Reforming County Commission in the Fourth District

I'm simply amazed...

2008-08-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

... at how huge an issue this early swearing in has become. I suspect the average voter has more important concerns than this, but it's an interesting debate. The important thing is that whoever makes the decision makes it independent of what's on the August meeting agenda. It has to be made on principle alone.

Link: Herb Moncier's argument for early swearing in.
Link: My argument to leave decision up to the elected commissioners.

Bonus Link: PDF Copy of Moncier's motion.

More of my rationale is given here.

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Vote! AUGUST 7th. Vote!

2008-08-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Early voting totals are abysmal. I know it's hot. I've been walking in it at night, sweating buckets, going door to door. If I can do that, surely you can get out election day and vote.

Low participation doesn't help any of us. Maybe you're waiting for the tradition of voting election day, the festive atmosphere. I hope so.

Maybe the drag of the poor economy, high gas prices, and high food prices has you down. It's got us all down. But in this year especially, you have a chance to have a real impact. The Commission we vote in will set the tone for the county for the next 6-10 years, and that will have a major impact on the economy and liveability of this community.

Don't say your vote doesn't count. Look at Florida in 2000- a national election decided by less than 200 votes. There will absolutely be several close races in Knox County this Thursday.

Vote. And when you go, take a friend or two with you.

County Car Policy

2008-08-04T13:20:00.001-07:00

Larry Van Guilder of the Shopper runs the numbers for us. Well done.

For those wanting to donate....

2008-07-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

The UUA has started a web site for donations to help the victims.

Anyone reading who wants to help me do the weeding in front of the church this Saturday morning can shoot me an email as well.

An amazing vigil service tonight

2008-07-28T17:35:00.001-07:00

The room was filled not just with members, but people from all over Knoxville. When the hands went up for who was from other congregations, the huge number of visitor's hands drew applause from the UUers.

The President of the UU Congregation from Boston spoke, the high points being:

We may feel anger, but we are also filled with understanding and compassion
This will not change who we are and what we believe
There is power in the community that has been forged out of this tragedy, and we should not let it go away

The surprise ending? The kids came out to sing "Tomorrow", the song they didn't get to finish in their production.

When you're faced with a day that's grey and lonely
I just stick out my chin and grin and say
The sun will come out tomorrow
...
Tomorrow... you're only a day away.

Thank you Chris, Mitra, Rosemary, and William for filling us with hope on this day.

Unspeakable Tragedy

2008-07-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

How does this happen? Why? Will we ever know what motivated this individual?

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and thoughts for our injured members. I'm quite shocked and appalled at the early media reports of fatalities with no confirmation. I would ask all media to desist in those situations barring any official confirmation because we still have worried families in the hospital and nobody needs to make reports that (we pray) turn out to be false.

I would like to go on record regarding what I said to the media, which certainly did not include any conjecture regarding the condition of my fellow members (the people I helped were certainly not critical cases, and I'm hoping that the other cases were not much more serious than theirs).. My understanding is they are at UTMC, the best trauma center in the state, and being cared for, and I don't care for the 'we think' reporting.

If there's another source of information leading to these rumors of fatalities, I don't know what it is and I would hope that the media would be much more careful. Not just in this case, but any similar case. I know they are trying to get the news out, but please think of the people in the hospital waiting rooms. Please.

My goal (as I didn't have to await an interview) was to help people in the community to have friends or family members at the church to understand what happened, that the situation was being VERY well managed by KPD and emergency response, and that we are a very strong community already helping each other through this.

For future inquiries, please contact the church (who has not yet defined any official spokesperson, but it sure as hell isn't me) or the Knoxville Police Department.

And keep those prayers going. Again, my thanks out to KPD, KFD, the Red Cross, and my fellow members of the church, especially the brave men who stopped the assailant. And thanks to the outpouring of support from the community. I hope another situation never presents itself where we need to do the same, but be assured, if it does, we will be there standing with you.

Update- it's late evening. The news has already broken regarding our two losses, Linda and Gary. The media, in a vacuum, is making wild guesses regarding motive.

At the vigil tonight, it was clear that we aren't so focused on the 'why', but more on consoling each other, and helping those affected cope with the tragedy. One person commented that what "why" could there be that we would condemn? Mental illness? Hate? Neither of these would be a subject for rebuke by our congregation. So we will focus on the healing, especially the children who had to witness the tragic events. To labor on the question of whether the world is basically good or basically bad is a waste of time- the world is what WE all decide to make it.

And we thank the community (and other communities) for their outpouring of support. While we hope we never ever have to return the favor, we will of course stand with you in your time of need also. From the professional counselors that have offered their services to the person just making sandwiches for strung-out victims, we are grateful for everything.

You can read more about Gary at a site put up by his nephew.

WNOX Interviews (Steve and Ed, semi-debate format)

2008-07-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

Version with video:
Part 1
Part2
Part3
Part4

DTV: Friday, 9:30 pm on CTV (Community Access)

2008-07-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

Tune in, call in (215-2288)

Don't have Comcast. You can stream CTV now by clicking here!

Knoxville News-Sentinel Endorsements

2008-07-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

Being an outside reform candidate, I never expected I would receive this. I toyed with the idea of not even going, but I thought to refuse the interview would send the wrong message.

For those who actually read the article, I should remind you that the News-Sentinel endorsed our current Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale and George W. Bush (twice). The KNS also endorsed many of the term-limited commissioners, leading to Black Wednesday.

Yep, those endorsements and $3.80 still won't get you a gallon of gas. Now go vote, vote what YOU want (not what the newspaper wants), vote for something other than politics as usual, and take a friend with you.

Undecided? The bottom of this page has two good links to help you compare/contrast, and don't forget politicalknoxville.com.
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Some Budget Questions

2008-07-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write this up for weeks, just a few questions I had as I read through the budget, I'd be curious to find out the answers to in the future... Not to say anything is out of line, but some changes bear some questioning:

Internal Audit funding down $150K, nearly 40% from their request. Will internal audits be hampered by lack of funding?
Codes administration cut 5% from current year, 15% from their request. Implications on codes enforcement?
I was surprised to hear that J.J. Jones Sunday stated on WBIR that KCSD funding has only gone up "one percent," yet the current year budget has large increases in Sheriff's Administration (5%), Patrol (9%), Warrants (30%!), Detectives (22%!), etc.
Vehicle services up 18%- I guess that's gas prices.
Building maintenance up 10%
Capital outlay for eight (8) vehicles outside of patrol cars and engineering/codes/etc vehicles- how many need to be trucks/SUVs, and how many can be defined so that more fuel-efficient (and less costly) vehicles can be purchased? Over their lifetime, a more efficient vehicle purchase could save taxpayers $160,000.

My Perspective: Open Records and Constituent Communications

2008-07-21T09:59:00.001-07:00

See George Korda's column here.

My response:
The requirement to turn over records is not the same as a requirement for a constituent to identify themselves. Anyone can call, or even anonymously e-mail (via Yahoo, Gmail, etc) their Commissioner.

Commission could also respond by allowing for an anonymous e-mail form on the web site. I'd be in favor of that (and propose a resolution on that, if elected), especially if it means that the books are opened on the back-door lobbying already taking place.

Civil Service Hearing

2008-07-21T09:21:00.001-07:00

Mayor's office: $1.8 million + costs of testing and renting testing facility (um... don't we have a room right next door we can use for testing?). Three months to fill positions instead of six weeks.

Sounds like lots of skewed data, given that the costs vastly exceed what the City pays. The teachers and law enforcement officers already have their own program, so the cost should be more like $500K.

FYI, to dispel some misconceptions:

"You can't fire someone once they get under civil service."
Civil service is not like tenure. CS only means that an employee must receive written warnings before termination and is allowed to appeal the decision. What this does is forces the supervisors in the county to document a bad employee. The benefit of such a structure is that it saves money by reducing lawsuit expenses. The City has not lost a single HR lawsuit since instituting their program. Saving ourselves losing two or three lawsuits would pay for the program.

Other benefits:
- Reduces nepotism and hiring of political associates unqualified to hold the position (through job requirements and associated testing).

In short, a well-crafted program is a good idea. It should include some excluded positions (mayor's office, probably most of the fee offices since they are elected), a grievance board, one year probationary period, and other items to make a program that will save us money and protect our career employees from political influence.

Pinkston is opposed, citing budget concerns. He said he believes it's impossible to fire a county employee right now, but he should read page 12 of the Knox County employee handbook and read the "Employment At Will" section. Unless a federal or state law is violated (e.g., discriminatory practices), there is no recourse for political firings. The only prohibition by the handbook is that supervisors cannot require (but may allow!) political campaigning by employees, and cannot coerce or compel (but may still solicit!) political contributions.

C'mon. If you're an at-will employee, and your boss asks you to put up some signs and/or contribute (and he/she just gave you a big raise), what are you going to do? If you see another employee contribute $1000 and they got a $5000/year permanent raise (taxpayer $$!), what are people going to do? Get real.

William Daniels just brought up this donation-raise issue. Larry Smith said, "if they don't like it, they can get another job." I guess we know where Larry's vote is going to fall on this issue.

Lynne Liddington (Air Quality)- arguing that we have a good set of policies, suggests perhaps enhancing the policies we have already.

Live Blogging, County Commission Committee Meeting

2008-07-21T05:35:00.001-07:00

The expectation is that the Natural Resources Recovery issue will be the biggest thing on the agenda. There is one resolution to accept the mediation, the second is to accept the lease agreement contract. To say that this is a complex issue is an understatement.

We're already jumping to it, as we have a woman in the audience (Diana Pott) stating that the ruptured runoff ponds (collapsed and spilled into a sinkhole, a direct injection to groundwater...) contaminated her well and made her sick. My understanding is that no well testing was done after the rupture, but well testing is being done this week.

A little humor- Mr. Pott addressed Paul Pinkston as "Mr. Ragsdale." Paul was more than happy to correct him. DVD is already talking to them about the well testing schedule.

Mr. Mayes, a party to the lawsuit, is at the podium saying he had not agreed to the mediated settlement, and is arguing against acceptance of the settlement.

Points of contention:
- Was NRR left with no raw materials (as they/county claim) or did they have material that was sold off for cash (as Mr. Mayes claims, and indicates he has letters)?
- Is 'casual contact' with contaminated mulch hazardous to health or not?

There's little debate over the fact that the contract was poorly managed with little oversight, and that both parties in the contract (NRR/County) didn't do what the contract required. I'm a bit surprised that issues were not caught earlier when John Evans' budget didn't show income from the NRR contract. (update- Lewis Cosby just asked the same question!)

Mayes just said he bought some mulch from NRR last year for a job and ended up with a lung infection (Commissioner Briggs may offer some expertise on this issue with a little research).

Finance voted to Deny. Mediated agreement is in for rough waters next Monday. John Owings just agreed that an agenda item that fails in both committees is removed from the final Commission meeting agenda.

Other topics:
- Gay Street redevelopment TIF: general agreement, as long as the city participates as well.

-Mosquito spraying- to move from notifying neighborhood associations to notifying individual homes by postcard. Motion to recommend fails, I think partly because the costs to expand the notification was unknown (no fiscal note).

- A resolution to partner with the City's Energy & Sustainability Task Force, but Mike Hammond pulled it from the consent agenda, so apparently he has something to discuss there. Lynn Liddington has already indicated that some work has already started in the Health Department to curb energy usage, expand recycling, etc. This partnership resolution would include an overall audit. Hammond is opposed to spending more money for an audit. Mr. Hammond, I hope we also consider how much can be saved by improving efficiency in the millions of square feet of our county buildings, not even considering the air quality improvements gained from energy use reductions.

