycle in 2005 and knew that the City would get a bill. Of course, Janish was not at yesterday's meeting. He resigned or was "let go" by the City a few months ago, taking his vacation days and officially leaving in August after coming under fire for harassing Finance head Dynise Robertson and for numerous budgeting errors through the years.
Buddy Fielder, assistant City Administrator, was present yesterday but said nothing about the failure to include re-appraisal costs in the budget. His major "job" seems to revolve around the local airport.
According to Finance head Dynise Robertson, failing to budget for re-appraisal costs is not exactly new around here. Former City Administrator Jim Crumley and his buddy Brian Janish apparently didn't put anything in previous budgets to pay for the 2005 re-appraisal costs. Robertson said that when the bill for the 2005 re-appraisal costs came in, Crumley just miraculously "found" money to pay the bill in the Finance Department's budget. Of course, Crumley was always finding money or shifting money around and making illegal transfers between funds.
The Mayor, City Council, and City Administrator Tony Cox may have trouble "finding" $116,000 to pay for the re-appraisal in the current budget. To make it easier, I know where some money--maybe as much as $80,000--can be "found" in the current budget. Take $30,000 from the City Administrator's new slush/contingency fund (or whatever is left in that line item) and take approximately $50,000 from the Council's new $100,000 slush/contingency fund (or whatever is left in that line item) and put that money toward the City's re-appraisal bill.
Then eliminate retreats and travel by the Administrator, Mayor, and Council for the rest of the year and apply that to the bill, too. These are the people who forgot to budget anything to pay the re-appraisal bill, so most or all of the money to pay for the re-appraisal ought to come out of their budget before they make other departments pay for their mistake.
MORE BACKGROUND: Re-appraisals in Hamblen County generally take place every five years. The previous re-appraisal year was 2005. Back then, Hamblen County billed the City for its share of the 2005 re-appraisal costs (approximately $71,000) just like Hamblen County billed the City for 2010 re-appraisal costs ($116,000). If it's a re-appraisal year, everyone at the City knows this and knows that a bill will be coming! Yesterday, no one could explain why ZERO is budgeted to pay this bill.
Election years present the same situation. In election years, Hamblen County pays the election costs and bills the City for the costs of the City election. The City knows which years are election years and the City DOES put money in the budget to pay those costs.
Why do you budget for elections in election years, but you don't budget for re-appraisals in re-appraisal years?
Friday, October 01, 2010
October 1, 2010 State Representative Candidates at CFA Debates
The candidates gave opening statements, fielded approximately 11 questions, and then gave closing statements.
The debate was sponsored by Citizens for Accountability. A video of the debate will be on the CFA website in just a few days.
October 1, 2010 State Senate Candidates at CFA Debate
Each candidate gave an opening statement, fielded approximately 11 questions, and then gave a closing statement.
The debate was sponsored by Citizens for Accountability. Video of the debate will be available for viewing on the CFA website in just a few days.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
September 30, 2010 Miller-Mullins and Southerland-West Debates Tonight at VFW at 6:00 PM
State Representative Candidates Don Miller (R) and Larry Mullins (D) will face each other tonight in a debate in the VFW Community Room (2503 East A. J. Highway) beginning at 6:00 PM.
State Senate Candidates Steve Southerland (R) and Jack West (D) will participate in a debate beginning at 7:15 PM in the VFW Community Room.
Citizens for Accountability is the sponsor of these debates.
State Senate Candidates Steve Southerland (R) and Jack West (D) will participate in a debate beginning at 7:15 PM in the VFW Community Room.
Citizens for Accountability is the sponsor of these debates.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
September 29, 2010 State Senate and Representative Candidates Debate at VFW Tomorrow
Tennessee State Representative candidates Don Miller (Republican) and Larry Mullins (Democrat) will participate in a public debate at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Community Room at 6:00 PM on Thursday, September 30.
A debate between Tennesssee State Senate candidates Steve Southerland (Republican) and Jack West (Democrat) will follow at approximately 7:15 PM.
Citizens for Accountability (CFA) is sponsoring the debates. These debates are open to the public, and there is no charge to attend. There will be a short intermission between each debate. The Community Room is located upstairs at the VFW building at 2503 East Andrew Johnson Highway..
The CFA press release is here.
A debate between Tennesssee State Senate candidates Steve Southerland (Republican) and Jack West (Democrat) will follow at approximately 7:15 PM.
Citizens for Accountability (CFA) is sponsoring the debates. These debates are open to the public, and there is no charge to attend. There will be a short intermission between each debate. The Community Room is located upstairs at the VFW building at 2503 East Andrew Johnson Highway..
