Portland, Tennessee Blog

Hi!
Without taking into account the issue of establishing a stone by God, which he won't be able to pick up, how do you think, may be something in this world, what can God never see?

Mack - I apologize for taking so long to respond- I have been working tirelessly on coordinating the meeting at the Middle School on April 12th.

I apologize if I offended you, it wasn't my intention. Unfortunately, blogs, emails, IM'S, etc . . . do not reflect a person's facial expressions, body language, etc.

What I MEANT was, you seem like (from your posts) the type of person who wants FACTS and I was merely saying that I AM THE SAME WAY. Therefore I was telling you where you could find the FACTS. If you are still offended, which I hope you aren't, all I can do is say I'm sincerely sorry.

What could YOU do, or what would be your ideas for luring reatil into Portland?

Here is my question to be asked of ALL the candidates...Do you support Sunday beer sales to bring in added revenue to the city? Given the fact that pretty much most of our Sumner neigbors do it, and those who want beer on Sunday will get it anyway, do you consider this to be an obvious way of bringing in tax revenue?

Man or woman doesn't matter a hill of beans.What I am interested in is hearing their ideas for the city.I would really like to hear what Mrs.McLerran's thoughts are on the issues facing this town.

Lets get back to the topic at hand. Questions for the forum. If there is a need to trash the candidates, please start a new thread.

As far as being able to run for council. Do you think that Ray Dowell getting to run is any better? This is a man who went to court for mistreating others (his neighbors). I would rather vote for someone who has a husband that is a police officer than for someone who can't even treat people right. Would it really hurt to have a woman's insight? I think not.

".... You don't seem like the type to take anyone's word for it anyway. And I don't mean that in a bad way."

Michelle, I don't see how it can be taken any other way....please clarify. I don't seem like the type to take anyone's word for it "anyway", but you say you "don't mean that in a bad way". How else is it suppose to be taken.

Terry...yes I have seen a council meeting. Thanks.

Good for you Mr. Coker. Glad to see you responded to that in an informative and not sarcastic manner.

In a town the size of Portland there are going to be conflicts of interest everywhere you turn. Let's vote in people we trust to actually do the right thing.

Just wanted to add a new wrinkle to the discussion about conflicts of interest... Under the new Ethics legislation that was passed due to the Tennessee Waltz scandal, Aldermen no longer have to abstain from voting as long as they disclose their conflict of interest. That was why I spoke out against it on both votes. I hope that people will still obstain if they have a conflict, but they no longer have to.

Second, since it was mentioned, I want to address the beer vote I missed. I wrote a letter to the editor explaining why I missed that meeting, but I know that not everyone reads the paper, so I'll do it here again.

As many of you know I am pastor of a church, and my church had revival that week. I had made arrangements to attend the meeting electronically (by phone) to make that vote. That would have allowed me to greet those attending the revival, slip out for a song or two to make the vote, then come back for the preaching. (Couldn't do that ion person b/c the church is in Sengtown and about 10-15 minutes away from City Hall).

After sending days setting this up, an hour and a half before the meeting, the City Attorney gave the opinion that I could not do this. There ahd been a revision to the law in 2003 that made it possible to do what I was wanting to do only under very strict restrictions which Portland did not meet. My not being at my church for the revival was not an option for me, and I was fairly certain the vote would fail anyway, which it did. That's the facts behind that, so I hope people don't have to speculate.

EXAMPLE:Last council meeting ,alderman Hobdy abstained on a vote of employment because the person was somehow related to him.EXAMPLE:January meeting,Vice Mayor Bratton abstained during a vote on a rezoning issue because of a conflict.Have you even seen a council meeting?

HUH? Maybe I'm missing your point. How would them MISSING those votes benefit them personally?

Whether someone is present or absent, they are not part of the decision unless they VOTE.

ALL votes are a matter of PUBLIC RECORD. If you are truly concerned that something hinky has been going on, you can always do your own research. You don't seem like the type to take anyone's word for it anyway. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I am also one to rely on facts and not hearsay when it comes to really important issues.

