Former Hawkins County Assistant District Attorney Doug Godbee has asked Judge Duane Slone to grant him pretrial diversion.
Godbee, charged with soliciting sexual favors from female defendants in return for leniency, wants to avoid a trial, move straight to probation, and have his record wiped clean if there are no new charges during the probation period.
The most recent charges are not the first time that Godbee has run afoul of the law. In 2006, Godbee resigned as Hawkins County prosecutor amid allegations by a female defendant of improper sexual conduct. He was later re-hired by District Attorney Berkeley Bell.
There are more legal proceedings ahead as a result of Godbee's conduct. Several women who claim to have been victims of Godbee's "pleas" for sex have filed civil suits against the State of Tennessee in the Tennessee Claims Commission alleging negligent supervision of Godbee.
Mayor Thomas had barely finished his nomination of Bruce Sluder to the MUC (Morristown Utilities Commission) Board when Paul LeBel made a motion to disapprove.
LeBel, Senter, Bivens, and Garrett then promptly sent Bruce Sluder to the ever-growing MUC dustbin. [Councilman Claude Jinks, a member of the LeBel Five on this issue, was absent due to a fall earlier in the day.
Mayor Thomas and Councilman Brooks supported Sluder.
Sluder becomes the seventh person to be nominated by Mayor Thomas (from a list that MUC provides to the Mayor) and the seventh to be summarily rejected by city councilman/county commissioner Paul LeBel and sidekicks.
Why the serial rejections of local CPAs, presidents of companies, engineers, and businessmen whose names have been sent to the Mayor and Council by the Morristown Utilities Commission? They aren't George McGuffin.
The Morristown Utility Commission met yesterday. One item on the agenda was to nominate (for the seventh time!) a slate of three candidates to fill the expired term of Morristown Utility Commissioner George McGuffin.
This time around MUC nominated George McGuffin, Bruce Sluder, and Jerry Isaacs. This seventh slate of three will be presented to Mayor Danny Thomas who will then select and present one name to the City Council for approval of disapproval.
What is wrong with these people serving on the MUC Board? Why are they automatically rejected by the LeBel Five? They are NOT George McGuffin.
Although McGuffin's term expired on July 31, 2011, he continues to sit on the Commission and chair the meetings as a "holdover."
McGuffin is seen in the video (above) sitting at the head of the table chairing the meeting. McGuffin's brother-in-law is Dick Jessee. Jessee was at the MUC meeting wearing his MUC attorney hat.
On November 1st when City Council considers Mayor Thomas's MUC nomination, Jessee will be at the City Council meeting wearing his City of Morristown attorney hat.
ASIDE: Jessee's law partner Herbert Bacon was nominated to serve on the MUC Board in 2000 and continued to serve until 2005 when he was forced to resign after the state attorney general opined that Bacon was ineligible to serve on the MUC Board because he was a General Sessions Judge.
The LeBel Five (Paul LeBel, Bob Garrett, Kay Senter, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks) have made it clear that they will vote against anyone whom Mayor Thomas nominates to replace George McGuffin on the MUC Board.
And the LeBel Five will continue to vote "no" on every mayoral nomination while they ask Rep. Don Miller and State Sen. Steve Southerland to get the state legislature to allow the MUC private act to be changed by a vote of the LeBel Five.
They LeBel gang wants to change the law to completely eliminate the mayor's involvement in the nomination process. Then the LeBel Five will nominate and vote to allow the 34-year McGuffin/MUC dynasty to continue.
At yesterday's council meeting, the LeBel Five said Mike Davidson, President of JTEKT Automotive, is not good enough to serve on the Morristown Utility System (MUS) Board of Commissioners.
The Lebel Five are Paul LeBel, Bob Garrett, Kay Senter, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks.
Davidson is the sixth mayoral nominee to be rejected by a group on council that thinks that there is no one in Morristown--except George McGuffin--who is qualified and able to sit in what has been the McGuffin seat on the MUS Board for over 30 years.
SIDENOTE: Yesterday, Gene Brooks accidentally voted with the LeBel Five against Davidson---just like Bob Garrett accidentally voted with Mayor Thomas on a MUS appointment weeks ago.
Gene Brooks supported Davidson and made a motion to approve Davidson. Brooks' motion died for lack of a second. When LeBel made the motion to reject Davidson, Brooks pulled a "Bob Garrett" and accidentally voted YES on LeBel's motion to reject Davidson.
