Monday, October 29, 2007

Eviscerating the Open Meetings Act

Looks like I'll be on the phone today. Read more here. Mike Hammond was on TV Sunday explaining that the Commission was looking at the quorum rule as a solution to their woes.

The last thing we need is 9 commissioners getting together in secret to trade votes, and then holding another meeting with ANOTHER 9 commissioners in secret to get the majority.

I like Mike's support of civil penalties. Perhaps we need to enact that reform, along with a clear definition of "deliberation." Allow multiple Commissioners to meet with constituents to gather information, but not to discuss between them. That seems pretty simple.

Mike had a good point about the fact that we have two commissioners from each district, and they may need to brief each other on a meeting or conversation with a constituent that one of them had. But can't they do that with a written public memo? That would fall under "information gathering" and not deliberation- a memo or e-mail being a "one way" conversation. As long as the other Commissioner didn't respond to that email/memo, the intent of the OMA would be met.

Thoughts? Comments?

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Non-Election Stuff: I might be on TV tonight

The family will be watching Extreme Home Makeover closely tonight, since this was the house I got to work on out near Pinon, AZ this spring. It was one of EMHE's more difficult projects, since it was out in the middle of nowhere (4 hour drive from the closest airport... PHX or Sante Fe, take your pick), crazy weather (we had a heat wave, rain, a dust storm, and snow fall in the same day), and we built a pretty high-tech "green" house (solar collectors, wind generators... it will be a net zero electricity house).

Since I had some experience building furniture in the home shop, I got tapped to work in the art tent with the 'talent'. Lots of interesting stories there- but I did really enjoy working with Johnny Littlefield, he's an all-around good guy, along with Big D, the shop foreman. Who knows, I might be in shot somewhere tonight. Either way, it was a great experience, and the emotion on the crew is no less than that of the home audience- and you don't need the music soundtrack to help you along.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Just a slight correction to Georgiana's Column

In Georgiana Vines' column in the KNS, I am quoted as saying that Lee Tramel's letter "suggests Tramel would get the appointment."

It's a little misleading- what I said in my interview was that the letter suggests that Tramel thinks he would get the appointment. It's a subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. I certainly would never "give up" on an issue so important.

(But, at least Tramel doesn't go as far as to say he's still serving office, unlike others... nod to nbt44)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Oct 22- Natural Resource Recovery

One of the more interesting issues that came up was a local homeowner stating that he had been fighting for over two years to deal with an odor issue at his home, which is located near Natural Resources Recovery in Solway (where 62 meets 162).

For two years, he has been plagued by sewage-like odors, but on-site inspections seemed to turn up nothing. The resident begged for action to be taken, but it was unclear how Commission would proceed without the backing of the Air Quality board or a corroborating inspection by someone with the County (even a Commissioner).

Working with air quality issues, I suspected a few things, did a little research today, and I have a likely cause and a proposed solution that would be a win-win for all parties. See the "Comments" section for details. Maybe we can solve this homeowner's problem quickly.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Toothless Appointment Resolution

(Blogging live): Commission just passed resolution stating that they would have a public hearing before making an appointment for a vacant elected office.

No other requirements, though- no advanced notice, no details about how they might find applicants, no teeth.

Mike Hammond opined that this was a way for Commission to show that they were listening to the voters. Excellent- but I don't buy that "better than nothing" is the best we can do.

But it provided a break from the painful hour where Commissioners were trying to figure out how the health insurance industry prices SI policies and what stop-loss insurance is. Wow. I vow that, if elected, I'll do a lot more homework on multi-million dollar purchases before meetings.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Lumpy Wants to Represent Us

"...Commissioner Greg “Lumpy” Lambert had said he was willing to represent residents of the 4th District along with his own 6th District."

Oh my. Methinks Lumpy doesn't quite understand the 14th Amendment. But thanks for the offer.

(/SARCASM OFF)

It's also interesting in the article that the commissioners still don't have a clear understanding of our Open Meetings Act and have to have it explained to them ever five minutes.


Heroes: Alice Bell/Spring Hill Neighborhood Association

They returned the money that Chuck Bolus gave from his discretionary fund before being ousted by Fansler.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Reference: Knox Co/City Stormwater Differences

This document lists the complaints the City has regarding the Knox County stormwater provisions. The first point seems like a pretty major hamstringing of the rule!

