October 11, 2009 One of My Public Requests Is Answered: Committee Agendas Are on the Hamblen County Website

Wow!  For a long time now, I have asked the county commission to put committee agendas and minutes on the Hamblen County website.

At long last, County Mayor David Purkey and his staff have finally done it. And it wasn't hard at all.

Click here to see the agenda for tomorrow's October 12 Finance Committee meeting.  [You will also see that agendas for nine Finance meetings long gone by (January 09-September 09) have just now been posted, and if you hit on archives, even older agendas are available.] 

[NOTE: The chairmanship of the Finance Committee has been changed by Chairman Stancil Ford.  Ford has removed Joe Spoone from his position as Finance Chairman. Ford has named Commissioner Louis "Doe" Jarvis, who was appointed earlier this year to replace Joe Swann, as Chair of this year's Finance Committee. Joe Spoone is rumored to be contemplating a run for County Trustee, a position being vacated by Bill Brittain who is running for County Mayor. Ford is the one who named Spoone as Finance Chair for 08-09, but he has replaced Spoone as Chairman for the current 09-10 year.]

The Public Services agenda for October 12, 2009, is here.  As with Finance, Public Services agendas for Jan 09-Sept 09 have just now been posted, and if you hit on archives, even older agendas are available.

When I made a request for posting of agendas and minutes of committee meetings in late 2006/early 2007, committee minutes were posted for January 2007 and then no more minutes. Agendas were posted from January 2007-August 2008 and then no more. 

Even when the Mayor and his staff stopped posting the agendas, I continued to ask privately and in public meetings for better use of the website, more information, and agendas and minutes in particular. Because I believe in open and accountable government, I am extremely pleased to see that the agendas for tomorrow's meetings have not only been posted--but they were posted BEFORE the meeting.

NOTE: An article in the local newspaper dated September 18, 2009, Page A-3, had stated that agendas would be posted after the meetings had taken place. From the article Beginning in October, Shelton (Amber Shelton, the Mayor's Executive Assistant) will post committee agendas but not until after the committees have met, she said.  The next paragraph quotes Shelton: "We're looking at putting them on before but sometimes there's just not enough time before the meetings. This way (posting the agenda after the meeting), people will have a reference so they can look back and see when an issue was discussed." 

When this article appeared in the paper, I, like most people, questioned the usefulness of an agenda posted AFTER a meeting. I knew that committee agendas are prepared and printed and mailed out to commissioners about 5 days before the committee meetings, so I knew the agendas could be posted online about 4-5 days before the meetings in order to give citizens and taxpayers a heads-up on what is coming before the committees--if the Mayor wanted it done.

The next web project should be to post MINUTES of these committee meetings. It's important to know what is going to be discussed (Agendas), but it's just as important to be able to see the minutes of those meetings to find out who was present, what discussion took place, what recommendation, if any, is coming out of the committee to the full commission, and the record of votes taken.

And, finally, a very important change would be to have those committee meetings at a time when citizens and taxpayers can actually attend if they want to.

You can have an agenda and you may be interested in a particular item that is going to be discussed, but unless you are retired or don't work or can take off work for an extended and uncertain period of time, you probably can't make it to a set of meetings that start at 11:30 AM with no set time for any meeting except for the first one.

Stancil Ford was elected to the commission in 2006 and became chairman in September 2006. Stancil, as Chairman, changed committee meetings from an afternoon meeting time to 11:30 AM and said that he changed to the 11:30 meeting time so people could attend the meetings on their "lunch hour."  Give me a break!

Stancil and several commissioners are retired. Other commissioners own their own company or have high managerial positions that allow them to leave work and attend these 11:30 AM meetings without losing pay. Working citizens and taxpayers don't have the same scheduling luxury that these commissioners have.  Stancil could change the meetings to a more taxpayer-friendly meeting time next month if he wanted to. Of course, other commissioners could also bring this up for public discussion if they wanted to see taxpayer-friendly meeting times.

The commission meets as a body once a month at 5:00 PM on the Thursday after the 3rd Monday. At commission meetings, it's usually just push-a-button, record the vote, and meeting adjourned.  

Committees of the full commission meet on the second Monday of each month. Committees are where the real discussion, if there is any, takes place, before an item is sent to the full body. More time is allowed for public input at committee meetings. Committees should meet at or near 5:00 PM like the full commission does--a more taxpayer-friendly meeting time--instead of 11:30 AM meetings which effectively shut out the average working taxpayer.

October 6, 2009 City Agenda for Today Posted Yesterday: Work Session Includes Discussion of Meeting Times

I contacted the City yesterday morning when I saw that the agenda for today's meeting and work session had not been posted on the city website as is customary.

I received a reply e-mail yesterday afternoon that said that the agenda was usually posted on the Friday before the council meeting (Monday morning at the latest), that it was not posted last Friday due to an employee being out, and that it had just been posted. You can see the agenda that was posted yesterday here.

The work session agenda includes "Discussion of Council Meeting time." Charles Cook brought this up at a council meeting several weeks ago asking that meetings be held later than 4:00 PM so that more people can attend if they want to. Click here for Mr. Cook's request. 

Hopefully, the council will decide to have regular council meetings and also Finance Committee meetings at a later time when more people can attend if they want to. 

The Finance Committee meetings, which are currently held at 3:30 PM on certain Thursdays, are where real discussion and information sharing takes place, so it would be particularly important to have those at a time when the working city taxpayer/sewer fee payer can attend.

Finance Committee agendas need to be provided in advance of the meetings so people can decide whether an item of interest to them is on the agenda.