- Rushing through the rest, no recommendations. Daniels said he had questions for PBA, but they did not attend this morning.

- Midway Road: withdrawn.

- Civil Service: pass with no recommendation, public hearings coming up. It would be nice if public hearings were posted on the Commission web site!

- Charter Review Committee Change: voted to Approve.

... more to come....

WNOX Interview MP3

2008-07-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

WNOX doesn't have their new voter's guide yet, but if you want to review the interview Catherine Howell did with me and Ed Shouse, you can click here.

Good questions!

1-minute Campaign Commercial

2008-07-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

I made this for WBIR's web site. Serious video editing people, please don't laugh too hard. I had to throw this together, and I'm pretty new to iMovie....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVOF0258lTQ

Voting Today? Looking for Info?

2008-07-18T11:43:00.001-07:00

Need a quick 5-minute rundown from the blog on "what I believe"?

Try these:

Clarifications to West Debate

June Committee Meeting

Budget Crisis Thoughts

Also, check out the extended interviews available at Knoxville Voice, extended questionnaires at Political Knoxville, and a video interview at News-Sentinel.

Public Trust Committee Endorsement

2008-07-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

We were pleased today to be endorsed by the Public Trust PAC.

Of course, as part of our work to come onto Commission uninfluenced by any PAC or developer money, the funds would be allocated to a local charity instead. This is simply in observance of general principal, and should not be construed as any criticism of the PT-PAC.

Air Quality Alerts- did you know?

2008-07-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

That you can receive text messages to your phone warning you about yellow (moderate), orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) and higher air quality days, and receive forecasts for future days?

Go to: http://www.enviroflash.info/signup.cfm

Reminder- Happy Hour at Casa Don Gallo's

2008-07-15T04:46:00.000-07:00

Come out at 6pm-8pm, we'll be on side patio! The weather should cooperate (it was quite nice for 'walking and knocking' last night). Remember to invite 2-3 friends and spread the word. See you there!

Some Clarifications (Shopper News Article)

2008-07-14T03:58:00.001-07:00

Sandra Clark of the Shopper News invited me to clarify some of what she perceived as "vague" answers during the West High forum (see her article here). Actually, I got a mixed review from people after the forum- most thought that my answers were more complete and reflected more thought than others, but I can see how they could be perceived as rambling, as I tend to search for a little more nuance, rather than offering the quick/easy answer. Call it the "Al Gore Syndrome" if you will, but most citizens say they appreciate it.

So let's get to it, shall we?

Do you favor or oppose reducing the size of Commission?
That's a decision that should be put to the voters, not decided by commission. As an individual voter, I would oppose it and recommend against it because the job is too much work for one person.

Under what circumstances would you vote against an MPC staff recommendation to amend the sector plan?
(being the first responder to this question, I spent some of my answer explaining this issue to the audience, which I think threw Sandra off. I had two people from the audience thank me later for doing this...)
- Commission is far too eager to amend the sector plan. In cases where there is no local opposition or potential harm, Commission should use this opportunity to require the developer to take steps that will reduce future County obligations (low energy development, additional stormwater improvements, sidewalks, etc), in exchange for amending the sector plan.

Given that the question was "under what circumstances," a "yes" or "no" was insufficient.

Should small branch libraries be closed?
I took the opportunity here to discuss how our budgeting process should be fixed (see web site, blog, etc)- in brief, we should only cut the "fatter" departments and leave "lean" departments alone. If the library system is fat, they get cut and it's up to the director Larry Frank to determine how to deal with those cuts- Commission shouldn't micromanage. If the library system is lean, then no cuts, the branches stay open.

Thanks again to all of the journalists that covered the Forum, in particular the in-depth question by question coverage provided by the Shopper and the Focus. And thanks to all of the citizens who attended!

Fourth District Forum Recap

2008-07-13T08:40:00.001-07:00

Did you miss it? The Focus newspaper has a great detailed recap- click here.

Coverage starts on page 6.

Knox County Cars

2008-07-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Remember when I said it would be really powerful if the County Car lists and such were available for EVERYONE to review?

Car List 1.pdf (most of the executive branch)

Car List 2.pdf (CAC, KCSD)

Just as a note- you'll find that the KCSD has 1.5x to 2x the cars they have for each car-related position (more patrol cars than patrol positions, more detective cars than positions, etc). But many of these cars have high mileage- municipalities generally replace patrol cars in the 65,000 to 80,000 mile range.

It would seem that the KCSD simply doesn't dispose of its old cars, but why keep them? If those are assigned as take-home cars as perks, are they being filled up with Knox County gas? 150 surplus cars x $4000/year in fuel = $600,000.

I don't know if that's the case, but if it is... well, there's some savings to be found. And, of course, in other officials that have both cars and car allowances. That can't be allowed in these tight times.

(Interesting....I saw one detective's Crown Vic had 70,000 miles a year put on it. That's some serious driving, like 7 hours a day continuous!)

So, enjoy.

Some interesting little threads regarding this election

2008-07-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

Apparently, there's a debate as to whether new Commissioners elected in August must/should take office immediately, or wait until the traditional September swearing-in.

see the latter part of the comments at: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/09/public-hears-from-hopefuls/

My particular response on the site:

I'm going to go against my better judgment and go out on a limb here (as a candidate).

Yes, in normal election cycles, the swearing in is September. Why? That allows for a normal transition of an Agenda/Committee/General Meeting cycle, as well as some time for some transition for the new Commissioners. It makes sense.

Yes, since this is an election to fill in an unexpired term, it's a slightly different animal. I can see the case being made for immediately taking office...

BUT....

Given the former rationale, I don't think it's a good idea. Politics aside, I think it would be good to 'follow transition' in order to allow for a more reasonable transition time and not to disrupt the August meeting cycle. Heck, what would it mean to sit in a meeting voting on a bill that no longer has a sponsor sitting on Commission?

If the law director (current? former?) tells me waiting until September is illegal, obviously I have no choice. But I would want the law director to say without reservation that's the case before accepting an August swear-in. It's just too disruptive to the process. That 'tradition' is there for a good reason.

Inside TN - If you missed it

2008-07-09T04:41:00.001-07:00

You can watch it here (9 minutes). I wish WBIR would offer these on their web site....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmx9UioH6fk

Interestingly, if you search YouTube for "Drevik", it suggests film clips of "Dr Evil" from Austin Powers...... :)

Fourth District Forum Complete

2008-07-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

The LWV had some very good & very interesting/tough questions. I'm hoping that PoliticalKnoxville.com puts a video up for people to review.

Coverage on KNS here. Additional coverage based on KNS editorial interviews can be found here.

We went to the new Mexican restaurant near the old Bi-Lo in Bearden (El Mezcal). Very good, great service.

Bearden Area to Get Knoxville's Second Earth Fare?

2008-07-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

Next spring. And they're not even asking for a TIF to do it. :)

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/04/bearden-earth-fare-in-works/

Sam's Club / WalMart Could Get Some Competition

2008-07-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Could Knoxville get a Costco?

http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/flory/2008/07/who_wants_costco.html

Costco, for those who aren't familiar, is like Sam's Club, but they tend to be more popular in some markets because they pay/benefit their employees much better (reducing turnover), doesn't squash unionization attempts (although most stores are not unionized... the benefits are good enough that there's often not a desire to unionize), and still manages to offer the same prices (for arguably better goods). A cashier starts at $9.50 and can be making $40k in four years.

I got turned off from Wal-Mart when they built themselves on "Made in the USA" goods and in the blink of an eye turned into a giant pipeline for Chinese-made goods. That's not to say Costco doesn't sell overseas manufactured goods (it's hard for buyers to find U.S.-based suppliers now for shoes, textiles, etc), but Costco didn't hoodwink the country and didn't actively seek to shift its suppliers away from the United States.

Budget Shortfall Fallout - Teaching Positions Cut

2008-06-26T14:22:00.002-07:00

Proposal: 52 positions cut... click here for more details.

The School Board has yet to vote on the cuts. Note also that some of the positions are already vacant and/or existing teachers reassigned to other spots.

The only cuts specific to the Fourth District were two Driver's Ed teachers at West (I assume killing the whole program).

Lots of cuts at Farragut High, but presumably that's related to the opening of Hardin Valley, I suspect.

I had also heard that the school board is moving towards a budgeting program that starts with the principals (bottom-up rather than top-down). It will be a tough transition for principals not used to doing this, but probably a good move in the long run for the principals to have input in defining what they need (and don't need).

Hospitality Account Audit

2008-06-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

It may finally yield something- even Commissioner Hammond is calling for a special prosecutor.

(Link...)

The call for an outside investigator is badly needed. Attorney General Nichols has had a conflict of interest over this administration through the whole process. This is one of the downsides of appointed positions. I wonder if Commission had the authority to remove the Attorney General (as per the proposed Charter Amendments for the proposed fee office appointments), would they have been able to muster the votes to do it? I tend to doubt it. If the AG office were elected, would the situation be different?

Two Air Quality Alerts in a Row...

2008-06-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

I've heard from a lot of people lately about the air quality issues. Fortunately, this is a topic I am well-versed in (for the last 20 years) and I'd like to bring my expertise to this important issue on Commission.

The EPA determines the relative health hazard by looking at two pollutants- ozone and find particulate matter (PM). The data is available in near real-time on the EPA's web site (http://airnow.gov/), and some links on there explain in detail what the different alert levels mean and how they are computed. An orange day ("Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups") mean that people with asthma, COPD, etc should stay indoors, and everyone should limit strenuous outdoor activity.

Knox County also has a phone number you can call and get the latest AQI without a computer. I believe it is 215-5925 (but it doesn't seem to be working this AM).

Two things that aren't on the EPA site, though:

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is calculated by looking at the risk of the two pollutants independently, and taking the highest of the two (and discarding the lower entirely). Thus, not all "yellow" or "orange" days are really the same. There's a big difference between a day with "orange" ozone / "orange" particulate and a day with "orange" ozone and "green" particulate. There are studies that show synergistic effects, so my advice to anyone with breathing disorders or heart disease should try to find the concentration levels of ozone and PM and look at them both during yellow or orange alert days.
The ozone standard for compliance was lowered from 80 parts per billion to 75, but it was noted at the EPA conference that the science pointed them to lowering the standard all the way down to 60. Of course, this was politically untenable, so the EPA compromised with 75. But it was interesting to note that the studies showed, for the first time, damage to the respiratory system of healthy adults at levels over 60 ppb. Thus, this is no longer an issue just for people with asthma, COPD, etc.

What can we do? Other areas have programs that click into place on ozone action days encouraging carpooling, lowering highway speed limits in down, anti-idling regulations, dropping the bus fare (or making rides free). There's a lot of good programs in other counties we can examine and consider adopting. As an individual, it's quite astounding what changing your house lights over to compact fluorescents (CFL) will do (less power generation = less ozone). Reduce unnecessary car trips on hot summer days (not a problem with gas prices).

Be safe.

Rate of posting?

2008-06-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Posting has been a little slow lately, as we've been cranking up the door to door meetings and having to support meetings, etc. Mark your calendars for two events though:

July 8, 7pm, West High School- Fourth District Candidate Forum
July 15, 6pm, Casa Don Gallo (Rocky Hill)- Meet the Candidate 'happy hour'
July 18 - August 2 : Early Voting!

Remember Black Wednesday. In less than 4 weeks, it's time to finish the job.

Budget Hearings

2008-06-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

Been watching the stream (http://www.ctvknox.org/stream.htm). Wow.

