June 26, 2008
Police, what area's of town need more attention?
As requested by another poster;
What are areas of the town that you think need more police attention?
Whether it be traffic violations, or something else?
Posted by judy at 06:53 PM | Comments (36)
June 19, 2008
Progress Behind The Scenes
The new hotel going out at I-65 & 52 is a good example of work that has been ongoing by the city of Portland and neighboring Orlinda.
The two have been working on development of the area around the interstate and the restructuring of the planning region on the Robertson County side of 31-W.
Though all of us want quick action, the truth is that many of these plans take years to come together. The city of Portland has desired some development out at the interstate, but we do not have control of the land past 31-W; and Orlinda hasn't had the infrastruture to support major development.
The Mayor along with some others worked to make this new development happen. Portland will be providing the needed infrastucture for this hotel, such as water, gas, and sewer.
We hope this will spur other investment, but it all starts with one company willing to take a chance and locate here.
This is a great opportunity for both cities and hopefully it will lead to development down Hwy 52.
So, as you see this being built, understand that a lot of work went on for a long period before anything was visible.
The officials at Orlinda, our Mayor, and most of all the investor should be given credit for this great opportunity.
Thank you,
Alderman Mike Callis
Posted by Councilman Callis at 10:43 PM | Comments (6)
June 13, 2008
FRONT PAGE - Around the Town - JUNE 2008
Post your thoughts about News worthy articles, events, happenings, questions,
garage sales,and general information regarding our town.
Want to talk about something specific, post it here.
One of the blog authors will start the topic for you!
Happy Posting - Judy
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by judy at 06:51 PM | Comments (66)
April 12, 2008
FRONT PAGE - Around the Town - APRIL 2008
Post your thoughts about News worthy articles, events, happenings, questions,
garage sales,and general information regarding our town.
Want to talk about something specific, post it here.
One of the blog authors will start the topic for you!
Happy Posting - Judy
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by judy at 08:36 PM | Comments (59)
March 10, 2008
FRONT PAGE - Around the Town - MARCH 2008
Post your thoughts about News worthy articles, events, happenings, questions,
garage sales,and general information regarding our town.
Want to talk about something specific, post it here.
One of the blog authors will start the topic for you!
Happy Posting - Judy
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by judy at 11:00 AM | Comments (85)
March 04, 2008
Is the Kerley Building a Health Risk
Is our City saying Don't Ask Don't Tell
This months council meeting included discussions on moving public works to a rented building across the street from city hall which resulted in the issue of the Kerley building (old Farmers Bank Building) on Main Street being brought up. And the fact that the city owns it with 8,000 sq feet of space and it isn't being utilized much by the city.
The issue of that buildings condition quickly became the topic of conversation with the possibility of mold, aspestos, etc, etc being addressed once again and they didn't want employees working in that building not knowing the degree of health issues that could arise.
My concern is not with this being brought up, but the outcome of where it ended.
One of the Councilmen wanted a study done once and for all to determine if indeed there were health hazards within this building, what degree they might be, and what it would cost to get them fixed if there were any. Sounds logical to me, however, this suggestion was met with basically WE don't need to know......... if there is health risks in that building we would have to lock it up and would not be able to be use it for the various things it is currently used for, example: Traffic Court, Boy Scouts, Church (which will soon be moved out), Some Insurance company, etc If they are not able to hold traffic court there they would have to find somewhere else which they don't have that space anywhere else.
What are your thoughts on how this is being handled?
Does the City have an obligation to find out if indeed people are being exposed to possible health hazards?
Should they just shut it down completely or give it back, which will place a further burden of space on the city?
Comcast Cable Channel 3 repeatidly broadcasts this meeting for a few days after the meeting, if you haven't already done so, please take the time to watch it.