The discussion of later council meeting times will take place in "work session." Council meets in work session after adjournment of the regular council meeting, so you have to stick around if you are interested in work session discussion.


Click here, here, here, here, and here for last Thursday's Finance Committee items to see why Finance Committee meetings are especially important!

September 14, 2009 Hamblen County Website. Are Changes Coming?

As one who was directly involved in pushing for and implementing a Hamblen County Government website when I served on the county commission, I asked then and I have continued to ask that the site be better utilized to provide much more information than is currently available.

If you go to the current Hamblen County Government website (http://www.hamblencountygovernment.us/), you will find that agendas and minutes of committee meetings were posted in January 2007. Minutes then ceased to be posted. Agendas were posted from January 2007 through August 2008 and then they, too, ceased to be posted. I spoke publicly to county commission around January 2007 about the lack of agendas and minutes. The response from the Mayor's Office was the one posting of minutes and several months of posting agendas and then it all stopped.

I guess you have to keep going back month after month to remind the Mayor and County Commission to provide public information, notice about meetings, and minutes.

One county official, County Clerk Linda Wilder, has actively utilized the county website to provide information and services. She posts minutes of the meetings of the full commission, and she also provides several online services. [If Wilder were in charge of committee agendas and minutes, she would probably post both, but these, unfortunately, are taken care of, or not taken care of, in the Mayor's Office.]

I believe that this serious underutilization of the website is about to change, and it's long overdue.

The capability to post committee agendas and minutes and commission agendas has always been there. However, the desire to serve the public and to provide this and other information has not always been present in all county offices.

I am hopeful that the time has now arrived when our elected and appointed officials recognize that they have held back on providing information to citizens and taxpayers in an easily accessible format long enough.

Another quick addition to the website should be showing the times of meetings and listing the actual meeting dates for each month. For most people, trying to remember when the Hamblen County Commission meets just creates confusion. The Commission meets on the Thursday after the third Monday of each month. I am sure that there is or was a reason for this schedule at some point in time, but today it just creates unneeded confusion.

Hopefully, more and more county offices are coming around to actively using the county's website and are abandoning the standard government knee-jerk reaction of holding back information. Voluntarily providing information to the public, voters, and taxpayers. Now that's a novel idea.

Perhaps, the Mayor is finally ready to post the 09-10 county budget that was adopted months ago! Maybe the Mayor is even ready to post committee agendas and minutes again and commission agendas! That would be special, and I've only been asking for that for 6-7 years.

October 20, 2005 Commission's Agenda for Today

I have remarked several times--most recently at our October 10th committee meetings-- that the agenda for meetings of the Hamblen County Commission should be published in the local newspaper. Since this is not done yet and people do not know all the items that may come up and be voted on, I am publishing the October agenda here.

All Commission and Committee meetings are open to the public.

Since the Commission has taken no official action yet to change its Public Comments portion of the meetings, citizens can still address the commission at the beginning of the meeting. Those who are listed on the agenda as visitors are individuals who signed up in advance and who get 5 minutes to speak. Others in the audience who ask to be recognized may speak for 3 minutes.

OPENING
Call to Order
Prayer
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call

Recognition of Visitors (Public Comments)
i. Officers who Aided in Hurricane Relief
ii. Charles Wilson
iii. Wayne Dollar
iv. Rev. Nigel Reid, Sr.

1. Minutes, Notaries and Appointments/Confirmations
a. Approval of Sept. 22 Minutes
b. Approval of Notaries and Bonds
c. Elections/Appointments/Confirmations

2. Planning Commission Report
a. 5018 Copper Ridge Road
b. 4500 S. Davy Crockett Pkwy

3. Old Business
a. Resolution Regarding Illegal Aliens (Roll Call)

4. New Business
a. Resolution Recognizing Morristown-Hamblen East as a National Blue Ribbon School

5. Finance Committee Report
a. Operating Summaries 9/30/05
b. Review of Monthly checks submitted by Office of the County Mayor
c. Hospital Debt Service Expenditure Rules/Regulations
d. Request for $60,000 from Hamblen County Board of Education for International School (Roll Call)
e. Drainage Bond Release
f. Budget Amendments
-----i. General Fund
--------a. Agriculture Extension (Roll Call)
--------b. Planning & Zoning (Roll Call)
g. Bids/RFP's
-----i. Custodial Bid (Roll Call)

6. Construction Oversight Committee Report
a. Discussion of Architectural Contract for Jail 2nd floor build-out (Roll Call)

7. Personnel/Policies & Procedures Committee Report
a. Discussion of Maintenance Positions (Roll Call)
b. Discussion of Overtime Issues (Roll Call)

8. Public Services Committee Report
a. Discussion of Junkyards
-----i. Proposed Amendments to Zoning Regulations Affecting Grandfathered Junkyards
----ii. Resolution Proposing Changes to Zoning Regulations Regarding Grandfathered Junkyards (Roll Call)
b. Resolution Regarding Illegal Aliens (Roll Call) (See Old Business at start of meeting)
c. Discussion of Central Location for Garbage Cans in Trailer Parks
d. Presentation of Tourism Statistics for Hamblen County
e. Discussion of Handling Public Comments
f. Letter to Cable Companies Verifying Times for Airing County Commission Meetings

9. Items of Interest
a. Recognition of Vice-Chairman Guy Collins for 46 years of service and Commissioners Larry Baker, Bobby
Reinhardt, and Joe Spoone for Service in excess of 20 years.
b. School System Diversity Compilation

10. Open Floor Discussion

11. Adjournment

A Roll Call Vote Is Not Taken on All Agenda Items. Roll Call Votes are Required When Money is Involved (An Appropriation or Budget Amendment).