The commission can't bring themselves to cut anything at all. I see another $40M of debt being added to Knox County's debt load at the next meeting.

Remember- early voting starts July 18th.

June 16 Committee Meeting- Key Items

2008-06-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

Approval of $40M in additional bonded debt
Approval of sale of South High School
Contract with Tourism & Sports (divvying up the hotel/motel tax)
Library / PBA contract break
New financial controls (auditable expense accounts, eliminate p-cards, no more interest-only payments on bonds, quarterly statements from Finance)
Civil Service proposal (ahem, see below)
Establish new tax rates (or leave them as is)

See you there!

Live update- apparently it's not a joint Finance/IG meeting today. Finance is passing lots of things through without recommendation so far.

Some discussion about the County Travel policy- trying to keep the big boys on a per diem, without strangling rank-and-file employees who might get sent to San Francisco and could lose out on a per diem approach. Owings notes there is an exception to handle these cases, but there doesn't seem to be a copy of the travel policy on the County web site. Making these policies available to the voters would be a good step!

Pinkston just proposed, amongst a number of other changes (some very good ideas, too) to eliminate the wheel tax and replace it with a $0.15 property tax hike (about 6%). His argument is that the burden actually goes down for working class people, while raising more funds (and thus less borrowing).

Update:
'Across the board' cuts are stupid and show a lack of leadership. It penalizes parts of the organizations that operate at higher efficiency than those 'fatter' part of the organizations.

What's really interesting about Pinkston's proposal is that it's a progressive tax hike. The average working Joe/Jane gets a small cut or it has no effect, while those with higher $$ properties and business properties get soaked by the tax increases. Yes, the supply-siders will way that the increase on businesses will be eventually paid by everyone, but any business is going to be hard pressed to raise prices (other than to cover their rising fuel and materials costs!) in this environment.

I'll go on record as saying I'd rather have a progressive tax hike than more debt. I'd modify Pinkston's raise proposal to something like $50K or $60K.

If I were up there, I'd post all the county vehicles on the Web (including make/model) and let the power of crowds audit the necessity of our vehicle fleet.

Civil Service Proposal (more detail)

2008-06-15T13:50:00.001-07:00

So, although our opportunity to have anti-nepotism and conflict-of-interest in our County Charter was voted down by Commission, we have a new proposal (a substitute to make us feel better?) to bring City-like civil service protection to our County offices.

If you're not familiar, the city system allows an employee that has passed a probationary period (typically one year) protection against being removed for other than proven cause, and that their advancement be based on 'merit' (although their merit is still measured by the elected office holder).

This works in the city because the directors are appointed, not elected. There are a number of problems applying this policy to Knox County where the office holders are elected. When an office turns over, the new officeholder faces a staff that can't be removed that is arguably politically loyal to his/her opponent. No manager wants to be in that situation, where undermining activities and leaks will affect the function of the office.

Consider the case of our new County Law Director, who wants to bring in a trusted right-hand assistant. To be effective, the new Law Director needs to have someone who knows how he works, and someone he can trust. Being forced to keep the existing chief admin would make a very important office much less effective. It's one of the impacts of elected offices.

This proposal would do nothing to eliminate the propensity for employees to work for their director's campaign (who measures 'merit' for raises, after all??). Existing employees in political machines would be 'grandfathered', and it would create more problems down the road for all of us.

If we apply this proposal to other than fee offices (e.g., Engineering, Health, Libraries, etc)- that's a reasonable consideration. I would still argue that we are putting the cart before the horse- that anti-nepotism and conflict of interest policies are MUCH more important. Let's not imagine this proposal is the cure-all.

News-Sentinel Starts General Campaign Coverage

2008-06-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

... not really. The only attention so far has been delving into the personal tragedy of one candidate. Otherwise, the KNS has ignored the general election.

(I'm not even linking to their garbage article).

For shame, KNS, for shame.

Until KNS starts covering the election, there's no point in having their link on the left. Sorry if I wasted anyone's time with that link.

Civil Service Protection? Let's not put the cart before the horse here...

2008-06-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

(see original KNS article...)

We need to put in the anti-nepotism and conflict of interest policies FIRST (by ordinance, now that certain commissioners took away to opportunity for the Charter amendments). This would be my very first proposal as County Commissioner.

What I can't figure out is why commissioners who opposed the anti-nepotism and conflict of interest proposals a few months ago now think civil service protection is the solution to the problem. It's certainly not the best solution to the problem we face right now. It may be a good idea (it may not, it has its pros and cons), but to consider this first, before passing anti-nepotism and COI policies is *ludicrous*.

More Intrigue On The Toll Road Issue (Nashville)

2008-06-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

This stinks to high heaven....

(Click Here).

Our County Budget Crisis

2008-06-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while- took a little more downtime with the family.

So, I mentioned to someone today that I would be posting my perspective on the Knox County budget on my blog. "That's suicidal," he said. "Your opponent isn't hanging himself out there on this or any other issue- why would you go out on a limb on an issue like the budget?"

That's exactly the problem. If someone is unwilling to stick their neck out as a candidate, how do you think they're going to behave as a Commissioner? Part of the problem we're in is the unwillingness of elected (and even appointed) officials to look at 'sacred cows' in our budget and do what is necessary to bring back fiscal responsibility.

In the business world, when times are lean, you can't raise taxes, and your ability to borrow in tough times is limited. So what do you do? You learn to do more with less. But the stupidest thing I've seen companies do is a flat X% "across the board" cut of the entire organization. Divisions that are highly productive are penalized equal with lower-performing groups.

It's too late for this year, but if elected, I would start in the fall of 2008 to lay the groundwork for the 2009-2010 budget. The process would involve defining metrics for each office, measuring that office against other peer counties, and identifying which offices can absorb bigger cuts.

We also have to look at the effect of salary on our overall costs. Another truth from the business world is that if your workers are underpaid and have other opportunities they can move to, your personnel costs will rise and effectiveness falls because your best people leave, and you are stuck with the costs of having to rehire and retrain replacements. This is particularly a problem with our teachers. In some cases, a salary increase can save you money in the long run. In the more brutal approaches, you would look at what positions you are losing good people and direct resources there, away from positions that aren't seeing high turnover.

Other points:

I can see that some of our fees that haven't been increased over 5-10 years can be increased to obtain more revenue without hitting those on limited incomes.
Duplicate car allowances and county vehicles should be eliminated
The list of county vehicles provided should be reviewed and each vehicle must be fully justified as an necessity for the position. For positions with occasional vehicle use, the County could offer mileage reimbursement rather than provide a full time vehicle, insurance, maintenance, etc. Perhaps even excess vehicles could be sold.

Will that get us all the way there? Probably not. But we need to get a lot further down the road of fiscal discipline than we're going right now. Whether we borrow or raise taxes for the rest, we need to minimize those options (and, in the case of a tax increase, minimize the effect on those who can least afford it).

Issues At County Commission Committee Meeting this AM

2008-05-19T06:20:00.000-07:00

The budget, of course....

Also:

Liquor by the drink in the unincorporated areas of Knox County? [This would require a referendum, can't be done by ordinance, withdrawn]
Do we need to create rules for electronic billboards in Knox County?
Gallegher Drive/Gleason Improvement Project (affecting many in the Fourth District)
Was Rutherford Moss' contribution to the Hospitality Fund a sufficient conflict of interest to prevent renewal of his contract for the annual financial audit? Committees voted to recommend renewal of his countract, with a few (4?) objections.
Commission wants more control of the School Board superintendent and control of their budget. Given the previous lack of interest by Commission in budget summits with the school board, this seems very misplaced.
Proposed cutting % of hotel/motel tax reinvested in the Tourism board (from 45% to 40%, most other counties reinvest 52%).

Thanks, guys!

2008-05-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

A quick "thanks" to the County Engineering crew that came to remove the tree blocking our road after Friday's storm. We had a nice little chat as we worked together to remove the limbs to the side of the road. They had been working straight since 11pm the previous night, clearing over 50 trees up to that point, and still had more to do. After we finished that job, I had to run out and clear the tree blocking my Mother's driveway (happy early Mother's day!).

So, when you write that check for your property taxes, remember there's more than just schools to pay for. Think of all the hidden and emergency services that are available for us all.

Great job guys.

Stories from the Campaign Trail

2008-05-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

I spent two hours going door to door last night, but I only managed to get to two houses.

At the second house I went to, an older gentleman and his wife were out in the carport, enjoying the weather. So, I walked up and made my typical introduction (hi, I'm running for County Commission here in the Fourth District, etc). He immediately asked me who I was going to vote for in the presidential election. I got to talking about my whole voting history, which led into us talking about work (he drove a tractor-trailer for 50 years), retirement, health, work ethics, hobbies (he gleams up tractors for tractor pulls), crime, education, immigration, children, and (I swear I'm not exaggerating) the meaning of life.

By the time it was dark, we both knew each other as well as most relatives. It was a great way to spend an evening. Not as productive as I'm used to from a campaign perspective, but it was a moment to stop and recognize how much you miss in the quick door-to-door process. Lives are complicated. Goodness knows mine is, too. The capacity of people to live with their daily challenges (say, battling with the contractor that messed up paving your driveway) and still be active and involved in community issues is a great testament to the endless energy some people have for making where they live a better place for all.

So, to my new friend, this post is for you.

The Silence is on YOUR SIDE, media folks....

2008-05-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

I was watching Tennessee This Week and almost hit the floor with Gene Patterson and Frank Cagle commented that "you have a lot of people running in the August election, and you haven't heard a peep out of them [about the charter petition amendments]."

Hmmm. I guess you didn't get the press releases and you forgot the conversations we've had in the back of the City County meeting room or the call-ins to your shows.

I commented to Georgiana Vines that the Charter Petition discussion was "sucking the oxygen out of the room" with regards to the election. We have a boatload of other issues that need to be brought out and discussed before the election- growth issues, the coming changes related to air quality non-compliance, the budget crisis, ethics issues, etc., and time is running short. Us candidates are happy to discuss these things (and I routinely comment on these issues on my blog), but please don't pin the blame on us and call is silent on the issues.

Give us a call. We'd be happy to discuss these things with you. My phone # is 228-2263, and it's on 24/7. Early voting starts in about 10 weeks. For those of you with Sunday talk shows, think about how many candidate appearances you need to fit in that time frame.