Posted by judy at 02:39 PM | Comments (19)
February 28, 2008
Zoning Rules & Regs within City Limits
By request I am starting this thread
Hi all. I was wondering if you could possibly start a thread regarding zoning issues in the city limits. I moved out here from California almost two years ago, and one of my big draws to this area was the land. So I bought a house and 5 acres, with the intention of allowing my children to raise a couple of animals for livestock shows, and for my family to have a handful of chickens for eggs.
We had asked our Realtor to check the zoning, and she claimed she did (my fault completely for not checking myself.) ~ To make a long story short, I have asked our City Council to take into consideration changing the zoning to allow for livestock with limitations (like the zoning for horses that just went into effect) ~ I am just trying to get a feel for what all of you think. Thanks for listening.
Tanya
Perhaps some of you could shed a little light on this situation and what would be expected.
Posted by judy at 01:28 PM | Comments (23)
February 25, 2008
Mandatory Retirement
Mandatory Retirement For Public Safety Employees
Jody has raised an item for discussion and one that we have debated over the last couple of months; and that is mandatory retirement for public safety employees.
There are many particulars to this plan, but the sum is, age 60 would be mandatory for most positions and at age 55 some would be able to retire; the city would have to pick up some of the cost until age 62.
Having served our city as a policeman, Jody has a heart for the men and women who serve in public safety, and he understands the stress of the job.
The state has passed this retirement plan and it is available for local cities to pass; currently only 2 cities have passed this measure.
Jody, along with many others, are concerned that an older force would create more problems and would increase cost to the city.
Some question how a better benefit package could be offered to one department and not to the rest of the employees, and how the city could commit to a plan that must be funded no matter the cost.
I understand the argument that the stress of policeman and fireman are higher and that the physical ability needed is demanded, but I do worry that if we fund this program that our ability to hire new officers will be hindered due to the extra strain on the budget.
We were told tonight that if we implement this, it would add about $75,000.00 to the public safety budget in the first year.
I would feel more comfortable with passing this, if I knew we were also committed to continue hiring more officers, but I fear this extra cost will keep us from adding to our force.
I really appreciate Jody's work on this, and I would like to hear your comments.
As with all legislature there are pros and cons; here are some:
Pros:
have a chance to retire in better health
create a constant younger force
cut down on workers comp claims
Cons:
increased cost to the city
once adopted, the city cannot opt out
the state decides how much we must pay
Here is a link that may be helpful; check out Title 8, Chapter 36, 8-36-201 & 8-36-211
www.michie.com/tennessee/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&cp=tncode
Read this article for more;
http://preps.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/COUNTY090101/801280319/0/COUNTY090101
Posted by Councilman Callis at 10:46 PM | Comments (18)
September 21, 2007
Around Town
Water – The restrictions are still in place and if needed we will have to go to Stage 2, which some communities have already done. We are being subsidized with water from White House, but they can only give so much. Franklin, KY asked if we could help them but we are unable.
Even though the heat wave has broken, we are still in need of rain.
The Proposed Dam – We will have to appeal the issue, which means our chances probably go down. Without some political pressure from higher up the food chain this is going to be difficult. This not only hurts our city but many other communities in northern Sumner County.
The city has put a great deal of time and money in this over the years and based on what they perceive to be environmental concerns, they have denied us.
Somewhere in this process, human life has to out weigh that of impounding a stream.
This drought has proven how great a need we have for another water source.
City Hall – Finance will once again look at this issue this month, but support is waning.
This is not a perfect solution by no means, but based on the amount room we will gain verses the cost causes me to support this.
The Police department needs expansion and this plan will help in that greatly.
The cost of city hall is shared between the enterprise fund and the general fund; due the fact that public works shares the building; this is how the move would be paid for.
Building a new facility on 52W is probably the best, but we are looking at a multi-million dollar project that would probably have to have a revenue stream not presently available to pay for it.
HWY 52 Corridor Project – We have selected a firm to start analyzing and designing our 52 corridor. We feel this is where a lot of the retail growth will take place in the coming years, and we are putting a plan in place now to deal with it. Infrastructure, design standards, building setbacks, and traffic flow are all important areas to consider, and we look forward to this project being completed.