As Garrett and Brooks have discovered, the vote on a negative motion is sometimes hard to handle. Since LeBel's motion was to reject the nominee, councilmembers who wanted to "reject" Davidson had to cast a YES vote on the reject motion.
It's the difference between asking "do you NOT want Mike Davidson" instead of asking "do you want Mike Davidson?"
LeBel and Senter also did a nice tag-team production whining and demanding that the Mayor act as their social secretary notifying them about upcoming meetings, but that is for another post.
The Mayor handled it well. He told the two-some--who were the ringleaders in the local "Occupy the Mayor's Office" movement--that he no longer had much access to the Mayor's Office. Thomas then asked the City Administrator to provide meeting information to LeBel, Senter, and all councilmembers which is what should happen anyway.
The MUS (Morristown Utility Systems) Board of Commissioners met this morning in an "emergency" meeting to pick a slate of three names to submit to Morristown Mayor Danny Thomas to fill the expired term of George McGuffin.
Acting according to the MUS Private Act, Thomas will submit one of the three MUS-provided names to the full council for approval or disapproval at the next meeting of City Council on October 18th.
At today's MUS meeting, Max Biery suggested George McGuffin, Mike Davidson, and John Stroud. Gene Jolley mentioned Alan Silver in place of John Stroud. Lynn Elkins then put Bruce Sluder's name in the mix, and Harold Nichols quickly voiced his support for Sluder.
Elkins made a motion to submit the names of George McGuffin, Mike Davidson, and Bruce Sluder to Mayor Thomas, and the vote by the MUS Board was unanimous.
At the October 18th council meeting, Mayor Thomas will nominate one (of the MUS three) to council approval or disapproval. All FIVE previous mayoral nominees---Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, Carroll Fowler, Wally Long, John Allen--have been rejected by council. Why? None of them were George McGuffin.
So, unless George McGuffin voluntarily bows out and releases the LeBel Five to vote for someone else, we may be looking at the SIXTH rejection of a good and highly qualified person simply because that person is not George McGuffin and, therefore, is unacceptable to the LeBel Five.
MUS Chairman George McGuffin did not come to today's MUS meeting. Harold Nichols presided.
John R. Allen, a local engineer and businessman, was nominated for the MUS (Morristown Utility System) Board by Mayor Danny Thomas at yesterday's city council meeting. His was one of three names submitted to Mayor Thomas by the MUS Board.
Gene Brooks made a motion to approve Allen. His motion failed to get a second. Mayor Thomas, as chairman of council meetings, can not make or second a motion.
Kay Senter then made a motion to not approve Allen. Paul LeBel seconded the motion.
Allen's nomination was then quickly voted down by the LeBel Five (Paul LeBel, Kay Senter, Bob Garrett, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks). Mayor Thomas and Gene Brooks supported Allen.
The quick rejection was delayed slightly by difficulties with the automated voting machines as everyone had to vote "abstain" on Brooks's motion in order to clear the machines for the vote on rejection of Allen.
Allen thus goes down as the FIFTH person to be told by LeBel and Company that he is just not good enough to sit on the MUS Board--not good enough to take the "McGuffin" seat.
Brooks asks at one point why these people are being sent up/for rejection. Councilmember Senter says that this is the "process." Councilmember Garrett says this is "democracy."
The MUS Board of Commissioners (George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Gene Jolley, Lynn Elkins, Max Biery) met on September 29, 2011. The Board wasted no time in nominating three individuals for the seat currently held by longtime MUS Board member George McGuffin.
The three persons nominated by the MUS Board are: George McGuffin, Mike Davidson, and John Allen.
Max Biery made the motion, and in less than two minutes the three were selected by acclamation. Click on the video. [MUS has rescinded its previous "no-taping" edict, unofficially allowing its 9/20/11 meeting to be taped and voting "officially" at its 9/29/11 meeting to allow taping of its meetings with a few restrictions.]
At City Council's October 4 meeting, Mayor Danny Thomas will submit one of the three names to City Council for Council's approval or disapproval--just as Thomas has done on FOUR previous occasions.
Thus far, the LeBel/McGuffin group has rejected all FOUR of the Mayor's previous selections.
Based on the track record of the LeBel Five (Paul LeBel, Claude Jinks, Bob Garrett, Kay Senter, and Chris Bivens), the Mayor's nomination of anyone except George McGuffin at the October 4 meeting of the City Council will be shot down quickly with the LeBel Five insisting that no one within the city limits can take George's place on the MUS Board.