Live- April 28th Commission Meeting

2008-04-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

35 minutes just to make modifications to the agenda...
Noise over approval of the contract for the new school superintendent. Even though CC approves the contract and provides an overall school budget, it really doesn't have the authority to set the salary or tell the schools how to spend their budget. Clearly this contract will make it difficult for the school board to get a budget increase in this tight year, in the eyes of some commissioners.
South Knox school will go out for open bid, with right to reject the results if they are not deemed satisfactory. I have heard of at least one developer that is interested.
Libraries will take over maintenance and operations from PBA, in hopes of saving about $1M.
Passed resolution to ignore unfunded mandates from the State Legislature. Also voted to urge State officials to comply with same standards (e.g., Open Meetings Act) as those affecting Knox County.
Resolution opposing toll roads in Knox County. Some noise that the State wanted to come down and explain why they wanted to do their study. Too bad, CC sez, we don't want a bloody toll road. Motion passes to light applause.
Motion to ask Fansler for an advisory opinion on the Open Meetings Act. John Owings, as in the Committee meetings, continues to warn that this is a bad idea. Resolution withdrawn.
John Owings noted that the law office has spent 10 hours on an issue Moore brings up about someone who was turned down for a $730 business tax license (apparently hung up due to a successorship issue and unpaid back taxes from the previous owner). Moore is mad because the clerk's office won't return his calls. Apparently the new business owner is using the same address, business name (Knoxville Pre-Owned Center), and phone number. Apparently the Clerk's office feels this is an attempt to avoid due taxes and is denying the license.
Audit meeting set for May 19th.
Ordinance to amend Charter Committee process to allow CC to be part of appointment process (rather than just the Mayor) passes first reading. Ordinance to change timeline for Charter Amendments also passes first reading.
Charter Petition Committee proposals:

Reducing number of signatures- passes second reading
Reducing size of commission, adding two at-large positions- Scott Moore moves to withdraw, with considerable support from other commissioners. Hammond says one person can't do the job, but he's not against people voting on it. Trouble with school board alignment issue, as some school board members would have to move to stay within their elected districts. Stackhouse is raising lots of reapportionment issues (2010), as well as future civil rights lawsuits. The school board provision is problematic. KCP is offering to drop the school board alignment provision (Don Parnell). Current motion is to withdraw (after Moore calls the question cut off Larry Smith's input!). Motion to withdraw passes, so no action on this.
Conflict of Interest- attempt to withdraw fails, motion to approve fails 12-6-1 (Lambert passes). THIS WAS A NO-BRAINER.
Inspector General- Fails, Pinkston, VDF, Wright, Ballard, Lambert, Leuthold, Davis, Ivan Harmon, Strickland + 1 other voting against.
Anti-Nepotism- Fails. Against: Ivan Harmon, Davis, Leuthold, Lambert, Moore, VDF, Pinkston. THAT ONE WAS A NO-BRAINER.
Qualifications (No County Employees on Commission)- Against: Pinkston, Moore, Davis, Ivan Harmon +1 other i didn't catch, Lambert passes. Leuthold recuses. FAILS.
Conflict of Interest for County Commission. Against: I Harmon, Davis, Leuthold, Lambert ,Moore, VDF. Pinkston recuses. FAILS.

How does anyone square voting against anti-nepotism and against conflicts of interest????

Tonight left me totally speechless.

Live Blogging- Intergovernmental Committee Meeting April 21

2008-04-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

I had commented before the Committee meeting this AM that things would be going smoother and faster, with some of the more contentious things out of the way. Of course, I jinxed the whole thing. Less than 10 minutes in, Lumpy Lambert proposed a resolution in memorium of Charlton Heston, a "strong defender of the Second Amendment." Were Charlton Heston a Knoxvillian, I could see this, but I have to agree with Davis that this opens the door to all kind of non-Knoxvillian memorium resolutions. The other commissioners apparently wanted to pick their battles with Lumpy, and it was let to pass. Fortunately, not too much time was wasted.

South Knox High School site- vote to maintain status quo (no demolition).

Motion to ban cellphones from meetings- voted to deny recommendation. Particular opposition from Hammond (business) and Davis/Defreese (child care issues).

Motion to require Fansler to appear before Commission and "explain" deemed an inappropriate bad idea and withdrawn. Still, lots of discussion and complaints about the inability for commissioners to contact each other outside of announced meeting.

(As unfair or unreasonable as it seems... we have to live with it. It's like when your boss gives you unreasonable demands, you can complain all you want, but at the end of the day, you have to find a way to work within the parameters you are given. Announce a meeting with your co-district-commissioner every two weeks at Long's Drugstore or the equivalent if that's what it takes to have enough time to collaborate on district issues.).

Mayor Ragsdale will have an address at Hardin Valley High School no May 14th, 8:00 am.

Resolution opposing toll roads- easily passed, MacKenzie made a point that while we all oppose the Orange Route as a toll road, a resolution that bans them forever may be too strong.

Modify Process for Charter Review Committee (Davis/Daniels)- Basically, allow the Commission to vote to approve the list of names from the mayor's office to the Charter Review Committee, and to give Commission the right to approve (or turn down) the CRC's final recommendation. Lambert proposes more Commission involvement in actually picking the names (based on the process used for the temporary appointees, taking resumes, interviews, etc). MacKenzie says he opposes changing a process he doesn't see as broken. Passed with recommendation 6-2 for the 4/28 meeting.

Resolution to reduce time frame for putting petitions on ballot- passed w/recommendation.

Charter petition amendments- sent on without recommendation. Amended versions handled by separate vote?

Audit Review Meeting discussion.... motion to postpone to a later date, assuming Finance committee agrees to postpone as well.

DeFreese added a motion to only name buildings and roads after deceased individuals. I agree with this totally, I have seen this kind of thing abused over the last several years (as a political favor).

April 15 Revisions to Charter Petition

2008-04-16T06:31:00.001-07:00

The KCP Committee has submitted some improvements to some of the petition documents, summarized here. Attached are links to the new proposals and some comments of mine.

Consistency Amendment- DROPPED.

Executive Branch Streamlining- no proposed changes yet, but the letter refers to keeping the Property Assessor as elected. I support letting either form go to the people for a vote.

Reducing Size of Commission- I don't agree with it, but again, I'm all for letting it come up for healthy debate and a vote. I'd prefer this to be delayed to allow for more debate, but as long as people know what they would be giving up (2 commissioners down to 1.22, and less choice/variety among candidates, in my opinion).

Conflict of Interest Amendments 1 and 2
Amended to define conflict as employee/official, their spouse, and their children living in the same household. Children out of the house (e.g, old enough to enter into contracts), brothers, sisters, etc- No conflict at all! Hogwash. This thing doesn't go far enough for my tastes, but it's a start- let the people vote. Even if it passes, I would bring up a stronger version to close the giant loopholes.

Nepotism
Much better. Includes in-laws, step-relatives, and grand-relatives, and "parent substitutes" (e.g., foster relationships). I'm all for this one now.

Qualifications
The overly broad "compensation...directly or indirectly" has been changed to direct employment, which solves a lot of problems caused by the "indirectly" clause. This one is good to go, and I support it.

Inspector General
Resolution of salary questions.

Don't Forget- Charter Meeting Tonight, West High School

2008-04-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

6:30 pm. Unfortunately, I can't be there as I'm at an EPA conference. I'll have some people from my campaign there to gather notes & meet anyone who wants to chat. I'll be curious to see what our temporary commissioners see as the next step.

Interesting note from the EPA conference- I met with a representative of Washington Dept of Ecology that said they are transitioning their car testing program to a car maintenance program, because late model cars are so much cleaner. They feel they are going to get a better bang per buck by ensuring people have proper tire inflation, oil change frequency, tune-ups, etc. It could be that if TDEC looks at the current EPA template air improvement plan (SIP), it may be based on an outdated model. I'll be following up.

Knox County Privacy Policy Needs To Be Amended IMMEDIATELY.

2008-03-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

If you've read the news today, you're familiar with the story about the County Mayor requesting e-mail correspondence to Commissioner DeFreese regarding audits. Clearly, it's a move to intimidate those who would send DeFreese or any other commissioner information, supportive comments, or even tips as to where to find more wrongdoing.

So, we've been having a lively discussion about the Tennessee Open Records Act and its application to this case. I argued that e-mails from constituents would be private under the TN-ORA:

My quick read of the OMA refers repeatedly to "official correspondence." Correspondence generated BY the elected official is OC. Correspondence TO the elected official is not. If I as a commissioner write notes about a constituent's letter, that's my work product, and would be covered.

This point is easily reinforced by the e-mail section which reads "[email] correspondence OF the employee" and not TO the employee.

Also: 10-7-403. “Public records” defined.
“Public records” within the county shall be construed to mean:
(1) All documents, papers, records, books, and books OF ACCOUNT in all county offices, including..."

No mention of correspondence, which is clearly missing if that was the intent of the original author. Constituent letters are not "documents of account" as they are not documents of policy.

VDF has solid ground to stand and say "make me." I sure as heck would. And I'd say "if you take me to court, I hope you have the good graces WHEN you lose to pay all parties legal fees out of your campaign account instead of wasting more taxpayer money."

Well, I later found this under the Knox County Privacy Policy:

"Any personal information submitted through forms or email from the user is considered public information and may be subject to inspection upon request as governed by the Tennessee Open Records Act."

That's not good. I'm not sure yet what the history of how this policy was formed, but it needs to be amended IMMEDIATELY. We must also add specific wording in an ordinance for protection of whistleblowers, protection of private information (SSNs, medical information) that may come in an email to a commissioner, and close the loophole that would allow Commissioners to use private e-mail accounts to send county-related work product that would normally be covered by the Open Records Act.

Right now, the ORA and the Knox County Policy only work to encourage County Officials to use Yahoo, Gmail, or other personal accounts that provide no accountability.

One could argue that a First Amendment challenge (to be free from retaliation) would sink the policy, but (a) I'm not willing to wait and (b) recent court decisions at the federal level against whistleblowers have weakened the 'free from retaliation' argument enough that we can't bank on it anymore.

Kickoff Party - Woo hoo!

2008-03-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to everyone who came and especially those who helped put this on (Erin, Tanya, Betty, Lisa, Mark, Wilma, etc). The music was great (Jazz Liberation Quartet- if you have a function, these guys are awsome!), and we even had a few brave people dancing. Good conversation, and a good time had by all.

As we mop up and gnaw on the leftovers, we ponder the coming work in the campaign ahead. Those leftover chicken salad croissants will energize us for more door to door meetings ahead.

Notes from EPA conference regarding new ozone standard

2008-03-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

The old (1997) standard not adequate to protect public health, based on > 1700 studies. Clinical studies show evidence of adverse respiratory response in HEALTHY adults at old standard (80 ppb). Yes, even the healthiest adults can suffer health effects at the old standard, so those who argue that the EPA is ramping standards down even though "the air is cleaner than it's ever been" aren't taking into account healthy adults coming down with asthma or other respiratory disorders.
Studies provide the first evidence linking high ozone to mortality (deaths) in sensitive populations. Previous standard was based just on damaging or debilitating health effects. We can say now that people die due to ground level ozone at the old standard.
High ozone also reduces crop yields and increases susceptibility to disease and insects (e.g., threatens our food production)
EPA is considering expanding monitoring in areas between 50,000 and 350,000 that do not currently have monitoring. For us, that would include getting some data from the seven neighboring counties that will also be in violation of the new standard (some are in violation already, I suspect, we just don't know it due to lack of monitoring). These include Sevier, Anderson, Blount counties. I've had a number of questions before about the air quality in these counties, and all I could say before is "we don't know, there are no monitors." That could change, but wouldn't happen until after the final rule is promulgated in 2009.

Commission Update / News

2008-03-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Committee meetings ran until about 2:30 yesterday. The two biggest items are:

(1) Intergovernmental voted to create a Charter Review Committee. If you're not familiar, this is the other way to amend the charter. The Committee would be formed by one commissioner in each district, and 10 to 18 citizens from the various districts, all selected by the County Mayor. This committee's amendments would be voted on in the November (Presidential) ballot. Confused yet? This throws a major wrench in Knox Charter Petition, which will have to regroup in light of this move. It may be a move to stop KCP, but putting the committee selection in the hands of the Mayor may be the proverbial cutting your nose off to spite your face.

(2) More discussions and charges in the Natural Resources Recovery dispute. The contract will be re-bid, resolving future concerns. But a big lawsuit is looming for the past actions by both NRR and the County. Both sides may be considered in violation of the contract. No matter what, the attorneys involved will do OK. But don't be surprised if Knox County's legal fees become a major budget item. This is clearly a case for simple mediation.