Codes enforcement – There are still several problem areas in town and I admit that, but the codes department has done a great deal in the last year. Some properties seem like a prime target for enforcement, but sometimes there are underlying circumstances.
We are making progress. People say Gallatin and Hendersonville do not have these problems but I say this is false. Most people are just driving through the newest parts of their town. I made an effort to go look at these cities; not just the new retail sections, but the older parts also and I can say with out a doubt that our city is in pretty good shape.
Some problems take several months to solve. Our people start out trying to be helpful and understanding and sometimes we have to go to the court system, and sometimes a place that looks bad may not be violating any codes.
The city is trying, and as our manpower increases we will do a better job.
We have a good city and I for one would not want to live anywhere else. Every town has problems and Portland is not excluded from them, but having people committed to the welfare of our city has made this a good place to be.
Thank you,
Alderman Mike Callis
cityofportlandtn.gov
Posted by Councilman Callis at 10:55 AM
September 20, 2007
Around Town Updates
Does anyone have any updates on happenings in our town? Such as, City Hall Moving, haven't heard anything about that lately. When is the open house? etc.
Did the city appeal the dam issue?
Anything else..........
Posted by DebraP at 10:03 AM | Comments (24)
August 13, 2007
CITY of Portland WATER RESTRICTIONS as of 8/13/07
The following Bulletin was taken from the City of Portland Web Site
August 13, 2007
City of Portland Water System
Water Conservation Measures
Due to the extended drought conditions in our area and extremely hot weather, there is an increased need for water. Because of these conditions, and the need to conserve as much of our water supply as reasonably possible, effective immediately, the City of Portland will impose restrictions on all non-essential use of water, as follows:
1. No washing of sidewalks, driveways, parking areas, patios, or other exterior paved areas, except by the City of Portland for safety reasons;
2. No filling or re-filling of swimming pools;
3. No non-commercial washing of privately owned motor vehicles, boats, campers and trailers;
4. No use of water from a fire hydrant except for fighting fires, or use by the City of Portland for safety reasons;
5. No watering of lawns, landscaped areas, or ball fields – EXCEPT that of food gardens, trees, shrubs or other plants which may be watered between the hours of 8 PM and 6 AM to sustain the plant life, but only with the use of hand held mechanisms, buckets or other similar devices; and
6. No watering for dust control unless ordered by the City of Portland for safety reasons.
These restrictions are not imposed upon Commercial users at this time.
These restrictions will be enforced until further notice.
Brian Goodwin, Public Works Superintendent, said that our water supply levels are getting low and until there is substantial rainfall in the area, this conservation measure will be mandatory.
It is in everyone’s best interest to conserve as much water as possible. Your cooperation will be very much appreciated.
Posted by judy at 12:41 PM | Comments (10)
August 09, 2007
Eminent Domain- When Should It Be Used?
With all the recent controversy over property acquisition for proposed road projects, I am curious to know our community's opinion on Eminent Domain and whether or when should a City exercise this authority. I am especially interested in the opinions of our Mayor and City Council.
Posted by Michelle Hanners at 11:54 AM | Comments (18)
August 01, 2007
In Memory of Captain Glenn Bell
As one of Portland's most highly regarded police officers, Captain Glenn Bell had a positive impact on the City and his unexpected death was a tremendous blow to those who knew and loved him. I hope that Glenn's family, friends, and fellow officers will seek and find comfort from their grief.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, stories and condolences.
Posted by Michelle Hanners at 10:18 PM | Comments (7)
Blog Rules & Contact - INFORMATION ONLY
The following was taken from the portland website on 08/01/07 This post is for imformation only.
The following articles or comments are not welcome on the Portland blog:
* Anything using curse words. * Anything that threatens violence.