Paul LeBel, who is also a county commissioner, supported George McGuffin's son Frank in Frank's race against Mayor Danny Thomas in May 2011. LeBel has never gotten over Danny Thomas's convincing victory over Frank McGuffin, dislikes Mayor Thomas, and has voted FOUR times to reject all FOUR of Mayor Thomas's previous nominees.
LeBel is determined to oppose almost any idea, suggestion, or innovation by the man (Danny Thomas) who defeated LeBel's personal choice for mayor (Frank McGuffin).
LeBel has even resorted to sending out letters to councilmembers --outside of a public meeting--to get councilmembers to sign on to Paul's two-prong plan (1) to take away the City Mayor's cell phone and (2) to "timeshare" the City Mayor's office, purportedly so Paul and buddies can talk with their "constituents" in the Mayor's office at the City Center instead of in the nearby conference room or in council chambers.
NOTE: LeBel managed a 24-vote victory over Charles Cook in the May 2011 four-man race for the at-large city council seat. LeBel is also a county commissioner, having been first elected to the county commission in a close race in 2006. During the past 5 years on county commission, LeBel has NEVER tried to "timeshare" any county office, has NEVER asked to use any space at the courthouse to meet with constituents, and has NEVER attempted to take away the County Mayor's cell phone.
Claude Jinks, whose daughter-in-law Jackie Jinks works at MUS, has voted three times to reject the mayor's nomination of anyone "other than George."
Bob Garrett, who worked at MUS for over 40 years and supported George's son Frank in Frank's unsuccessful May 2011 mayoral race against Danny Thomas, has voted four times to reject each of Mayor Thomas's four previous nominees. Garrett is in his first term on council with a term that expires in May 2013.
Kay Senter is another who has voted four times to reject Mayor Thomas's nominee. Senter, who has been on council for years and years, will be up for re-election in May 2013 if she chooses to run again.
Chris Bivens, who rode the anti-incumbent tide to a victory over longtime councilmember William "Doc" Rooney, abstained once and then joined the LeBel Five, voting three times to reject the Mayor's nominee.
These are the five councilmembers who have banded together to let everyone in Morristown and across the state know that there is no one in the city limits of Morristown who can serve the next five-year term on the MUS Board of Commissioners except George McGuffin.
The LeBel Five are being encouraged to hold firm and keep rejecting anyone other than George until January 2012 at which time the LeBel Five/George McGuffin intend to ask State Senator Steve Southerland and State Representative Don Miller to change the law so that the LeBel Five can officially put George McGuffin back on the MUS Board instead of simply blocking the Mayor's nomination of CPAs, business owners, and plant managers.
MUS is just another board where one appointment turns into another and another--until for all practical purposes it is a lifetime appointment with no one else getting a chance to serve until the appointed/anointed one steps aside or passes on.
The final agenda item at this past Tuesday's council meeting was the Paul LeBel "letter."
The letter, proposing that the Mayor's small office at the City Center become a timeshare space for all councilmembers and that the Mayor's cell phone be taken away, can be seen here.
LeBel sent his letter out several weeks ago and got four councilmembers to sign on to the changes outside of a public meeting. LeBel never brought his letter or its proposals to council for public discussion or for a public vote.
As soon as LeBel had four signatures on his letter (LeBel, Bob Garrett, Kay Senter, and Chris Bivens), LeBel quickly made out a schedule for timesharing the Mayor's office and had city staff type it up and send it out. Click here to see the schedule.
Gene Brooks made it clear that he didn't like LeBel using a letter that was sent and signed outside of a public meeting to change longtime policy and practice. Brooks added that LeBel didn't discuss any timeshare schedule with Brooks. LeBel just put Brooks name on a schedule and sent it out and posted it on the city's website.
Brooks added that he would not have agreed to be listed and that he does not want to be part of taking over or using the Mayor's office and, if that is done, he would give his timeshare to the Mayor.
Mayor Danny Thomas added that he has no problem in leaving the Mayor's office and working elsewhere when a councilmember wants to meet with a constituent in the small Mayor's office even though it might be an inconvenience.
But Thomas added that if a councilmember signs on to a scheduled period of time in the Mayor's office, then that councilmember should show up and be there.
This remark was directed at LeBel who set himself first (of course) to occupy the Mayor's office. But when his scheduled time came, LeBel came in 3 hours late and then only stayed for one hour of his "scheduled" five-hour stint in the Mayor's office. Click here.
Thomas also said that if council wants the cell phone that Thomas was given by the City when he took office, then there should be a public vote.