The first two TIFs (Halls Willow Creek for $5M, and Campbell Station Extension for $1M) are coming up for final vote, now that the IDB has finished reports on the applications. If Commission votes yes for these commercial, not-"but-for" TIFs, we have opened up Pandora's box, and our existing budget woes will become much, much worse.

EPA Tightens Limits for Ozone

2008-03-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

(Link to Knoxnews Article...)

TVA's an easy target, but TVA has been installing major NOx controls for the last 10 years, doing more than other 'upwind' utilities in the Midwest. More blame lies on other utilities than TVA. But local consumption reduction programs can still help our air quality.

Mobile sources produce 50% more ozone-forming NOx than power plants in our area. Our issues are miles per driver has shot up nationwide, increasing population and sprawl. Our bad air pollution year was summer 2006, but I recall we had heavy interstate construction then, so it was a parking lot. If the summers don't get to hot, we might get back into attainment (climate change is working against us here, too).

IF we have to have a car testing program, we must take the time to research it and do it RIGHT. Washington has one of the best programs I've seen (no, they're not a client of mine):

Specific ideas they have incorporated:

Testing only every 2 years
Late model cars (1996+) tested by computer diagnostics, optionally through an ATM-like kiosk
Exception for hybrids
Testing is only $15, first retest is free
Efficiently designed testing stations

Knox County needs to have a seat at the table for this, and not leave it up to TDEC alone.

Fourth District May Have Charter Petition Meeting...

2008-03-12T19:15:00.003-07:00

.. rumored to be planned for April 7th, at Bearden High School, pending availability. More to follow.

Correction- April 7th at West High School, 6:30pm.

Tedford Fire / Seminar

2008-03-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

The fire is an on again / off again event at this point. We don't have the same kind of combustion as we did earlier (with open flame, requiring dousing), just the very hot / smoldering / incomplete combustion stage. Monitoring of the excavation still indicates that the material is still tree trimming waste.

The forecast was that the site had been fully excavated "down to natural grade" approx a month ago. Apparently, the excavation just covered the two known fire/sinkhole areas and the new fire is in an area between the two holes. The true extent of the dumping area isn't well known to the County.

That may necessitate the removal of some of the material (AFTER soil testing) to allow full excavation of the side areas, which may still have wood waste. The SE side, to the right side from Tedford, is suspect IMHO, I've seen small plumes from the soil on the right side of the ridge.

The neighborhood association president (Jamey Dobbs) and I discussed pros/cons of moving at least some of the material off-site to allow full excavation and prevent re-ignition from compression of still unlocated seams of material. However, even partial material removal would be the the $300K to $500K range. We should be having a meeting with the county next Wednesday, and I understand they have done some work already on a plan for final disposition of the site. Soil samples should be back in the next day or two as well.

If you received a letter about the presentation on the Tedford Road Fire, Monday, March 24, at the West Knoxville Library (on Golfclub Rd), the time is 6:00 pm, not 7:00 pm.

I'm sorry, I have to...

2008-03-07T09:15:00.003-08:00

.. I don't normally post the weird news and go off-topic on my blog, but with the recent proposal in the TN legislature to ban texting & driving (which I support), this story of padding lampposts in the UK to protect people who walk and text was just too much for my funny bone. Enjoy.

Mark Your Calendars!

2008-03-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

March 29th, 6pm at Concord Marina Clubhouse, we will be hosting a Campaign Kickoff Reception. Live music planned. RSVP to 584-7703 or by email to rsvp@reform4.com

Tedford Fire- burning again?

2008-03-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

Smoke from the site, going to check it out later today... sigh....

KUB Tree Trimming- March 17th Meeting

2008-03-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

KUB is sponsoring a community forum related to its tree trimmin policy on March 17, 6:00 pm at the Knoxville Convention Center. A panel including representatives from KUB, Cortese Tree Specialists, UT Ag Extension, and the City of Knoxville will speak, and then answer questions from the audience.

If you've had a problem with tree trimming, now is the time to be heard!

P-card Audit Out

2008-02-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

Just in case you've been living under a rock... (Link)

Treat this just like private business- fire and prosecute, recover funds if possible, all without consideration of party, faction, or ties- if laws and procedures have been broken. But we also have to observe due process and wait for the response from the Mayor's office. It's a little troublesome this audit was leaked before its completion.

Recycling Fluorescent Bulbs / Mercury

2008-02-27T12:38:00.001-08:00

Our meeting last night included a discussion on recycling of compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and the issue of the small amount of mercury in each bulb.

First, it should be noted that the amount of mercury in each bulb is less than the amount of additional mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants to support a regular incandescent (filament) bulb, so even if you throw the CFL in the trash, you're still emitting less mercury.

But that's not ideal. You can, however, buy a $15 box (click here) with prepaid shipping back to Sylvania, who will recover the mercury. Each box holds 12 bulbs, so the cost to recycle is $1.25 per bulb. Commercial companies can buy boxes to recycle long tube fluorescent bulbs, too.

Knoxville Concerned About Ozone Non-Attainment

2008-02-27T10:34:00.001-08:00

See KNS article here.

Knoxville in 2007 had 16 days over the standard, but we're currently just in basic non-attainment, not the more extreme forms. See report.

Standard implementation plans in response can be found here (see "moderate areas" for the 'next steps' if the ozone standard changes):

Knox County's attainment status is VERY weather dependent. We had a consistently hot summer last year. TVA controls coming on-line this year may be of great help, as ozone formation is mostly related to NOx formation, which is primarily stationary sources (TVA) and cars coming through the area.

If we end up having a car inspection program, let's do it the RIGHT way and not waste our money. I recommend looking at the program in Washington State. Mike Reagan at WA Dept of Ecology would be a great resource, he has a lot of experience.

Tedford Road Update: Fire Out, Soil and Water Testing

2008-02-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a week now with no flare-ups, so I think it's safe to say we're past the fire stage. County engineering continues daily inspections to confirm.

Soil tests (10 samples) should be back soon. We met today with Knox Co epidemiologist (Al Iannocone), and TDEC geologists. We discussed the possible strategy for the second round of well testing. At this time, we are awaiting the soil tests (to see if there are contaminants in the soil that would make water testing more urgent), and to find out the costs of dye testing (which would allow us to identify the specific underground water flow, rather than "guessing" at which wells and springs are connected to the sinkhole). I would suspect these details should be nailed down in about two weeks. I will be assisting the geologists with a backup plan by going door-to-door to identify which wells we can measure depths on.

County Commission Meeting 2/25

2008-02-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Zoning: Butler Homes condo development in Gleason/Ebenezer area cut back to 4 & 5 units/acre (2 proposals). The dangerous gulley issue still needs to be addressed.

We spent over an hour and a half debating a potential change to the Concord Marina contract that Owings already said wasn't a legal proposal (county can't approve contracts > 25 years). How it even got onto the meeting agenda (and wasn't pulled in committee by the law director) is the question.....

Open forum is going to include more on MulchGate, where Natural Resources Recovery is accused of witholding payments to the county, on top of their odor complaints. Now, it appears that lab tests results show fecal coliform levels 120x to 260x allowed limits. This is the exact same problem the City had 10-15 years ago that shut down their mulching facility (Compost Corporation of America, I think).

Right now they are debating the Charter Petition amendments, which (I believe) have to be approved on first reading to be on schedule to get on the August ballot, otherwise they have to go to petition drive. Craig Leuthold asked how one amendment works with the term limit provision (are we undoing it? If the language reads "two consecutive four year terms", it's possible that some districts would allow a commissioner elected in 2010 to serve for fourteen years!!!).

I would guess that most commissioners would vote to put all 9 on the ballot (Hammond), some will block some from being put on the ballot (such as appointed fee office managers), and some will work to amend them (Lambert is speaking to this) and dare KCOQ to go to petition drive to get the version they want.

Leuthold is criticizing KCOQ for "inflexibility in [their] proposals." Victoria DeFreese is recalling how confusing the Sheriff's pension was written, and suggests that the wording of the referendums be clear to the voters (yes!!!). Moore wants a list of all attendees to ensure the groups were representative of the various districts, and not the same people showing up at each meeting. Moore also asks if the voters will know before August what the new appointees salaries will be (KCOQ: yes). Hammond calls for a forum March 12 at 8am, Moore suggests that we need an evening forum more accessible to citizens.

7 lights still on, going to be a long night. Davis suggests splitting 902 to divide issue of 9 commissioners with issue of aligning school districts (the latter being more popular). Ballard echoing sentiment that the committee was too small, and this is a very quick process to make "radical changes."

How awful would it be to plan to delay some of these items to the 2010 ballot, to take effect in 2014? We could salvage anti-nepotism, conflict of interest policies (I want to see a stronger proposal here!), returning the petition to earlier rules, Board of Education alignment, and even getting an Inspector General. Likely the 2008 petition drive for the others would fail, but we'd get a break-out vote of the most urgent reforms.

Daniels: Why/how are you grouping them together?

Harmon: Put them all on the ballot individually, let voters decide. Don't amend, one person's improvement is another person's poison pill (ahem, Greg).

Pinkston: what's difference between auditor and inspector General? Leuthold: What' s the point if the mayor appoints the IG (where's the independence?)

DeFreese blows a big hole when she points out she was at the South-Doyle meeting, but many of the proposals weren't discussed in her group (executive branch restructuring, IG). She points out that some ideas may have only been discussed by 50 to 100 people.

Briggs: Did some ideas come from "best practices" Baker study and not from the forum? Daytime March 12 meeting isn't a good forum, we need an evening forum.

It is pointed out that it is very difficult to align districts since we allow School Board to define their own districts? Are they now in control of commission districts? It turns out our charter provision to let the School Board write districts is wrong, so apparently we have to fix that.

Pinkston points out that more commissioners mean more access by common citizens, 9 commissioners would mean just th e"rich and powerful" would get the seats, with the at large dominated by the West.

Smith: Too much work for 1 commissioner per district.

Scooby: Let's vote! Just up or down, no more modifications! But we should really discuss before we take a single vote! It's 11:00 for crying out loud!

Amendments by Lambert/Smith fail, but unmodified motion 102 (reducing size of commission, align with school board) passes (barely) 13-6. Voting no: DeFreese, McKenzie, Moore, Pinkston, Strickland.

103 (conflict of interest provision) passes unanimously, as it mirrors current ethics policy (which is too weak!!!)

104 (consistency provision).

Leuthold- we can't set our voters up to vote on something and then leave it in legal limbo or possibly overturned.

Moore- we debated a boat dock for 3 hours, but we're changing our government in less than an hour.

12-7 Nos: McKenzie, Pinkston, I Harmon, Defreese, Davis, Moore, Lambert. 104 FAILS.

105 (Exec Branch Restructuring) FAILS 11-7-1
No: Strickland, I Harmon, Davis, Lambert, Moore, Defreese, Pinkston

106 (Inspector General): Two attempts to amend, the first to make the person elected (8 year terms, 16 max, partisan elections) and keep the auditor (this fails 10-9), the last to keep the existing auditor (also fails).

Unamended 106 passes barely 13-6. Nos: Pinkston, Defreese, Moore, Lambert, I Harmon, Strickland.

107 (Nepotism): Passes 19-0

108 (County Employees on Commission): Rules suspended since this was discussed earlier. Lumpy tries to add poison pill, and Pinkston has to have the concept of a poison pill explained to him. Amendment fails. Unamended proposal amazingly passes 14-4 (Pinkston, Moore, Lambert, Harmon)

109 (Legislative Conflict of Interest): 14-4-1
Nos: Pinkston, Moore, Lambert, I Harmon,

It's 12:30. I've been here NINE hours.