* Anything that promotes illegal activities. * Scams. * Personal attacks on individuals.
If you spot one of these, please contact Charlie Myers at
cfmyers@mindspring.com
and let him know about the problem. If necessary, Charlie will delete the entry/comment.
If you are starting a new business, we welcome you to post one or two messages to introduce yourself and your business. However, please do not use the blog to advertise your business on a regular basis. For example, if you are a new real estate agent, we'd all like to know about you. However, after that, please do not post your house listings on the blog. :-)
Posted by judy at 07:35 PM
July 20, 2007
Moving City Hall - Good or Bad??
As you may know the City has prelimary plans, and One Million dollars budgeted to move City Hall staff from it's current location to the old Sunbeam/Lawnlight Property, relocate the Police Dept to the Current City Hall building and leave the Fire Dept where it is. I believe the budgeted money includes purchasing of said property on Victor Reiter Pkwy.
Not sure I have this entirely correct.
Anyway, What are your opinions on this issue?
Posted by judy at 12:41 PM | Comments (56)
July 13, 2007
What are the Answers
I’m going to work off an article that I read in July 4th's edition of the Portland Progressive written by Daniel Suddeath titled "We need answers not ideology" I found this article quite interesting and asked his permission to bring this up on the Blog, of which he approved.
Daniel noted “Portland has a great opportunity but early 20th century thinking will not bridge the gap between the city’s ambitions and her reality. Some people are more than happy to see Portland remain small but the need for revenue is not limited to a big city. Paving projects, sewer rehab and utility work cannot be accomplished without ample funding regardless of whether a city has a population of 30,000 or 13,000.”
Those opposed to LBTD won the latest battle for Portland because the pro crowd didn’t draw support from the fence riders on the issue.
Further Quotes:
So let’s put LBTD past us for a moment and concentrate on keeping the winning side to their word.
They said there were other ways of gaining revenue – so we want to see it.
They said Portland’s crime rate would rise if LBTD passed – so let’s see it drop now that it failed.
We were told that Portland is not big enough for LBTD yet!! so let’s ask the churches that organized against the issue to quit building huge expansions or maybe have a vote to apply taxes to their property and use the same excuse, that Portland just is not big enough to give tax exemption to the biggest buildings in the city.
Where are the other forms of revenue and the alternative methods to expansion politicians and leaders talked about when they were shaking their Bibles in opposition to LBTD and Sunday beer sales?
Where are the plans to bring in new buildings and features that we were told could happen without a tax increase? The latest budget features a dip into the rainy day funds, could this be a sign that the council is up against a no-win situation? Now that the smoke has cleared from last May's election the people of Portland have the right to kow what direction our city is headed towards. (End of Quotes)
I am asking you……..
What do you think?
Where do you see Portland in 2009 at the next election?
Will there be new revenue? if so, where will it come from?
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by judy at 03:35 PM | Comments (27)
May 21, 2007
Curious....
Sidewalks are a vital part of a city’s infrastructure and one of the most overlooked aspects. A few years ago, the city required that subdivisions have sidewalks at least on one side of the street.
Many years ago Portland was a city with connecting sidewalks, but as years went by, the sidewalks degraded and new ones were not added.
Today we are greatly lacking in connectivity and it is hard to promote pedestrian traffic without sidewalks. Those with disabilities have told me that it is extremely hard for them to navigate town, and that there are many places they have to enter onto the roadway on there scooter because there is no sidewalk. Crossing the railroad tracks is another problem.
One example of an area in great need of sidewalks is HWY 52 East between 109 and South Russell Street. This stretch of road going over the over-pass is highly traveled by pedestrians, but there is no sidewalk.
There are many regulations, construction, and right-a-way problems involved in creating these sidewalks on existing roads, but I believe we need to try.
So I have a couple of questions I ask you to consider and respond:
1. Should sidewalks be required on both sides of the road in new subdivisions?
2. Should sidewalks be required when new commercial is built?
3. Should the city pay to refurbish old sidewalks and pay to build new ones in certain areas, so that areas can be connected?