The usually combative LeBel was silent and made no motion to follow through with officially taking the phone away through a public vote at Tuesday's meeting.
Neither LeBel nor any of the signers of the LeBel letter participated in the public discussion of the office/cell phone issues at Tuesday's public meeting. Neither LeBel nor any of the signers of the LeBel letter made a motion to put approval of the office/cell phone issues to a vote at Tuesday's public meeting.
Yesterday the MUS Board of Commissioners sent a FOURTH list of three nominees to Mayor Danny Thomas for the Board seat that expired on July 31, 2011. The three were George McGuffin, Wally Long, and Mike Davidson.
For the FOURTH time, the Mayor picked one of the names (Wallace "Wally" Long) and presented that name to Council.
Mayor Thomas barely got the name of his FOURTH nominee out when Paul LeBel immediately moved to reject the nomination and Bob Garrett, who worked for MUS/George McGuffin for decades, quickly seconded.
Five councilmembers then voted "YES" on LeBel's motion to reject Wally Long: Paul LeBel, Bob Garrett, Kay Senter, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks.
Two voted "NO" on LeBel's motion to reject Long: Gene Brooks and Mayor Thomas.
Now FOUR citizens that were considered and nominated for the MUS Board have failed to gain the approval of the group on council that wants George McGuffin to get yet another 5-year term to add to the 34+ years that he has already been on this Board.
The four that LeBel and followers have decided thus far are not acceptable as MUS Board members(despite their nomination by MUS and selection by the Mayor) are: Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, Carroll Fowler, and now Wally Long.
For LeBel, Garrett, and followers only one person in the City of Morristown can hold what these councilmembers apparently think has become the "McGuffin" MUS seat. That one person is...George McGuffin.
Councilmember LeBel, aka "King Paul," sent out a letter just over two weeks ago to fellow councilmembers encouraging them to sign on to his plan to take away the Mayor's cell phone and convert the longtime office of the Morristown Mayor at the City Center into a "timeshare" room where (supposedly) councilmembers like LeBel would meet with constituents. Click on LeBel's letter.
After getting three other councilmembers to sign his letter (Prince Bob Garrett, Prince Chris Bivens, and Princess Kay Senter), King Paul had city staff prepare an "Office Schedule" showing the days and hours that each councilmember could occupy the small office that had served as the Mayor's Office for previous mayors over a period of many years.
Naturally, King Paul scheduled himself first for a grand appearance to meet with his subjects/ constituents from 7 am-12 noon on Monday, September 12.
Surprisingly (or not), King Paul was not there at the appointed time. I was at the City Center from 7:30-8:30 waiting for his majesty's arrival in order to discuss city business. The King was a no-show.
I heard through the grapevine that King Paul finally showed up at 10 am, stayed about an hour, and then left his "City Council" office to get to his "County Commission" Committee meetings which started at 11:20 at the Health Department.
Why wasn't Paul at council meetings expressing concern about the "Mayor's office" when Sami Barile was sitting in the "Mayor's office" or when his one-time/former special buddy Gary Johnson was sitting in the "Mayor's office"?
Fiscal responsibility is great, but why is Paul so worried about saving money on a single cell phone while going totally silent about Princess Kay's huge use of taxpayer dollars for travel? Click here.
What makes King Paul obsess about the Mayor's office and the Mayor's cell phone and the Mayor's nomination for the MUS Board?
LeBel can't accept that his buddy Frank McGuffin wasn't elected Mayor in May 2011. LeBel and the other councilmembers wouldn't be saying a thing about the Mayor's office or the Mayor's cell phone or the way MUS appointments are made if Frank McGuffin were Mayor.
Paul is simply trying to get revenge for Frank McGuffin's mayoral defeat by opposing and nagging at the person who defeated Frank --Mayor Danny Thomas.
Using the Mayor's office and cell phone as attack points, King Paul is the pointman in keeping Daddy George McGuffin in a lifetime position on the Morristown Utility Board. Thus far, LeBel has made sure that every single person (Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, Carroll Fowler) that Mayor Thomas has nominated to replace George on the MUS Board has been rejected by council. Click here.
King Paul and the "only George" group plan to continue to block ALL mayoral nominations of anyone except George McGuffin until 2012 when they will then ask local legislators Sen. Steve Southerland and Rep. Don Miller to help change the current law that worked just fine with the "only George" group----right up until Mayor Thomas was elected.
What about Bob Garrett and Kay Senter, co-leaders in the "only George" group?