I'm sure the minutes are kept on file at city hall and archived newspapers are available at the library. Good luck!

Once again, I was not given a particular example regarding a councilman abstaining from a vote for "conflict of interest"

Many occasions, I doubt it. Usually, if they don't want to vote for something, they don't show up, hope for a mis-vote when the vote doesn't go their way, then the vote has to be held again. Ask Luther and Coker.

If I remember correctly, Luther didn't show for a vote regarding the impact fee, and correct me if I'm wrong, Coker didn't show when there was a vote for beer sales on Sunday or something....

It takes a special kind of person to hold political office, huh?!

Some people will find any reason to slam another person! Who cares who is married to who. If they are decent and honest and actually care about this city than that is all that matters. Quit looking at who people are related to and start looking at what they plan to do for this city!

Why do you feel that Mrs. McLerran should announce that she is married to a police officer? This is NO different than an alderman that owns land. Should they not vote on anything to do with land taxes etc? I don't see any conflict of interest here but IF a conflict does arise I'm sure Erin or any other council person will do the right thing.

I have seen an alderman abstain from voting on many occasions noting a conflict of interest when doing so.

Re: Erin McLerran
Has anywhere in the press she mentioned her relationship to the police force and her officer spouse, if she has I've surely missed it. Why is that?

I have never known a council member with a possible "conflict of interest" to announce a conflict and abstain from voting on a particular issue. Please give me an example.....

Anyone who obtains enough signatures to get on the ballot can run. There are very few people who can run 100% "conflict free" so when there is an issue that is or could be percieved as a conflict, the Alderman in question usually announces the conflict and abstains from that vote.

In the case of Erin McLerran, (I assume this is who you are referring to, because I do not know of any MEN who are running who have a husband)there is no reason that I know of that she couldn't or shouldn't run just because her husband is an officer. In the event that the council needs to vote on something that would benefit Mrs. McLearran personally, she can abstain.

So YES, she should be allowed to run. Whether you choose to vote for her is completely up to you.

He is already an officer, so the council doesn't need to vote on anything concerning him unless for some reason he's discharged and wants to appeal the decision. If that ever happens, I would venture to say that she wouldn't vote.

Should a person that has say a husband who is a police officer be running for a position such as an alderman. Would this be a conflict of interest.

1. As for improvements in our traffic flow in town, what do you see as our biggest issues? What improvements do you have in mind?
2.What type of businesses do you think would help our city grow? How do you plan to attract them to our city?
3.What is your outlook on our education system? What problems do you see that need addressing and how do you plan to correct them?

There is going to be a meeting at Portland Middle School on April 12th at 7PM to address the community's concerns about safety in our schools.

1. Will you make a commitment to come to that meeting?

What role of responsibility do think the City of Portland should assume in ensuring our children are safe during the school day? And on your list of priorities for the city, where does this particular issue fall?

I was not in on the negotiations as to where this was going to be held, but i think I can shed some light concerning why the meeting is being held at City Hall instead of the middle school. From what I hear there are a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, you are limited with the locations you can broadcast from because to broadcast it live, you have to have a feed to the cable channel. That is, access to one of the feeds that puts programming on the channel. That limits it to City Hall and the Middle School. I think the high school may have a feed too, but I am not sure.

The first reason is the lighting issue. I was working on those lights when that school was the high school over ten years ago, and they were ancient then. I'm sure that since it is not the high school anymore, it hasn't gotten any better. At the other forums, many candidates complained when they saw it on TV because you could hardly see them. The lighting is much better at City Hall.

Second, these things have not been attended very well in the past. I think there is a large viewing audience, but the most I ever saw at one of these things is maybe 40-50 people, most of those being the family and friends of the candidates.

With the limited locations that this could be broadcast, and the middle school being out (either the high school doesn't have a feed or no one remembered it did when it was set up) the lot fell to have it at City Hall even though it is not ideal. Hope this information is helpful.