Posted by Councilman Callis at 08:57 PM | Comments (25) | TrackBack
March 29, 2007
And the winner is.......
There has been much discussion on this blog about the candiates for City Council. So here is your chance to voice your opinions. You can tell us why we should vote for a certain candiate or why we shouldn't.
Let's respect the fact that everyone is entitled to their opinions.
Posted by DebraP at 12:09 PM | Comments (32)
March 19, 2007
Political Forum
I have been asked to post the following message on behalf of the entities listed below.
Charlie
**********************************************************************************
Your local media outlets; The Portland Leader, The Portland Progressive, WQKR AM.1270, and the Gallatin News Examiner, are hosting The 2007 Political Forum for the four Alderman at Large seats on the Portland City Council. The forum will be televised on Comcast Channel 3, Thursday April 5, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. It will also be broadcasted on AM.1270 WQKR.
We are asking for questions from the public to be asked at the forum and what better place than the Portland Blog!
Please keep the questions generic, and not specific to any one candidate. No personal attacks.
We know the bloggers in town have plenty of questions they would like answered.
Thank you,
The Portland Media
Posted by admin at 04:42 PM | Comments (39)
February 28, 2007
Are we spending Wisely?
Amphitheater
$10,000.00 for electrical wiring and concrete from IMPACT FEES
and lets push it along as Ronnie is headlining this years Strawberry Fest!
Skatepark
$60,000.00 from IMPACT FEES
City Alderman Pay Raises starting in 2009
is that really a 50% increase or is that a typo!
If the $200 raise brings them up to $600 monthly that means they are currently making $400
unless my math is off that's a 50% increase!
Mayor Raises
Proposal to increase it to $60,00.00 per year starting in 2009
As read in today's Portland Leader
And let's not forget the sales tax hike proposal to fund a
Civic Center
5 Million 8 million 15 million who knows
Posted by judy at 11:09 AM | Comments (53)
February 26, 2007
Sales Tax Increase $$ Where would you like to see it go?
I am starting this topic because I have seen so many who would rather see the money from any proposed tax increase go to something other than what it is slated for.
If you had a choice and you are in favor of a sales tax increase tell us where you would rather see it go. Start with a YES and then put in order of importance noting only the ones you would be in favor of regarding any proposed sales tax increase. If you are against any sales tax increase regardless of where it would go, all you need to do is write NO INCREASE.
AREAS OF INTEREST ARE
Community Activities -Civic Center
Improved Protection - Police/Fire
City Makeover -New entrances, Sidewalks, Curbs, Lighting, Trees, Shrubs, etc.
Recreation - Parks, etc.
Library
Sanitation/Sewer
Other -
This is how my entry would be
YES
1-City Makeover
2-Improved Protection - Police/Fire
I am hoping to keep this more of a Poll
I do realize much of the tax increase issue was covered in the Civic Center post and we don't need to go over the why's and why not's again.
If you are against any sales tax increase regardless of where it would go, all you need to do is write NO INCREASE.
Thanks for your understanding
Posted by judy at 08:28 AM | Comments (29)
February 08, 2007
Proposed Civic Center
I just read about plans for a Civic Center in the Portland Progressive. Alderman Callis suggest raising the sales tax to cover the cost for the center.
While I do agree a Civic Center would be nice, I believe that extra tax money could be put to better use.
What is everyones feelings on this??????
Posted by DebraP at 09:53 AM | Comments (90)
January 13, 2007
City Leaders Your Opinions Wanted!! #1
I am selecting a few issues brought up by posters from another post "Challenge 2007 for our City" I think it would be good to see what the City Leaders have to say on some of these issues. I know there are several councilman that do post to the blog, and perhaps those that do could encourage your counterparts to join in.