The CFA press release is here.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
September 16, 2010 Pilot Ejects Just Seconds Before His Jet Crashes
Click on the link below to see an amazing video of a pilot ejecting just seconds before his fighter jet crashes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYFqXPUgeog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYFqXPUgeog
Friday, September 10, 2010
September 10, 2010 Mayor Barile: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
If a picture is worth a thousand words, these two pictures must be worth two thousand words.
DO AS I SAY.
Mayor Barile and Chamber of Commerce: Spend your money and sales tax dollars in Morristown! Click to enlarge and read the banner: Buy Local. Shop Chamber
NOT AS I DO
Everybody goes out of town on personal business or to shop or eat from time to time. But it is offensive and insulting to the citizens and taxpayers of Morristown when Mayor Barile, five of the six Councilmembers, and City Administrator Tony Cox travel to JOHNSON CITY and spend their own money AND City taxpayer dollars at a 2-day "City retreat" in a luxurious JOHNSON CITY HOTEL. The City Chambers at the Morristown City Center are not shabby and are free for council use, but the Mayor and five Councilmembers decided they would spend some taxpayer money to help them get away from MORRISTOWN and Morristown taxpayers and go to JOHNSON CITY on August 27-28 for their discussions of CITY OF MORRISTOWN finances, sewer problems, and other issues. Councilman Gene Brooks did not participate in the JOHNSON CITY retreat.
Click here to see pictures of Mayor Barile, City Administrator Tony Cox, and Councilmembers Bob Garrett, Claude Jinks, Frank McGuffin, Doc Rooney, and Kay Senter discussing CITY OF MORRISTOWN business while spending City of Morristown taxpayer dollars on food and a "conference room" at the luxurious and pricey Carnegie Hotel in JOHNSON CITY.
DO AS I SAY.
Mayor Barile and Chamber of Commerce: Spend your money and sales tax dollars in Morristown! Click to enlarge and read the banner: Buy Local. Shop Chamber
NOT AS I DO
Everybody goes out of town on personal business or to shop or eat from time to time. But it is offensive and insulting to the citizens and taxpayers of Morristown when Mayor Barile, five of the six Councilmembers, and City Administrator Tony Cox travel to JOHNSON CITY and spend their own money AND City taxpayer dollars at a 2-day "City retreat" in a luxurious JOHNSON CITY HOTEL. The City Chambers at the Morristown City Center are not shabby and are free for council use, but the Mayor and five Councilmembers decided they would spend some taxpayer money to help them get away from MORRISTOWN and Morristown taxpayers and go to JOHNSON CITY on August 27-28 for their discussions of CITY OF MORRISTOWN finances, sewer problems, and other issues. Councilman Gene Brooks did not participate in the JOHNSON CITY retreat.
Click here to see pictures of Mayor Barile, City Administrator Tony Cox, and Councilmembers Bob Garrett, Claude Jinks, Frank McGuffin, Doc Rooney, and Kay Senter discussing CITY OF MORRISTOWN business while spending City of Morristown taxpayer dollars on food and a "conference room" at the luxurious and pricey Carnegie Hotel in JOHNSON CITY.
Monday, September 06, 2010
September 6, 2010 The State Comptroller Requests Explanations from the City and the City Auditors about Violations of State Law and Problems with 2009 Audit
I have maintained for a long time that the City of Morristown should get a fresh set of auditing eyes to perform its annual audits. This 5-page letter (click each page to enlarge, read, or print out) from the State Comptroller's Office provides more proof that new eyes are needed. In addition, the GFOA reommends that auditors be changed periodically as a "best practice."
In the 2009 City audit, the Comptroller points out that certain figures don't match up. Lowland Wastewater debt was taken on for 25 years without approval from the Comptroller's Division of State and Local Finance. MUS loans to the telecom fibernet system were also apparently not approved in advance by the Division of State and Local Finance.
Lots of problems with reporting requirements and reported amounts that don't agree. Improper categories. Grant reporting is questioned.
Notes to the financial statements did not include or had incomplete disclosures. And on and on.
There may be explanations for some of the questioned items and some may be the result of mistakes. But there is no doubt that the auditors knew or should have known that "loans" from one fund to another required city council AND state approval. There is no doubt that the auditors knew in recent years that the City was in poor financial shape but failed to call specific attention to this.
Apparently, the auditors thought that if the City could figure it out, OK. And if the City didn't bother to look at the audits (which is what happened) or couldn't figure it out, then the auditors could say "No, I didn't point out that you were broke or making illegal loans/transfers, but it was in the audit." Sort of like your doctor giving you a blood test and handing you the results to figure out for yourself--even though he knows that you have a specific disease that needs immediate treatment.
Besides the quality and accuracy of the 2009 audit and the failure of the local auditors to disclose the illegal loans and transfers and switching of money, one has to consider the coziness of the auditors (Craine, Thompson & Jones) with the entity (City of Morristown) that they are auditing.