Forum: City's Energy & Sustainability Initiative (Tues night)

2008-02-24T17:33:00.001-08:00

Madeline Weil will speak to the 4th Tuesday Democratic Club this Tuesday, February 26 about the City of Knoxville's Energy and Sustainability Initiative. Since she is the chairperson of this committee , and also Deputy Director, Policy and Communications of the City of Knoxville ,she will be able to inform us about our city's effort to sustain our resources and make us less energy dependent.

The City of Knoxville's Energy and Sustainability Task Force will analyze the city's energy use and develop a strategic plan to make changes needed to lower consumption, costs and emissions. Numerous city departments will be involved in gathering data, analyzing ideas and implementing changes.

The program begins at 6 P.M. at the West Knox County Library , l00 Golf Club Road (Kingston Pike and Papermill, across from P.F. Chang's). See you there!

Schools: Grant-Writing

2008-02-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

Did you know the Knox County Schools only has one person working about half of their time working on grant proposals? A grant writer can generally bring in 15 to 20 times their salary. If our 19 Commissioners were to surrender 50% of their Discretionary Fund, we could fund another full-time grant writer, probably bringing in another $1 million in for school programs.

Or maybe we could just add it to this round of the budget?

Live Blogging: Temporary Appointments Meeting

2008-02-20T06:40:00.001-08:00

District 6: Smooth process, Roundtree appointed

District 2: A few rounds of voting to eliminate Williams, then Campen edges out Wolfenbarger. Moore votes repeatedly for Wolfenbarger to show good faith.

District 9: 10-1 for Victoria DeFreese, with only Norman voting for Pleasant

District 1: First fireworks. McKenzie, Cox, Boyd,and Baah nominated. Baah says nominating candidates going to the general is wrong and withdraws himself, asking the Commissioners not to nominate McKenzie as well. Jimmy Golden self-nominates, but only to make a speech about problems he sees in the district and wants to draw attention to. Pete Drew speaking to Commission now, berating them over the process (appointing those involved in the general election). Perhaps this will set the tone for the Fifth district debate?

First round of voting McKenzie 10-1. That sets the tone for Briggs to be elected in the Fifth.

Doing #8: Wright and Boyer nominated. Short speeches by the candidates.
Ivan Harmon, Norman- Boyer
rest - Wright

Finally, 4-B!!!! Nominations:
MarkH - Davis
Norman- Daniels
IvanH - Wojnar
Leuthold- Brummitt
Lumpy- Alford

Mostly short speeches saying thanks. Let's vote!

Harmon speaks in favor of both Davis and Daniels, pushing the highest vote-getters. Other commissioners speak about how good the slate is.

Vote#1:
Strickland-Davis
MH-Davis
Norman- Daniels
IH-Wojnar
Hammond- Daniels
Leuthold- Brummit
Lambert-Alford
RLSmith-Daniels
Moore-Alford
Ballard-Daniels
Pinkston-Alford

Tone set for Daniels and Alford to win the two seats? The pro-development crowd will fight hard to get Alford on, which means Elaine is probably out.

Vote#2 (can't drop of since there is no one "loser" to drop off):
Strickland-Davis
MH-Davis
Norman- Daniels
IH-Wojnar
Hammond- Daniels
Leuthold- Brummit
Lambert-Alford
RLSmith-Daniels
Moore-Alford
Ballard-Daniels
Pinkston-Brummit**

Wojnar drops off, vote#3:
Strickland-Davis
MH-Davis
Norman- Daniels
IH-Brummitt
Hammond- Daniels
Leuthold- Brummit
Lambert-Alford
RLSmith-Daniels
Moore-Alford
Ballard-Daniels
Pinkston-Alford

Davis and Brummitt now on the cutting block.
Strickland-Davis
MH-(PASS), than changes to Daniels
Norman- Daniels
IH-Brummitt
Hammond- Daniels
Leuthold- Brummit
Lambert-Alford
RLSmith-Daniels
Moore-Alford
Ballard-Daniels
Pinkston-Alford?

Davis cut, but that's a strategic move to put her in round two. Very smart!!!!

Strickland-Daniels
MH-Daniels
Norman- Daniels
IH-Brummitt
Hammond- Daniels
Leuthold- Brummit
Lambert-Alford
RLSmith-Daniels
Moore-Alford
Ballard-Daniels
Pinkston-Alford

Daniels is in with 6. Second round for Fourth will be more interesting.

District 5 now...
MH/Norman nominate Tracey
IH/Hammond/Leuthold/Lambert/ nominates Briggs.

Tracey gives a good speech about voters wanting a fair election. But the vote in First says to me that Briggs is going to get it. Will there be backlash in August? We'll see.

Vote:
Strickland-Briggs
MH-Tracey
Norman-Tracey
IH-Briggs
Hammond-Briggs
Leuthold-Briggs
Lambert-Briggs
RLSmith-Briggs
Moore-Briggs
Ballard-Briggs
Pinkston-Briggs

So much for caretakers.

On to 4-A. Same nominations. Mike Hammond speaks in favor of Davis. Looks like a Davis-Alford fight.

Strickland-Davis
MH-Davis
Norman-Davis
IH-Wojnar
Hammond- Davis
Leuthold- Brummit
Lambert-Alford
RLSmith-Davis
Moore-Alford
Ballard-Davis
Pinkston-Alford

Elaine wins first round!!!

Wow. Commission did a great job overall. You can argue voting in people that are in the August election, but time will tell if that is the "kiss of death" for the candidates.

Kudos to 'Tank' Strickland for running a tight ship today. He's a great chairman.

Committee Meeting Summary

2008-02-19T05:56:00.001-08:00

TIF requested for road work near Campbell Station Road related to development already in progress. Developer agreed area not blighted and development would go forward without the TIF. Other commissioners seem to be pushing in favor based on the traffic improvements, because we don't have enough money in our capital budget, even though the County admitted that we can do it cheaper. So because we're poor planners, we have to violate TIF guidelines and sign away our financial future? More evidence that our poor long-term planning is costing us dearly. Bruce Wuethrich (Director, Engineering) admitted that he's just dealing with overloaded roads based on existing traffic counts.
Grant management software needs updating, but clearly the Commission could use someone on board who understands software procurement
(More, but had to leave to meet a future constituent)

TIF News, Tedford Fire Update

2008-02-13T14:35:00.000-08:00

The Industrial Development Board (IDB) is requesting developers seeking TIFs to apply to the IDB first, before Commission takes up the issue.

Link...

This is a good thing, as Commission could then vote with some data in hand about the economic benefit and a review of the "but for" standard. And they should SLAP the crap outa IDB if they send something up that doesn't meet that standard.

With respect to the Tedford Road Dump Fire, we held our second interdepartmental meeting with the Knox County agencies. High points:

Soil samples are being taken from various locations (disturbed soil, undisturbed, controls) to determine if there are any contaminants that can't be seen visually (fuel oil, chemicals, etc).
Final disposition of the site (capping, truck off or re-bury, etc) is still under discussion and partly tied up with the legal proceedings against the landowner.
Still doing excavation and extinguishing work. Air quality has been good for about a week, but had smoke and odor evening of 2/11
Health Dept looking at putting contracts into place for future air sampling, particulate monitoring (next incident, or if this drags on).
Solid Waste will share their documentation of excavation
Second round of well testing will occur, we have pushed for samples in previously unsampled locations. County is consulting outside geologists for recommendations.

Update (2/14): More smoldering today from the "lower" hole, but not burning like 2-3 weeks ago. Renfro is excavating (stumps and logs) and Rural Metro will put water on. Upper hole is being left exposed to see if there is anything left that might start smoldering.

Update (2/15): Rural Metro reports yesterday's burning material/hotspots indicate that considerably more excavation will need to be done on the lower section and eastern flank to dig down to natural grade, to make a complete search for possible pockets of material. Rural Metro expects that it could take "the next couple of weeks." Yesterday we requested Air Quality to accelerate putting in place contracts for additional air monitoring, to include possible second round of toxics, as well as initial formaldehyde and particulate testing.

Thanks again to Rural Metro & the Knox Co agencies for their hard work resolving this difficult issue.

No Appointment

2008-02-10T06:05:00.000-08:00

I've had a few people ask me why I didn't seek appointment for one of the Fourth District commission seats. For many, it seems to be obvious- but is it?

The people who ask usually phrase it this way- if you're willing to serve and you think you're the best candidate, why not start now?

When the primary was over, and the question turned to the appointments, the first thing I did was to recruit and push many of those who did not win their primary to seek appointment. To be honest, some really didn't want to and had to be talked into it. Why did I do this? It's a question of fairness. While Ed Shouse has more name recognition in the city areas of the Fourth District (and appointment would balance that), would it be fair to 'wrestle' some incumbent advantage I didn't have before? I've certainly heard some arguments made to me that seeking incumbent advantage would 'balance the field,' many pointing out that major media is likely to give more coverage to Shouse.

And to be clear, it's not because I think it's the "kiss of death" either to be appointed by the current commission. The sole things I had to balance in my decision were the issues of what the Fourth District needs versus fairness. We have several good appointee candidates now. If there had only been one or two names thrown out, I probably would have faxed a tentative resume in Friday (qualifying the request for appointment with an agreement to step aside if other good candidates came forward). But the voters need a fair, straight-up election. I have five months to overcome the name recognition issue, and I'm confident the voters will choose someone who stands for real change.

A Great Day For Voting

2008-02-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who helped me at the polls yesterday. The weather couldn't have been better, and turnout was good. I met a lot of great people going in and out of the polls (and got some good questions as well). I missed the lunch crowd because of issues related to the Tedford Fire, but otherwise, I saw the polls being steady and busy.

Now what? Commission will be considering appointments. My preference is for Commission to appoint caretakers, and I understand that my August opponent, Ed Shouse, told the News-Sentinel he won't be seeking the appointment either. I'm a little anxious as to who they might select (we want good representation for the Fourth- we've waited too long!!), but going outside of me and Ed is probably best for everyone in the long run.

I've been impressed by Logan Brummitt and his attention to detail in the issues. Lee Tramel, although controversial, brings experience during the coming budgeting process. Being a lame duck and a KCSO employee would be considered a major conflict of interest in the budgeting process, though. Jim Smeltcher was the #2 vote in the GOP primary, and is well-respected.

The same issues for the Fourth exist in the 4-A appointment. Finbarr said he won't seek the appointment. I don't know about Ruthie. But Commission may be stuck with a lot of top choices taking themselves out of consideration, the exact point I made in November when they voted (wrongly, I argued then) to delay the appointments until February.

My top picks as a Fourth District resident? Elaine (who polled 46%+ in the 2006 general) and Jim or Logan. But hey, I'm just one resident.

Update- Walt Woljnar has put his resume in, and Logan should be putting his in as well. I didn't mention Walt because I thought he wasn't interested, but I think we have two excellent caretakers for the Fourth District.

If I had $40,000 of developer money....

2008-02-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

... you might see this on TV.

Public Trust PAC Questionnaire Available

2008-02-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

I stated on Knoxviews that I would post my responses to the major questions on the Public Trust PAC questionnaire, so here's the PDF. I have nothing to hold back from anyone who is interested.

Note that it is not the complete questionnaire, I can't find my master copy to scan, but this is the "meat" of the questionnaire. Much of the rest of the questions were just routine things (name, rank, serial number, web site).