I know in the past councilman who have posted with good intentions have been met by negativity, lets respect them for their thoughts and allow them to speak, general replies should be kept on track and short.
If this works I will move on to another topic #2, #3, #4 etc
#1
Junk and visible trash businesses should be forced to relocate or clean it up. Look at north 109. It is a dump from Pizza hut north about a half mile. A total eyesore.
Posted by judy at 01:33 PM | Comments (23)
December 23, 2006
Challenge "2007" for our City
So much has been said recently about what needs or needs not be done in our home town. I thought, OK lets offer some real sound challenges that we the people would like to see happen in Portland for 2007.
Sound off making positive suggestions that will better our community, or turn something negative into a positive giving solutions to a specific problem.
Let's try to stay on track here, everyone is entitled to their opinions but I ask that we try to keep it serious without being specifically offensive.
Thanks
Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday's to everyone
Judy
Posted by judy at 10:36 AM | Comments (23)
September 08, 2006
Sunday Beer Sales
Posted by B. Ruckle at 10:43 PM | Comments (36)
August 21, 2006
City Employees
I have been noticing something over the last few weeks. It was posted on the Portland Website that a trash truck was out of service and sanitation was behind picking trash. Yet, EVERY morning at 8am you can find our sanitation workers eating breakfast at Hardees. These guys are not getting it to go, they are sitting down and dining in. Since when do they get to have paid breakfast. It is no big deal to stop in and get it to go and head right back to work, but to sit down and dine for at least 1/2 hour is ridiculous when my trash is being p/u a day late. I have sat watched these guys before. If they are behind why are they stopping to eat in the mornings. Shouldn't that be done prior to coming to work? It seems like these guys dont care. I have to pick trash up out of the road and my drive after they come by because they dont get all in the truck and are too lazy to pick it up after it falls out.
Also, why are city emplyees getting to carry family and friends around in the city vehicles? I saw this the other day. I know some of the guys are on call but since when does the city insurance allow family and friends to ride in city vehicles for unoffical business.
Does the department heads not have better control of the employees or does it even go higher than that?
Posted by David at 07:57 AM | Comments (22)
June 19, 2006
Budget battle royale
This Thursday the Portland City Council will vote on second reading of the 2006-2007 city budget. I'd like to solicit comments and questions on this post regarding this year's budget. If we get a good response, we may include some of the comments and questions in this Wednesday's issue of The Portland Progressive. Thanks.
Posted by B. Ruckle at 05:12 PM | Comments (10)
March 03, 2006
Highway 52 Yard Sale
An Open Letter to the Mayor and Aldermen of Portland
Dear Sirs:
If the Yard Sale Ordinance is passed as it, it will have a very negative impact on the Highway 52 Yard Sale.
As you know, this yard sale is a multi-county effort currently involving three counties and five cities. The event is publicized all over the state and bringsbuyers and sellers from all over the country. This will be the seventh year for the Highway 52 Yard Sale which has become a very successful event. (On the Monday after the yard sale, look at the people in the banks depositing money and the people in restaurants and stores spending money.)
The ordinance, as it stands, will hurt the yard sale in three ways:
1) There will be scores of people selling during those two or three days. Having to go to the trouble to get a permit amongst the crowd will discourage people from selling.
2) The ordinance prohibits anyone except property owners from having a yard sale. A successful yard sale like this must have out-of-town sellers. The more out-of-town sellers we can attract to the area, the better the yard sale will be.
3) There is some discussion in the newspaper that out-of-town sellers will be permitted, but the property owner from which they are renting will have to get a permit. Many out-of-town sellers will simply arrive on Friday morning, knock on a door and get permission from the property owner to set up along the highway. If the property owner is forced by law to get a permit that morning, chances are good he'll just tell the seller to go away. (Also, if the seller arrives on Saturday, City Hall will be closed and nobody can get a permit.) The land owner may lose rent money. The seller may move to another city or county.