Councilmember Bob Garrett was elected in 2009 and supported Frank McGuffin for Mayor in 2011 after working for Daddy George McGuffin at MUS for decades.
In 2009 and 2010 Sami Barile was Mayor. Councilmember Garrett never said anything about Mayor Barile keeping a cell phone, never tried to share/use Mayor Barile's office, and never tried to change the MUS Private Act to get rid of the process of Mayoral nomination (from a list of three names submitted by MUS) followed by council approval or disapproval.
Fast forward to 2011. Danny Thomas defeats Frank McGuffin for Mayor. Garrett signs on to take the Mayor's cell phone, share/use the Mayor's office, and is ready to change the MUS Private Act to get rid of the the Mayoral nomination process followed by council approval or disapproval.
Kay Senter has been on council for decades and was fine with a Mayor's office and cell phone during that time.
Fast forward to 2011. Danny Thomas defeats Frank McGuffin for Mayor. Kay suddenly signs on to take away the Mayor's cell phone, share/use the Mayor's office, and change the MUS Private Act to get rid of the Mayoral nomination process followed by council approval or disapproval.
Playing games to get revenge for Frank McGuffin's defeat?
Fiddling while Morristown continues to burn financially?
Childish, petty politics at its worst.
State Senator Steve Southerland recently requested an opinion from State Attorney General Robert Cooper as to the status of George McGuffin on the Morristown Utility Board of Commissioners.
Cooper's opinion is that McGuffin, who has served on the Board for over 34 years and whose most recent five-year term has already expired, remains on the Board, acting as a "holdover," until a successor is approved by the Morristown City Council.
Thus far three individuals have been nominated by the Mayor to succeed McGuffin. A core group of councilmembers who think George McGuffin (pictured below) is the ONLY person who can serve in this position has blocked all three of the Mayor's nominees from serving on the Utility Board.
To keep anyone from taking "the McGuffin seat," councilmembers did not approve Mike Minnich and voted to disapprove Glenn Thompson and Carroll Fowler as noted here, here, and here.
At this point, most of the "only George" councilmembers have indicated that they will continue to block the appointment of anyone except McGuffin to the Morristown Utility Commission until January 2012 when the state legislature goes back into session.
In January 2012, they would ask State Sen. Steve Southerland and Rep. Don Miller to change the Private Act governing the MUC so that they can "officially" put George back in instead of blocking the nomination of anyone and everyone else.
George is not the manager of the utility. Jody Wigington is.
Why are certain councilmembers, led by King Paul LeBel along with Prince Bob Garrett and Princess Kay Senter, going berserk and crying that the "sky is falling" at the thought of someone other than McGuffin serving as a utility commissioner?
Is George McGuffin, one of five Utility Commissioners, indispensable or just powerful and power-hungry?
Is the management and staff of the Morristown Utility System--the people who run the place--so weak that George McGuffin must be on the Board in order to keep the utility going? No.
What happens when McGuffin, at some point, is unable to serve or resigns? Does the utility collapse? No.
Why won't George step aside, let someone else serve, and contribute to the community outside of this particular Board? Does McGuffin think he is indispensable?
What is the real reason that McGuffin is so desperate to hang on to this position?
Follow the money/power trail...Wheels within wheels.
Folks, Paul LeBel has not only taken over the City Center, he has now set up an "office schedule" for the Mayor and his fellow councilmembers to follow. [Click on the schedule to enlarge it for easy reading!]
So come on and bring your neighbors and friends to the City Center at 7 AM on Monday morning, September 12, to meet the one, the only, P. LeBel sitting at the City Center in what has been the Mayor's office for years and years for five hours to see his constituents.
Yes, just four months after being elected to the City Council by a slim 24-vote margin, P. LeBel has crowned himself King. Prince Bob, Prince Chris, and Princess Kay are dutifully doing the King's bidding while Prince Claude, as usual, can't decide what to do, but he talks a good game.
Because LeBel, King of City Council, is also on the Hamblen County Commission, Monday, September 12, is going to be a tough day for him. Wearing his city council hat, LeBel is scheduled to be at the City Center from 7AM-12 Noon to meet constituents. But LeBel will have to leave the City Center a bit early and throw on his county commission hat if he intends to get to the county commission committee meetings on time at 11:30 AM.
Run, Paul, run. And keep talking fiscal responsibility while you sit by and watch the lovely Princess Kay spend $1000s of taxpayer dollars on travel while other councilmembers spend nothing or next to nothing on travel. Click here. Where's that resolution to stop excessive travel by "certain" councilmembers?