Tedford Road Fire

2008-01-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

For those who aren't aware, there is an underground fire at an illegal dump (sinkhole) off Tedford Road (Keller Bend area). I met Saturday with a representative of the affected neighbors to discuss the air quality issues and offer whatever help I could. I also spoke with Knox County's air quality group and EPA Region IV. So far, this is what we know:
- Well water testing results should be back around 2/1.
- Initial samples at the fire site had CO levels of up to 3000 ppm by the fire, and 300 ppm at the houses. That has since subsided to safe levels, and some nearby residents have purchased home CO monitors to check indoor levels, where CO can concentrate.
- Debris from the fire is mostly wood, although some PVC and nylon has been seen being pulled from the dump. At low temperatures, this material would create some fairly nasty organic pollutants
- EPA and Knox County have worked together to take 6 grab samples (4 at the site, 2 near houses) for detailed analysis by gas chromatigraph. That data will probably not come back until about 2/8. If those samples show significant organic pollutants / PICs, some decisions would be made about additional sampling.
- I have asked EPA for details on the sampling protocol, and will forward to the neighbors and interested parties, but the protocol is a broad spectrum look at dozens of possible pollutants using a gas chromatograph
- I received an opinion from EPA that continuous particulate monitoring would be advisable as well, and I passed this on to Knox County APCD. They indicated they would be looking to see if they could get a continuous particulate monitor out to the site.

Things to take forward from this:
- These illegal dumps are another massive liability. Cleanup of the Tedford site is estimated at $300,000 or more, and there may be a dozen or so similar sites in Knox County right now.
- We need to do a better job inspecting sinkholes for illegal dumping. There are only three permitted construction waste dumps in Knox County, so if you see dumping of construction waste into a sinkhole, it's almost assuredly illegal! Call Knox County Solid Waste and TDEC.
- We should consider adding capability and equipment for Knox County air quality to be able to do immediate toxics sampling.
- Future response protocols should include immediate deployment of particulate monitoring equipment, ideally a speciation monitor that can help identify levels of organic pollutants.

Update (Jan 29th): Agilaire purchased two CO monitors for inside monitoring of the two closest neighbors. While not as accurate as a regular monitor, they provide rough readings and should provide notification of dangerous levels at night and over the weekend. Jamie Dobbs has requested that the Mayor's office arrange an inter-agency meeting to improve communication. Results of the five well tests show no dangerous levels of pollutants (verbal info, waiting to receive written details). More plastics and rubber being dug out, as well as what appears to have been a railroad tie in the fire zone. Some rough calculations as to % of the debris that appears to have been in the fire zone, and % of plastics stream indicates total plastics burned could range anywhere from 0.1 to 2 cubic yards. Rural Metro reported that their multi-gas monitor showed no dangerous levels of H2S, so the nuisance odor appears to be formaldehyde. We should know more when the air tests come back (Friday?).

Update (1/30): Received well test data. Still working on finding a particulate monitor. Health department arranging meeting Friday with Health, KEMA, neighborhood reps, and other agencies. One of the neighbors, Carlene Steenkamp, has fired up a website www.illegallandfill.com to document the Tedford Road fire and I hope later can be used for public education of illegal landfills.

Update (1/30, 5pm): Fire appears to be out! Digging will continue tomorrow to confirm there are no more hot spots, but things look good. Meeting is likely to be postponed next week until after air sample data is back. Meeting will be a good opportunity to do a 'postmortem' and develop approaches for future public health emergencies.

Update (1/31, 1pm): Hot spot uncovered this morning, Rural Metro on the job. Checked again at about noon, no visible smoke or odor. It may take a few more days to dig down far enough to ensure it's out. Jamey is checking about work continuing through the weekend.

Much thanks to Tom Salter, Steve McDaniel, Jerry Harnish, Jamey Dobbs, Bruce Weuthrich, Al Ianncone, and the folks at EPA Region IV for their hard work on the issue.

Knox County Petition for Restructuring County Government

2008-01-28T06:57:00.000-08:00

Too much to discuss here. Click here for the Knoxviews discussion, which links to the Knoxnews.com discussion. No sense commenting here and opening up a third thread. My opinions on this are stated within those links.

Metropulse Article & Interesting Appointment Idea

2008-01-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

"The primary is between]..forces aligned with County Mayor Mike Ragsdale or the anti-Ragsdale faction."

Um.... not all of us. That's a pretty broad statement to make, but this article doesn't show a lot of depth of research beyond reading the KNS. I can name at least three candidates for the Fourth that aren't aligned with factions, would not align themselves with factions if elected, and would hold everyone's feet to the fire with respect to the law. But apparently, that's not interesting ink.

"The Commission has voted to look at the primary results from Feb. 5 in picking replacements ...Picking a primary winner as a placeholder (bestowing incumbency) means picking between the winners of the Democratic or Republican primary"

Unless they pick a primary non-winner as a caretaker. :) I understand Commissioner Larry Smith may push this approach. I think it's a great way to cut the Gordian knot, with people who are clearly interested in serving, but such an appointment avoids the appearance of Commission giving a general election candidate the advantage of incumbency.

To Serve or Not To Serve?

2008-01-23T07:09:00.000-08:00

Much ado at the County Commission over the failure to enact a rule barring County employees from serving on Commission. A good discussion is taking place in the comments on the KNS web site:

There are certainly many conflicts that would exist for any Knox County employee, and a senior member of any office (Trustee, Property, Sheriff's) would have too many conflicts to serve effectively. But is it right (or even legal) to bar thousands of others from serving on Commission?

A good argument is made that our tax dollars already pay their salary and they shouldn't be distracted from their normal duties. That's true, but since they can elect to burn vacation to do a second job of any kind, is it legal to bar them from this one?

It's a tough call. One solution I put forth is to extend and strengthen the conflict of interest rules to include the commissioners themselves, family members, major contributors, etc; to include votes affecting budget, pay, hiring, firing, etc; and to require recusal. Thus, a county employee could still serve (avoiding the disenfranchisement argument), but couldn't vote on anything where a conflict existed (e.g., Mr. Tramel and Mr. Pinkston couldn't vote on any issue regarding the Sheriff's office). Someone with enough ties might not be able to vote half the time - that's something the voters can take into account when they elect that candidate. Such a mechanism would also limit the ability of a few major campaign contributions to buy a candidate/office.

I'm not 100% sold on this approach though, so... your thoughts?

Campaign Finance Disclosure

2008-01-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

It's about a week away, but I don't expect major changes. Anybody who wants to get a copy of the final campaign finance report, just click here.

Donations: $364
Loans (self-funding): $3542
Expenditures: $3842 ($2400 printing, $525 advertising, $917 postage)

Sandra Clark Endorses Tramel, Goes After Shouse Hard

2008-01-21T05:03:00.001-08:00

I'm cross-posting to the KnoxViews link for the discussion about ethical campaigning and the potential factions at play here. The original story at the Halls-Shopper scrolls off after a while (they don't maintain a history) but for a week you can find it here.

Oh, but in the same article, just as I predicted, developers are lining up with their hands out for more TIFs. Now, the developers of the Wal-Mart on Norris Freeway want $6 million. Prepare for your taxes to be hiked.

Candidate Expo / Growth Issues

2008-01-18T07:43:00.000-08:00

Candidate Expo was fun- not so many people from the Fourth district, a lot from the 5th, but I had some great conversations with the people that did make it out. I heard from two people about the problems with growth in the Sutherland Avenue area outpacing the wastewater and road infrastructure. As the area is in the city, I'll be contacting Barbara Pelot to see what she's heard already about this issue and if the city has plans to address the growth.

I had an interesting discussion with Mr. Victor Jernigan, a well-known developer in Knox County. We discussed growth issues, impact fees, etc. I had mentioned that it would be helpful to look at other areas that have similar geography to Knoxville but have already gone through growth phases, to see what they did, what worked, and what didn't work. I mentioned one area with similar geography is Portland, OR, where they are dramatically limited in the growth of roadways, more so than us. He mentioned that he had read that Oregon had the worst schools in the country and a terrible growth policy.

That was a bit surprising. Portland? I knew some people who live out there and have been out there for work, and poor education didn't seem to be an issue. I found one study (from a fairly conservative group) that actually ranked Portland first for job/population growth (which, of course, has driven up housing prices until recently). Education Week had a negative report for Oregon in general, but the measures were fairly odd- Kindergarten enrollment, 4th grade math (why just that grade). Many of the rest had to do with education procedures (licensing standards, formal teacher evaluation process, etc), but nothing related to taxes/funding. I don't see how bureaucratic measures of an education system seem fair.

Elsewhere, I saw some well-founded criticisms of Oregon schools (a drive towards more highly paid teachers without additional funding, leading to larger class sizes, fewer books, less infrastructure). Clearly, the issue of how Portland/Oregon manages growth and their education policy are two completely different beasts!

Interestingly, though, Portland is using a 50-year growth strategy to maintain a liveable city, which is pretty far looking. We have to ask the same questions- as 100,000 new people move into Knox County, what do we want the end result to look like? Clearly, even if we don't have metro government anytime soon, there has to be close work with the City of Knoxville in our long-range planning.

(And that's not to say Portland is the only place to look at, or that Portland got things right- I've always been fascinated at how they deal with the terrain that limits their roadway infrastructure!)

Scorecard/Kudos to local media

2008-01-16T09:02:00.001-08:00

I want to take the time to thank local media for their coverage of the candidates in this important election. It takes time from their staff, ink, bandwidth, and effort to put these things together. I also wanted to give the local media some positive and otherwise feedback for their coverage.

A+ grades go out to the following:
WNOX- Excellent online voters guide, and dedicating a considerable amount of airtime every Tuesday to a broadcast forum of candidates that digs into issues quite well. Pick of the litter right here! Thanks to Catherine Howell, Dave, Hallerin & the rest of the WNOX crew for doing this.

Knoxville Focus- an easy to read voters guide, with enough details and contact information for the candidates. Visually pleasing.

Political Knoxville - a website/blog that had one of the most in-depth questionnaires and a suggested "pledge" related to reform. A little hard to navigate, the font is too small, but the depth of coverage is unsurpassed.

'B' grades for the following:
Knoxville News Sentinel - short candidate profiles and a very nice voter's guide last Sunday, well laid out, voting locations, etc. I'm a little surprised they limited their video, editorial interview, and endorsements to 'contested' races. I kind of understand that, but if you can write 100+ articles on the Sunshine lawsuit, can't you put the slight additional effort required to inform people about ALL the candidates? I've had emails from people who still can't understand why my video isn't on the KNS site. It's confusing a number of voters. Also, it would be nice to find the Sunday voter's guide on the web site (say, a simple PDF file).

WBIR- gotta give them major points for having an extensive questionnaire, like Political Knoxville. I would have put them at the very top, but I have to ding them for only giving us one day to come in for 30-second videos for their program Tuesday night. Sorry, I was sick and lost my voice. No make-up date? Well, the questionnaires are better than 30-second videos anyway, so definitely read those.

WATE- Another good survey (I like the last question, and I'm surprised Logan was the only other 4-B person to fill out the survey) and a 2-minute video for their web site, but it took me a week to find them on the web site. There should be a link from their "Focus on Knox County" page. They're really a B+ actually, I shouldn't ding them that much for shortcomings in the web layout.

"C" Grades:
MetroPulse - I have a silly questionnaire of three questions, two of which are what kind of car I drive and what is my favorite city, other than Knoxville. Maybe I should just answer that I would be an oak tree?

Shopper News- no voters guides, but good coverage of the issues so far, so I wanted to mention them. It would be great if they did a little guide for the general election.

Kudos to R. Larry Smith

2008-01-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

The League of Women Voters held a forum tonight at West High School for the 4-A and 4-B candidates. I saw Commissioner Smith in the front row. After the forum was over, he said the reason he was there was that Commission was going to be making some appointments soon, and he wanted the opportunity to get a sense of what all the potential appointees were all about.