All of these things will hurt the Highway 52 Yard Sale. They will hurt Portland.
The Highway 52 Yard Sale has been recognized as an innovative concept by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development -- the people that gave Portland our Three-Star Award. The Highway 52 Yard Sale is something that Portland needs to support.
The solution is simple. If the City still wants to pass an ordinance, please add something like this to the end of Section 12: "The annual Highway 52 Yard Sale is exempted from the residency restrictions of this section, and permits are not required for this event."
Thank you very much.
Charlie Myers
Co-webmaster
www.PortlandTN.com
www.TN52.com
Posted by admin at 08:47 AM | Comments (3)
February 10, 2006
Yard Sales
A reader e-mailed us the text below and asked that it be placed on the blog.
I believe that the newly implemented blog system at our city’s website should address the yard sale issue that the City Council has brought up. As a citizen, I am speaking up and would urge others to do the same.
I have lived in this town for fifteen years and have only ever had two yard sales during that time. But that's not the point. The point is that I do not believe it is the City Council's right to limit my freedom of having a yard sale if I want to.
I have not heard anyone address the question of why we need limits on yard sales. I can understand the city requesting that signs not be in the right-of-way (I wouldn't want to be the cause of a wreck) and off of the utility poles (their not mine anyway). The problems I have are with them telling me how many I can have, how big my signs can be and telling me to go pull a permit to have one! It’s not like I’m building a house! I’m having a yard sale, that at most, will last three days. Plus, if my signs are out of the right-of-way, why do you care how big they are?
How would the city benefit from yard salers getting a permit? Supposedly there wouldn't be a fee to get the permit, but they want to impose a $50 per day penalty if you violate any of their rules, including getting a permit. If there is no fee to get a permit, then why do you want us to pull one? If we don’t pull a permit and have a yard sale anyway, how are you going to know? Are we going to waste another city employee's time to visit all yard sales and request to see their permit? If a penalty is imposed, what will happen if I refuse to pay it?
As you can see, I have lots of questions that I would like for someone to address. Perhaps they have already been addressed and I just haven't been privy to the discussion.
Being a property owner is a responsibility. But there are certain rights and benefits that come with that responsibility. I believe that the City Council is overstepping into my rights and privileges by implementing this ordinance.
One more thing, I’d like to thank Mike Callis for voting against this measure at the last council meeting. He is the only Councilman that voted “no” to this ordinance.
This community needs to speak up and let their questions be answered and opinions be heard. If this ordinance passes without solid evidence that it is necessary, where will it end?
Tammy Brown
Posted by admin at 02:35 PM | Comments (19)
December 30, 2005
City Audit 2004-2005
Below is a letter I sent to the local papers concerning our most recent audit. Many have been asking questions about it and I believe in keeping the public informed anyways, so hopefully this will answer some questions. I'll also check back for questions from bloggers here and be happy to answer them.
To the Editor:
As I have been able to enjoy a little bit of this holiday break, I have run into people who want to know about the City’s most recent audit. Many have read a little bit about it in the newspapers, but have wanted to know more about the fiscal well-being of the City. I thought I might use this space to hit the highlights. These numbers will reflect the City’s accounting from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.
The Good News:
There were two major trends that I really thought reflected positively on the City for the past year. Operating expenses increased $307,299 from 04 to 05, but operating revenue increased $343,700. This reflected that our new revenue exceeded our new expenses by $36,401. This trend has let us do another great thing. Our unreserved fund balance, which can be used as a “rainy day” fund increased to $610,410. This is significant because it had reached a dangerous low of around $100,000 in 2003.
The City’s total debt decreased by $999,240 (%8) during the fiscal year and now stands at $13,445,890. This is down from what I believe was about $18 million in 2003, the first audit I got a look at.
Portland’s unemployment rate was 4.0%. This is over a full percentage point below the state average of 5.1% and the nation’s rate of 5.5% for the same time period. Our local industries have helped keep our unemployment low while also comprising a large part of our tax base. The top ten industries in our city paid a total of $58,383,157 in taxes to the city.