The auditors are local businessmen who have failed repeatedly in recent audits to report that the City was violating state law in swapping/loaning money from fund to fund without a vote from City Council and without obtaining the required approval of the Comptroller's Division of State and Local Finance. The state is pointing out numerous problems by just looking at the 2009 audit. There is no telling what a true detailed examination of the city's books for the year 2009 (Former City Adm. Jim Crumley's last full year) would show or what a thorough look at prior audits would show.
The current auditors (Craine, Thompson & Jones) have been the city's sole auditing firm for about three decades. The local auditors claim that they perform an "independent" audit of the City. However, the fact that the auditors are local business people who have very strong social and economic ties to the same organizations, clubs, churches, sports groups, business groups (Chamber and Industrial Board), and schools as do the individuals (City Administrator, Mayor, City Council) who represent the City of Morristown creates an obvious "independence" problem. It may be an "independent" audit from the auditors' technical perspective, but ethically and in a world of common sense, it's not "independent." The auditors are aware of "independence" questions, and but they have atempted to explain away their involvement and knowledge of illegal loans/transfers between funds, putting all blame on Crumley AFTER Crumley was fired. Click here to see a copy of the auditor's e-mail message sent to Interim Administrator Lynn Wampler many months AFTER Crumley was fired.
It's not bad that the auditors belong to the same groups and organizations as do Morristown city officials. However, true auditing "independence" is questionable when strong social and economic ties exist between auditor and auditee and when the auditors have already been shown to have failed to call attention to violations of state law by the City and dire financial problems in City government.
Another new "independence" problem has arisen recently because members of the auditing firm apparently have about a 1/3 interest in an entity (Millennium Square Partners) that is receiving $890,000 from the City through a grant. Who/what auditor is going to bite the hand that is feeding it $890,000? Who/what auditor is going to point out the poor financial status of the City or violations of state law by the very people (City officials) who have just given you $890,000? In next year's City audit (FY 2011), the auditors will be auditing their own $890,000 grant!
This potential conflict of the auditors as recipient of an $890,000 grant was discussed briefly when the City was voting on whether to hire new auditors or renew its audit contract with Craine, Thompson & Jones. One of the local auditors who was present at that meeting, Tom Jones, told the City Council that there was no conflict and that the auditors only had a very small interest in Millennium Square Partnership. Apparently, however, members of the auditing firm have as large an interest as anyone else (David and Tim Wild) in the Millennium Partnership and have a larger interest than the other two remaining members of the Millennium Partnership--Dr. Sidney Boyd and William (Bill) Young).
I guess it all depends on what the meaning of a "small interest" is and it all depends on the meaning/ interpretation of true auditor "independence."
The City needs fresh eyes looking at its financial reports. The current auditors have contributed directly or indirectly to continual violations of state law by their failure to report violations and by their willingness to let these violations slide by. The City needs to follow accounting best practices, hire outside auditors, and then rotate auditors at least every five years.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
August 31, 2010 Mayor Barile and Five of the Six City Councilmembers Meet in JOHNSON CITY To Discuss Morristown Finances, Beautification, Sewer, Increasing Revenue (Taxes, Fees, etc)
Over the course of two days, these seven individuals spent around 10 hours discussing City of Morristown financial woes, unemployment, sewer problems, and their Morristown wish lists.
The City was just barely able to pay its bills last month, and that led to discussion of ways to raise more revenue (translation: dip into YOUR pocket and take more of YOUR money to cover for years of excessive spending and mismanagement). Some ideas for revenue enhancement included adding additional "user fees" on top of the new $10/month garbage user fee that will start in September, increasing property taxes, and increasing sewer fees.
Bob Garrett won the prize for one-liners: Now we know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck.
If ever the "news"paper should have covered a meeting, this was it. But, alas, no one from the "news"paper was there on either day even though these were open meetings. Bob Moore, the "news"paper's city government reporter, didn't make it to either meeting.
Of course, the intent of having a meeting of the MORRISTOWN City Council in JOHNSON CITY was to keep the pesky public out of the way. On keeping the public away from these meetings, Mayor Barile, the five councilmembers in attendance, and new City Administrator Tony Cox can say "mission accomplished." Almost.
Citizens for Accountability which tapes local meetings had representatives in Johnson City on both days. Both meetings were taped, and the tapes will be available for viewing in 1-2 weeks. I'll provide info and a link to where the tapes can be viewed at a later date.
City Administrator Tony Cox plans to prepare a summary report of the Johnson City discussions and will no doubt provide it to the "news"paper. Maybe the "news"paper will use the City's summary/press release to write an article or a series of articles about the Morristown City Council's retreat in Johnson City.
I'll post documents and handouts from the meetings in the next few days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)