Citizens for Accountability just posted the entire video of the September 6 Morristown City Council meeting.
It's broken down in segments for easy viewing.
The video (below) tells the tale. Yesterday, the "only George (McGuffin)" group on City Council rejected Mayor Thomas's nomination of Carroll Fowler to the MUS Board of Commissioners.
Paul LeBel made the motion to reject Fowler. Sidekick Bob Garrett, former MUS employee, seconded the motion.
Voting"Yes" on the Motion To Reject Fowler: Paul LeBel, Claude Jinks, Chris Bivens, and Kay Senter.
Voting "No" on the Motion To Reject Fowler: Bob Garrett and Mayor Danny Thomas. [When the vote flashed on the screen, it was obvious that Garrett was confused when he voted "No." Garrett had seconded LeBel's motion to reject Fowler and meant to vote "Yes" with LeBel in favor of rejecting Fowler.]
Abstaining: Gene Brooks.
This is the third MUS Commissioner nominee that the Council has rejected.
The MUS Board sends the names of three qualified individuals to the Mayor. The Mayor then selects and nominates one of those individuals to the full Council for approval. With yesterday's vote, the City Council has now rejected three different Mayoral nominees (Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, and Carroll Fowler) on three different occasions. Click here and here.
And what's wrong with Minnich, Thompson, and Fowler? They are not George McGuffin!
SIDENOTE: The McGuffin flash mob at yesterday's meeting was smaller than the contingents that showed up at the two previous meetings where votes were taken. George McGuffin was there yesterday. MUS General Manager Jody Wigington was there. John Stroud was there. David Wild was there sitting near County Commissioner Doe Jarvis. Doe was treasurer of fellow County Commissioner Paul LeBel's campaign for City Council, is LeBel's sidekick on county commission, and has begun attending city council meetings to watch and cheer his special friend on.
NEXT: The MUS Board of Commissioners will meet again and send the Mayor another set of three names of individuals that the Board deems to be qualified to serve on the MUS Board.
Paul LeBel, city councilmember and county commissioner, is proposing a "timeshare" arrangement under which all city councilmembers, "including the Mayor," would share what has been the City Mayor's office for years and years in the City Center.
[Click on LeBel's letter at left to enlarge and read]
Wearing his city councilmember hat, LeBel says he wants to meet at the City Center with his city constituents one-half day each week. That's a nice idea, and there is an easy solution for LeBel or any councilmember who has decided that he or she wants "timeshare" office space at the City Center.
All councilmembers know that there is a conference room near the City Council Chambers. This room, which has been called the "Mayor's" conference room for years and years, could be renamed the "City Council" conference room and could become the perfect place for LeBel and all city councilmembers to spend lots of time at the City Center with their constituents or doing research.
And after City Councilmember LeBel works out office hours and the location of his timeshare office at the City Center, maybe County Commissioner LeBel will decide (after five years as a commissioner) that office hours and a timeshare office at the County Courthouse are important to enable him to serve his (commission) constituents in the same way that he wants to serve his (council) constituents.
[It is my understanding, after talking with some county officials, that while City Councilmember Paul LeBel is pushing for "timeshare" office space and office hours at the City Center to meet with his (city council) constituents, County Commissioner Paul LeBel has never sent a similar letter to his fellow county commissioners trying to use any room at the County Courthouse on a "timeshare" basis to meet with his (commission) constituents.]
Finally, LeBel's letter says that he wants to make sure that no councilmember, "including the Mayor," has arbitrarily been provided with a city cell phone. LeBel doesn't name any councilmember who was arbitrarily provided with a phone. LeBel's proposal appears primarily or solely directed at taking back a city phone that was apparently provided to Mayor Danny Thomas after Thomas was elected in May 2011.
Perhaps LeBel needs to do some research on the phone issue as it relates to the City Mayor. Among his duties, the City Mayor has specific authority to summon the police or others to aid in quelling or preventing a riot or similar emergency. Therefore, there is a public safety reason for the City Mayor, whoever may hold the office, to be provided with a cell phone for quick contact anywhere and anytime.
If you are on the City of Morristown sewer, you are facing or have already noticed another increase in your sewer rate. Let's look at one area where the experienced leadership in Morristown City Government has contributed to this mess....
As far back as 2005, the City knew that there were serious odor problems along the Witt sewer line. The City did nothing.
With an arrogant "I'm untouchable" attitude, several of the elected and appointed officials in City government just ignore or plow over people and then say "sue me if you don't like it."