The Bad News:
The vast majority of negative findings in the audit dealt primarily with how we do some of our accounting. In response to these concerns we have discussed upgrading our computer systems in the next budget year, changing how we fund the payroll account, and other procedural changes that will make it easier to track where our money is going. The problems were not with the accounts themselves, as all showed a positive balance throughout the city, just the procedures we use to account and track them that if we change, will give us a lot more information such as gas mileage for each vehicle, quicker turnaround on funds which will allow us to accrue more interest, etc.
Another concern continues to be our water loss which averaged 28% for the fiscal year. This problem has been identified in the past and we embarked last year on a four-year plan to address this, so hopefully this number will get smaller and smaller each year as we are able to address this problem.
The auditor also mentioned that there seems to be a large amount of spending in the Parks Dept compared to other cities. This does not reflect poorly on the Parks Dept. because a large portion of this spending is on the debt from buying the land for the new park a few years ago. This will also soon change as we will pay off that note in fiscal year 2007.
All in all, I was very pleased with the City’s financial performance last year. So much more could have been written, but I wanted to just give an overall picture of the City’s financial well-being. If any of you have more specific questions, you can email me at TCoker@cityofportlandtn.gov. If you can’t reach me that way, feel free to call me at home.
Sincerely,
Tim Coker
Chairman of Finance Committee
Posted by at 12:16 AM | Comments (2)
August 09, 2005
Sewer Woes
As many of you have either heard, or are now hearing, and I'm sure it'll be in the media, the City of Portland has been issued a moratorium on all sewer taps from the State of Tennessee until further notice. While this is by no means a pleasant thing to discuss or be going through, rumors tend to spin off of things like this so I wanted to explain a few things as soon as possible.
First of all, this was not really a surprise to a lot of people. I and other members of the government, past and present, have been saying this was likely to happen for some time. The amazing amount of growth that this city has experienced in the last 5-7 years has just been too taxing for some parts of the system. The good news is, that thanks to teh diligence of employees in the Public Works Dept., Steve Whitehead, Interim Public Works Superindendent of Works and current Assistant Superintendent warned of problems some time ago, which has allowed us to get out in front of some of the problems. When new Superintendent Brian Goodwin came on, he has helped us make vast strides in addressing teh weaknesses in our sewer systems
Mainly, the State was concerned about two areas. First, there are a few areas in town wher manholes "chronically" overflow. This is defined, if memory serves as either 3 or 5 times a year I cant remember right now. Some months ago, we hired engineers to do a water and sewer master plan for our City and they identified these palces and found that some were doing so because for some reason in the past, as new subdivisions came on such, certain big lines were feeding into smaller lines on down the system line causing backups during big storm events. While some of these places are going to be hard to get to, addressing those problems shouldn't be too awful difficult. Along with a few sewer pump upgrades, and a redesign on a piece of equipment at the sewer plant, already in the design phase, most of those problems should be fixed.
Second, they felt we should be more aggressive in our sewer pre-treatment program. This program inspects industrial users of our sewer and examines what htey put into the system, performs tests, and issues citation, etc. This has in the past fell on the sewer palnt operator to do. As the city has grown, however, so has the job, and the City is already in the process of advertising for someone to be hired to oversee and do the program almost exclusively.
All projects that have been approved already will be honored by the City so noone who has spent money on a development already approved should be effected. Aside from that, it'll just take a while for us to catch up to the growth that Portland has experienced lately. We had already enacted a self-imposed moratorium of sorts to give us some time to catch up, so hopefully, this will allow us to prepare for the next wave of growth we are sure to experience in the future as Nashville spills it populace closer and closer to our city. In the meantime, if there are any other questions, feel free to email me at the address included T_Coker@cityofportlantn.gov
Posted by at 11:55 PM | Comments (6)