Herb Moncier- Fansler Can Legally Call Special Election!

Herb Moncier was on the Hallerin Hill show this morning at it was fascinating. Say what you want about Herb, he has a sharp legal mind and can put it in terms for the average Joe.

He brought up an interesting point- Brook Thompson of the state election commission really failed to do his job when asked to rule on term limits, forcing Knox County to hire an attorney at their own expense to decide the issue, starting the whole mess. It turns out Herb has a suit for the benefit of Knox County to recover the $$ ($300K?) Knox County expended to hire this consultant to do the state's job.

Herb also pointed out that Knox County should have not used the appointment provisions to fill a "vacancy," because we never truly had a "vacancy." The election of term-limited officials, he says, was illegal, and thus the election should have been voided. Under a voided election, a section of Tennessee law calls specifically for the ruling judge (Fansler in this case) to call for a special election, and in fact Moncier made this plea earlier this year, and that plea is still active- all it takes is for Fansler to review the earlier cases, declare the election voided, and call for the special election.

Fascinating!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

County Paperwork

Well, I turned in my treasurer's appointment and petition yesterday, but haven't seen it updated on the PDF yet. But, in case anybody's wondering, I am legal. Someone asked me if I was going to get a "big name" for my treasurer. Right now, I'm thinking no; it kind of misses the point of being an outsider candidate. If a big name wants to endorse me, that's cool, but my treasurer is a long-time friend who knows me well. He just moved back to Knoxville from New Orleans due to the Katrina fiasco, so he brings some good perspective of other governmental dysfunction and the importance of disaster preparedness.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Knox County Recall Petition Drive

Sign the petition here. The petition allows, in extreme circumstances (15% of the voters by petition) to call a recall election. That's a sufficient bar that it would only be called in under the most egregious circumstances.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Tramal Letter

Did you get one? Let's have a little fact checking, shall we?

"Record amount of funding for K-12 education without a property tax increase." Hmm... forgot to mention that god-awful wheel tax.

"Passed one of the strongest storm water ordinances..". Are you serious? We're about to be dragged into another lawsuit over this inept decision and inability to coordinate with the City.

"Implemented a program providing for a property tax freeze for senior citizens..." So, we passed a resolution to implement a Tennnesse state law. Wow. I'm actually amazed they didn't screw this up, so I guess some congratulations are in order.

This is a record to run on? Is the bar really that low these days? Knox County needs and deserves better.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

County Commission on YouTube

See Lumpy get pwned starting at 3:40 in this video. Video evidence that he doesn't get it. Also, see Pinkston at 7:15.

Phil Ballard discusses the Midway Business Park in this video.

Here's an Inside Tennessee episode after the January 31 meeting. "Was it fair?" "Oh, yes..." It's good comedy.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Action Item: MPC Reform

Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) makes NO EFFORT to figure out the costs of serving new residential development with basic services such as roads, sewer, schools, fire, police, etc. As a result development occurs in parts of Knox county that are very costly to serve. 500 million dollars a year more costly! A report put out by Rutgers estimated that Nashville would save almost a billion dollars a year by managing all its growth so as to minimize the "cost of community services". At half of Nashville’s size, Knoxville could probably realize half as much by doing the same.

read more>>

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Fred Sisk- Unethical Behavior

I was floored when I received my annual property tax assessment letter. Not by the assessment or the taxes- not at all. I was shocked to see that Fred Sisk used our tax dollars to create and insert campaign literature into the mailing. To me, that kind of behavior is criminal misuse of our tax dollars, and he should be immediately required to personally reimburse the County for every penny used to create, print, and insert those brochures. No less of a remedy should be required!!!

I'm probably going to say this 100 times in this blog before election day, but they just don't get it. The leadership in Knox County from top to bottom (OK, there are a few exceptions) don't understand the law, can't comprehend the basic concepts of ethical behavior, and they will never change. At best, they will appoint more cronies and friends who will behave the exact same way.

Knox County government needs new faces, unconnected to the political machines that have been running this county. Elaine and I are two of those faces, and we're stepping up to the plate to get involved. But we can't do it without YOUR help.