The Witt/Roe Junction residents took the City's "sue me" attitude at face value. They never wanted to sue the City. In fact, they asked politely and repeatedly for the City to fix the Witt sewer line and stop the overflows so there wouldn't be an expensive lawsuit. The residents' requests fell on deaf ears.
Only after they were repeatedly ignored by council did the Witt/Roe Junction residents obtain legal counsel and file suit against Koch Foods in 2007 and later against the City of Morristown.
Their attorneys were able to take on City Hall and achieve what the Mayor, City Council, and City Administrators never expected. The residents won. The Witt sewer line will be repaired. The odors will stop.
As of early May 2011, the City was ordered to pay $8,500 to two of the residents.
The City was fined $105,000.
The City was ordered to pay attorney fees of the Witt residents' lawyers totalling around $489,674.00.
Plus the City was ordered to pay the litigation costs of the Plaintiffs close to $56,629.00.
[The City is going on and fixing the sewer line as ordered, but it has decided to spend more money and appeal several issues, such as attorney fees]
The above costs do NOT include the attorney fees that the City has had to pay to its own attorneys.
Originally the City's attorneys were provided by TML (Tennessee Municipal League). Later, the "free" TML legal services were exhausted months ago, however, and the City has now been paying the TML attorney bills, its own attorney's (Dick Jessee) bills, and its other legal expenses.
The City ignored a festering problem and it took an expensive lawsuit plus an Order from a Federal Judge to force the City to make the $1,600,000+ in repairs that should have been made years ago and could have been made years ago for far less.
What a waste of time and taxpayer money. That's a lot of money to spend just to delay making repairs that were inevitable all along.
And what about the Lakemoore residents who have been ignored by Council for decades despite horrific odors in that area?
If odors and repeated sewage overflows had occurred in the Country Club area, would those citizens' complaints have been ignored by councilmembers? NO. Would Country Club residents have to get a lawyer to sue the City to get serious health and environmental concerns taken care of?
It looks like the Morristown Utility System Board of Commissioners is not alone in trying to keep its meetings from being videotaped. See yesterday's post here.
Knoxville blogger Michael Silence reports here about "camera police" at a Congressman's town hall meeting in Cincinnati.
Aides to U. S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, had the police confiscate small cameras that were being used to tape a town hall meeting held by Chabot. The cameras, which were allegedly operated by Democrat activists, were taken up "to protect the privacy of constituents."
Media cameras were not confiscated "because they can be expected to respect people's privacy."
The aide who had the cameras confiscated later said no cameras would be seized at Chabot's next town hall meeting.
On the local government scene, the "news"paper has started videotaping city council meetings. It sure would be interesting if the local "news"paper tried to spread a little more Sunshine by attending and taping the next meeting of the MUS Board in September.
Wonder if Gene Jolley, George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Lynn Elkins, and Max Biery would tell managing editor John Gullion to put his camera up?
And just why is the MUS Board concerned about citizens videotaping the actions and deliberations of a public board in a public meeting?
The MUS Board of Commissioners met Thursday, August 25, at the MUS Office on Main Street.
One agenda item was the submission of another list of three names to Morristown Mayor Danny Thomas from which Thomas will again (third time) nominate one to council for a position on the MUS Board of Commissioners.
MUS is sending the names of George McGuffin, Wally Long, and Carroll Fowler to the Mayor for consideration this time.
[George, Wally, and Glenn Thompson were on the last list. Mayor Thomas nominated Thompson but council voted "NO." See video here. George and Wally are back on the list, and Carroll Fowler has been added.]
The MUS Board would not allow the meeting to be videotaped with a very small hand-held flip camera. No reason was given.
Board members are George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Gene Jolley, Lynn Elkins, and Max Biery. Gene Jolley was the most vocal opponent of allowing the meeting to be filmed.
City Councilman Bob Garrett, a former and longtime employee of MUS, attended. Garrett, an MUS retiree, is a leader and voting member of council's "only George" club.
MUS Attorney Dick Jessee, who is also attorney for the City of Morristown, was present. Jessee is George McGuffin's brother-in-law.
Since taking office in May 2009, Morristown Councilmember Gene Brooks has endured constant attacks from local "news"paper reporter Bob Moore. On Tuesday, August 16, Brooks apparently had had enough and decided to set the record straight on at least one matter-the Downtown Millennium Square project.