Wow. I'm impressed. I think it's great he is taking the appointment process very seriously and is digging into the details of all of the candidates who could come up for appointment.

Which begs the question- where were all the other commissioners? Have they already made up their minds about who they are going to appoint in February?

If any of the standing commissioners are taking the time to read this blog, email me so I can get a headcount as to who is doing their research, and who is not. I'll post your name here.

People don't do what you EXPECT, they do what you INSPECT

2008-01-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

At the Riverbend Homeowner's meeting, I showed these pictures of a construction site on Northshore drive. I had previously looked at the site and taken pictures of the silt fences, since they were clearly insufficient/improper for the site. This is the result.

See the movie (2.8MB)

Not all developers work this way- in fact, I've seen a lot of sites with good installations, and found most developers responsive (the K-25 bank site near Pellissippi was very responsive and hasn't had a problem since my call about the problem they had with their SE corner). But our codes enforcement must be consistent, and it needs to be aimed at educating those developers that perhaps don't know how exactly to manage runoff in heavy rains. First violations should be coupled with a mandatory education program. Consistent violations need to be met with strict enforcement provisions.

This can't be allowed to continue.

Another win-win solution might be for the County to purchase modern automated silt fence plows and lease them to smaller developers that can't afford the capital investment.

A little clarification to the WNOX show

2008-01-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

One of the first questions on the WNOX forum posed was "what will you do to restore the confidence of the voters?" I had contrasted my answer (requiring structural reforms) against the other answers (how honest and ethical each individual said they would be if elected).

I don't mean for my answer to imply any question about the ethics of the other candidates. I wanted to express that there's a concern, and rightly so, that even the best-meaning person can be (and often is) corrupted by the system once in office. We can all swear that we'll do the right thing, but as my father once quipped, "don't trust yourself over 30." I want to put the reforms in place to (1) cover the commissioners that aren't up for re-election until 2010, (2) cover myself and those elected in 2008, and (3) cover ALL future commissioners for the next 100 years.

This issue is bigger than one candidate or one election cycle.

Pulling Signs Already?

2008-01-07T16:18:00.001-08:00

I'm kind of amused that someone is pulling campaign signs already. Saturday night, I had to replace all the signs in the Bearden/Rocky Hill area. I mean, I'm unopposed in the primary, so what's the point? Are one of the 4-B Republicans so confident they're going to win the primary, his people are already on the move? Or is it just some loon (and if so, why mine)?

I've always seen the pulling of sign as a sign of weakness. I mean, a sign is not the message. If you think the presence of your candidate's signs and the absence of mine is going to tilt the election in your favor, you're already working from a position of weakness, aren't you? Doesn't that mean your ideas have no traction?

I consider it a complement that someone is worried already.

Why Exaggerate?

2007-12-24T06:11:00.000-08:00

I was struck by two things occurring in the same day's paper today- in the letters to the editor, Steve Eldridge, president of the North Hills Area Association called candidate Bruce Wilson (2nd) out for claiming that he had met with the Association when (according to Eldridge) he hadn't.

In the West Shopper section, under paid advertising, the Richard "Cate Update" lists accomplishments under County Commission that Mr. Cate didn't have a chance to deliberate or vote on (Recall, God resolution, Halls TIF). The implication is that somehow Mr. Cate had a hand in these? Otherwise, why list them in your political ad?

He also mentions that he "is volunteering his time to attend Commission meetings." I assume that's going forward- I've been the last three meetings, and only saw Mr. Cate at the last one. You'd also have to call hanging out in the back yapping with Brian Hornback and Lee Tramel as "attending meetings." To me, that's a pretty loose resolution.

Why exaggerate? The voters want integrity. I happily admit that I didn't attend ALL of the marathon meeting last week- I had a family obligation and I had to leave at 8:40 (but I watched the rest online later, and nothing coming up would be anything I would speak to). I hope to go to all the upcoming meetings, but if I miss one, I'll sure tell you about it.

An old quote (I think it was J.C. Watts) says "Integrity means doing the right thing when nobody's looking." That starts with doing the right thing when people are looking, doesn't it? If you can't master the latter, you sure can't master the former, and clearly we have to have Commissioners who can do the right thing behind closed doors.

Upcoming Media Events

2007-12-20T16:50:00.000-08:00

January 8th: WNOX Candidate Forum (100.3 FM, 7:30 - 9pm), Fourth District 4-B Candidates

January 13: Hubert Smith Radio Show (850 AM, 4pm - 6pm)

Coming Soon: Candidate profiles on WATE.COM

Fourth District Zoning Board Issue

2007-12-18T20:00:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow, one of the Zoning Board items is a item by Rocky Hill Storage for a waiver of the requirement of lighted signs to be at least 300 feet from residential property.

I drove by the site today and found no houses nearby, just an apartment complex across the street (and shielded by trees). Nearby property is probably still zoned RA or PR, but is extremely steep and unbuildable. It's more likely any adjacent property would end up rezoned as commercial.

But The Taxpayers Lost

2007-12-18T06:19:00.000-08:00

County Commission has now set a dangerous precedent by giving $5M to support a commercial development. Now the developers will be lining up at the trough, and the citizens will find ourselves $30M in additional debt and without the room to maneuver to build other infrastructure like roads and schools. It's one thing to offer a TIF to compete with another city for a new business to locate in Knox County, but our retail needs only grow at a rate commensurate with population and economic growth (maybe 7% per year combined). Building beyond that rate (400,000 SF??) simply empties a store somewhere else.

What happened to the free market? And the Scott Moore connection is further evidence that our rules for disclosure of conflicts of interests must be extended to include family members.

I can't believe the "you did it too" attitude of travel allowances and KCSO bonuses. Clearly, we need more transparency in what is going on at all levels. I'm thinking now that travel, clothing, and all "fringe" benefits should be submitted to and approved by a citizen's review board or something along those lines.

Zoning- The Homeowners Win Twice (or at least 1.5 times)

2007-12-17T16:49:00.001-08:00

Tonight, Commission denied rezoning for a development of 80 condos (LDR) to 250 apartments (MDR) in South Knoxville. The developer argued that the 3500 new employees in the area needed housing, so the development would be "traffic neutral." This statement, of course, was totally at odds with his stated plan that the apartments would be "luxury."

Anybody knows how to swing a $1600/month apartment on $6/hour?

With some 60+ homeowners in attendance, Commission voted down the rezoing. Earlier in the evening, West Knox homeowners negotiated a developer down from 5 unis/acre to 4.

In both cases, the issue of the Sector Plan were brought to light and debated. Is the sector plan just a "suggestion" document, to be amended whenever we wish? Or is it something we only need to amend in dire circumstances?

If the Sector Plan is amended willy-nilly, then it needs to be reviewed and revised much more often than 7 years. Knox County *must* be able to plan the schedule for building infrastructure (roads and schools especially) so we don't always have to operate in "crisis mode."

Amazingly, the school zone for the 250 proposed apartments is already overcrowded and adding portable buildings. That issue alone should have killed the rezoing proposal in under 10 seconds. You can't add potentially 300-500 kids into a school zone that can't seat all the kids they have today.

And the Petitions Are In....

2007-12-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/dec/13/chairman-moore-turns-paperwork-run-county-clerk/

Maybe now the media will focus on the future, rather than the past?

Angel Tree Needs Help

2007-12-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

Normally, they are stripped clean this time of year and only the tougher ones are left ("I'd like a left-handed spaceship toy that's made of titanium").

I talked with the Angel Tree volunteers, and they agreed it seems to be a tougher year. Couple that with the low sales, and I'd say we're seeing the fallout of the home mortgage crisis. While Knoxville tends to be somewhat buffered from national trends (both good and bad), it's clear things are tougher out there for many.

If there's any year to remember the reason for the season and help, this would be one.

The "Triple Pledge"

2007-11-29T13:51:00.001-08:00

On the Knoxnews site, a spirited discussion on the proposed weakening of the Open Meetings Act.

Brian Paone, of the Recall Amendment movement, proposed three actions current and future commissioners could take.

* A pledge to disclose any and all contacts with any individuals on any matter on any Commission agenda.
* Complete and total disclosure of any political ties before Election Day.
* A commitment to disclose and recuse themselves from any vote or discussion in any matter that directly affects their business interests, or those of ANY relatives.

My response:

Brian- count me in as pledging to all three of your proposals. The first two are already on my web site. The declaration of conflicts in votes seems obvious to me, but I guess I should post it for good measure.

And if somehow I get on commission and violate any of those pledges, I'll be the first person to sign onto my own recall petition.

Live Blogging- Fourth District Representation Delayed Again

2007-11-19T16:39:00.000-08:00

I'm thoroughly disgusted with the decision tonight by County Commission to put off the December forums and appointment process for another TWO MONTHS.

This idea that the primaries will give Commission some window into the hearts of voters is unfounded. Most primary candidates have already expressed that they will not seek appointment (and the winner would probably have to be crazy to accept appointment after winning the primary), so it would go to a 'second place' or 'third place' or... well, in some cases, to nobody who actually ran.

Ruthie Kuhlman made a great speech telling Commission that they need to "get on with it" and to do their jobs. Good try, but the Fourth will continue to live in darkness. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the Fourth doesn't file a new lawsuit over Commission failing to do what they are supposed to. It CAN be done in an open way, that's what the law allows (and requires).

To put it more plainly- if the Commission had its normal 19 members, and two representatives of the Fourth died/resigned and left vacancies, would we accept Commission leaving those seats open for over four months? Clearly not.

Knox News Sentinal Articles On County Expenses

2007-11-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

An interesting article on Sheriff's Department clothing expenses can be found here.

A less interesting article on travel expenses can be found here.

Or you can just view the KnoxViews summary.

Interestingly, on the Knoxnews comments, I found these disturbing comments:

The clothing allowance IS a perk given to those “Haves” and not given to the “Have Nots” I was employed by the Sheriff’s Dept for over 10 years and sometimes I was given a clothing allowance and sometimes I didn’t. It depended on my “Good old boy” status.

My brother in law worked for the sheriff in a civilian capacity...Either you play the game and support the sheriff 100%, or you do not receive the bennies. And God help you if you should happen to say "Hi" to someone who is supporting an opponent!!!

Sounds like the perks are just used to cement political position. For that reason, the good members of the KSCO will end up being punished by losing needed allowances.

Bill Dunn Proposes Online Discussion for Open Meetings Law

2007-11-05T07:39:00.001-08:00

See http://www.shoppernewsnow.com/aBean.aspx (link is time-limited).

Dunn thinks he may have a way to bring the state’s sunshine law into the 21st century, via the Internet. Dunn is working on a bill that would allow elected bodies to set up Web sites where they openly discuss issues. These sites would be open to the public and the media.

“Two elected officials could carry on a conversation at their convenience and at the spur of the moment if needed, knowing that the public will have full access to their discussion,” said Dunn.

It's a little different, but along the line of what I've proposed for an online diary of ALL meetings. Even this version would eliminate the complaint that "it's too hard" that seems to be behind the hamstringing of the Open Meetings law.

Eviscerating the Open Meetings Act

2007-10-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

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?

Non-Election Stuff: I might be on TV tonight

2007-10-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

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.

Just a slight correction to Georgiana's Column

2007-10-27T07:48:00.001-07:00

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)

Oct 22- Natural Resource Recovery

2007-10-23T12:43:00.001-07:00

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.

Toothless Appointment Resolution

2007-10-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

(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.

Lumpy Wants to Represent Us

2007-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

"...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.