That makes it tough for people that don't have cable or have Direct TV.

Questions to ask....

1. Where do you see Portland in 5 years..10 years?
2. Are you for or against a truck by-pass? Why?
3. What can the city do to give our children places to go and get them out of the parking lots.

Jack,
We(media) don't own camera equipment so the people that do have a say so in where it can be used and why. The Cable Committee advised us that technical issues, especially lighting, would make it impossible to use the Middle School. They turned over the planning to us, the only restriction is that the forum has to be at CIty Hall. I wanted to have it at the Middle School to, for seating, but our hands were tied. Hopefully you will still watch or listen live that night as this is a very important event.

The light was terrible a few years ago at the middle school. I believe that was one of the problems.

Daniel, who is "we". Is it "The Portland Media"? And who "told you no" because of lighting issues? I assumed since this was presented by "The Portland Media" that they could surely decide where to have it. No? It was formerly at one of the schools, wasn't it?

Can we please bring a bowling alley or a skating rink. Maybe even a flea market or something would be nice.

5.how would you vote on this wasteful us of tax dollars to fund a civic center, when some people in town don't even have sewer acsess among all the other more important issues we face?

1. how will all of you vote on raising the garbage tax, property taxes, etc.

2. knowing that liquor by the drink and sunday beer sales would create vast tax dollars for the city,how do you stand on these issues? will you let your personal beliefs get in the way of raising revenue without sticking it to the taxpyers?
3.how would you approach the junky sites that have just been let go on the south entrance to town and the north entrance into town?
4.do you think it's right for sanitation workers to leave trash cans unemptied just because they aren't right beside the road? after all we are paying for the service. shouldn't they check to make sure it wasn't forgotten?

Iwouled like to see a walmart instead of me traveling to ok to let them benifit and i dont go to gallentin due to the ridge being very dangerous

We wanted to use a different venue but we were told no because of lighting issues, don't ask me.

I have showed up at these things in the past and no one shows up. But makes for must see TV.

What incentives do you think the city has to offer, to attract retail business such as restaurants and retail stores? Or what incentives would you like to see the city offer?

This forum is supposed to take place in the council chambers with the capacity of around 25 audience members.With all the issues at stake in this election, I think the turnout for this event will be huge.Who do we need to contact to change the venue for this important political event?

1) What do you see as the main purpose of the Codes Dept.? How can the City of Portland make the Codes Dept. more effective in cleaning up the business areas of town? How can the City put some "teeth" in the laws already on the books in the Codes Dept.? What kinds of regulations do you think should be added to the existing set of Codes?

2) What steps can be taken to regulate the traffic flow in and around Portland? Do we need more stop signs and stop lights in critical areas? What areas of the city would you see as priorities for improved traffic flow?

3) Many of the people who live in Portland are Senior Citizens, living on a fixed income. Can you suggest some ways that the City can help them meet the spiraling costs of Gas, Water, Sewer, Trash and other costs incurred by living in Portland?

1. What would be the benefits of passing LBTD.

2. There has been much talk about the possibility of building a new Civic Center in Portland. Keeping in mind, the recent problems with water, general problems in attracting retail and various other infrastructure problems, how would you prioritize the Civic center and why?

3. As an elected official what would you like for your legacy to be?

4. Hypothetically, you have been elected. There are many times when decisions of a "Moral" (for lack of a better term) nature must be made. At what point would you base a decision on what is best for the City as a whole rather then your personal beliefs?

5. Looking at the national Political picture, past or present...who is your national political Hero?

1-In making decisions for the best interest of the City as a whole, how much of your religious or personal beliefs will determine how you vote.

2-Is there any issues that you are aware of that may arise where you as a councilperson will have to refrain from voting because there may be a conflict of interest; ex: business interest, related family to City employees, etc.

3-Give the 3 most important reasons why you are running for this position, and why.