[In a nutshell, the Millennium project is where the City took Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) grant funds of roughly $1.3+ Million that had been intended for street, lighting, and drainage improvements around the Morristown College area with a greenways trailhead and parking at Kyle Park and moved that money to the downtown Millennium Square Partners group for the construction of a privately-owned retail shell and storefront. To get TDOT to go along with this, the City/Millennium group decided that the roof of the retail space would be called a "greenways trailhead" and have 22 or 23 parking spaces leased to the City. Click on the label Millennium Square at right for past blog posts on this topic.]
Brooks was responding to a July "news"paper article where Bob Moore allowed David Wild, one of the principals in Wild Building Contractors and a partner in the Millennium group, to attack Brooks and all the others who saw illegalities and violations of federal law in the Millennium deal.
Moore quotes David Wild as saying: "If it had not been for the unwarranted involvement of two or three individuals, this project would have already been finished...."
Translation: "I hate those people who raised valid legal questions about our nifty sweetheart deal. Councilmembers who try to protect City grant funds and make sure that everything is done legally don't have any right to do that."
David Wild was reacting--not too kindly--to the fact that Brooks had pointed out the core conflicts of interest in the Wild/ Millennium Square/Brewer, Ingram & Fuller connections to TDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
David and Tim Wild wanted to wear Millennium Square Partners hats to get the $1.3 Million taxpayer-funded TDOT grant to build their MainStreet retail storefront/rooftop "trailhead' parking. Then David and Tim Wild wanted to put on their Wild Building Contractors hats to submit a bid and collect all the money for building their own Main Street storefront/rooftop "trailhead" parking.
Brooks got the big guns riled up. Brooks was attacked and made out to be the bad guy who was messing everything up. Todd Morgan with the City wrote to TDOT. Dan Brewer with the project architects Brewer, Ingram & Fuller wrote a letter to Todd that also went to TDOT. Knoxville attorney Robert Noell with Woolf-McClane represented Wild Building Contractors and tried to refute Brooks' allegations in a lengthy letter to TDOT, claiming that there were no conflicts.
After all the dust had settled, TDOT found that Brooks's core allegations of conflicts of interest were, in fact, correct. TDOT disqualified Wild Building Contractors (David and Tim Wild) from bidding on the Millennium Square Partners (David and Tim Wild and others) Downtown project.
In the video (above) Gene refers to Bob Moore's July 2011 article where Moore stated--falsely--that Wild had submitted the low bid on the project. MOORE: "Wild Building Contractors submitted the low bid earlier this year, approximately $600,000 less than the second-place bidder."
Brooks points out in the video that Bob either made this up or was given false information. Wild never submitted the low bid on the project. Wild never submitted a bid at all because Brooks was able to prevent them from illegally bidding on the project.
Brooks's remarks end by making the public and the other councilmembers aware that had Wild been allowed to submit a bid and, by chance, had Wild gotten the contract, then TDOT could have made the City pay back ALL the grant funds that had been received for allowing an illegal bid and award.
In the City's current financial mess, the City could not have absorbed a $1.3 Million dollar hit for improperly handling grant funds.
Gene Brooks was not only right, but he showed great courage in standing up to months and months of criticism by very powerful people in order to ensure that an illegal bid was not submitted and that the City did not end up having to pay back $1.3 Million dollars of grant money.
1. The "news"paper has yet to correct Bob's front-page error on the Millennium project. [Usually, the paper runs a correction on Page 2 after incorrect statements have been made and pointed out.]
2. The "news"paper has yet to report anything about Gene Brooks's statement at the council meeting about Moore's biased--and even false--reporting on the Millennium deal.
3. The "news"paper has yet to report that Brooks's actions not only stopped an illegal bidding but saved the City $1.3 Million +.
So what did Moore do after Brooks's statement? After the meeting, Bob Moore headed straight for Brooks. Moore did not say that he would check the article again for accuracy and correct any errors. Moore did not mention his incessant attacks on Brooks over the past 2+ years. Moore did not apologize to Brooks for the reporting error.
Instead, Moore first asked who Brooks's lawyer is---because Brooks had said he would be glad to meet Moore to discuss Millennium but that Brooks would bring his lawyer to this meeting. Then Moore started asking Brooks about the Hearts of Christ Ministry which Brooks supports and with which Brooks's wife and sister-in-law are involved.
Married. Three grown children. Taught school 11 years. Entered law school in 2001. Graduated and passed the bar in 2004. Licensed attorney in Tennessee. Hamblen County Commissioner (2002-2006). Focused on accountability, ethics, and openness in government at all levels.
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