According the Roane County Attorney Greg Leffew, Troy Beets ignored parliamentary law by prohibiting Ron Woody’s motion on the TVA funds. Troy has caused enough damage on the Roane County Economic Development Foundation. The money is gone, but it's time to remove him from office thus preventing anymore wrongdoing. He doesn't need a 3rd term after 32 years in various offices. Troy has a long history of ignoring the public.

Link to RCN article (link...)

I've wondered for years why this prime land hadn't developed. It's right on I-40. Check out Dogwood Drive across from the the liquor store as a potential entrance opening up this prime land. Premonition for 2014? Remember you heard this first on RoaneViews when premonitions turn into reality. I am sure there would need to be a nice non-disclosure agreement involved between the City/County and the parties involved (maybe a Target, a gas station chain, etc).

45 acres -Link

Many communities are finding a correlation between rental properties and crime. How are they addressing reducing the crime? They are requiring the landlords to pay an application fee per rental unit. The fee is significantly reduced if the landlord completes renter safety training. The training helps the landlords to keep their properties safe, thereby leading to a safer overall community. The application fee helps fund the increased police services that rental properties often require.

Do the same statistics hold true for Roane County? I would like to know. Is this something we should do? It would be better to debate ideas like this instead of agenda-less Commission and City Council meetings?

Jordon - (link...)

Raleigh - (link...)

Rochester - (link...)

Peoria - (link...)

Roane County licenses their rights away for a nominal fee. What if we had a vision like the City of Wilson, NC. - (link...)

"Greenlight is Wilson’s community-owned Fiber-to-the-Home network. Offering video, high speed internet, and phone with local service, local support, local people."

What does Roane County currently get? Outages during UT ballgames, limited service in rural areas, and funds going to big corporations away from our local economy.

No just kidding, I don't see the alignment to real priorities or the necessary hard work to move us forward. Sure there is always a little huffing, puffing and back patting that makes for good show, but then everyone goes home.

If the County has identified priorities, then why aren't those priorities reflected in their agendas? I don't get the impression that we are being proactive on the real priorities or the hard work necessary to get us there.

November 18th Agenda - (link...)

With elections coming up, I would hope the Commissioners would get their priorities on the upcoming agendas, start them rolling through their committees, then get the hard work done to improve our community.

I don't believe it, but just maybe doing basically nothing is the right path forward for our children and families.

A lesson we can learn from Israel - Annually they approve their government's budget. If the budget is not approved, then their previous year's budget automatically kicks in with 1/12 the budget approved on a monthly basis, if the new fiscal year budget is not approved within 6 months there is an automatic call for elections. The people decide either way.

Let both parties agree to this as part of the budget agreement as the grand compromise of 2013.

It's not important, but kind of ironic that Kent Calfee's website (kentcalfee.com (link...)) is now controlled by the Japanese.

Last year during the campaign, it seemed pretty obvious that a supporter on Kent's side took over Julia Hurley's website. Now Kent/supporters failed to mind the store when someone from another country took over his website and name sake.

Even more ironic is knowing this in conjunction with Calfee's 6/23/2013 KNS comment on Julie's website debacle - "I would assume that if you're holding office and you had a website, you would maintain the control of it." - Calfee said (link...)

Confirmation that kentcalfee.com was his website - (link...)

Strange how the world turns around.

Is the School Director using SROs as political football or is this truly low hanging fruit for budget cuts?

The School Director is publically talking about cutting the School Board's funding for the School SROs. Should this be the first place to publically discuss for budget cuts or is it simply a scare tactic? I understand this may be his first political rodeo, but didn't we hire him to run the schools and the School Board to navigate the politics. On the other hand, just maybe he's a political pro as this move puts the Sheriff's office and their strong political clout in the middle. I am very confident the Sheriff is above any games.

At any angle, it appears this could be a chess move to force the Commission to revisit additional funding by raising the tax rate before it's too late.

Are they honestly considering all options? (i.e. central office staffing/salaries, aligning the school staffing to each school census, extra circulars (sports), transportation reform, consolidation opportunities, etc.)

I am not interested in this becoming a political game, as I want the focus to be on maintaining and improving educational excellence with funding aligned to the yearly changing student census.

This Commission appears ready to tell the County Departments, including the School Board, that they must work within their budgets. I am looking forward to a flat budget with no tax increases. I have heard chatter of 19 cents that could quickly go down to 5 cents, but it is looking much clearer that those negoiating bluffs will be called, thereby resulting in a zero increase. The Commission will stand strong by giving the mandate for the departments and school system to manage with what they have.

Their terms should be coming to an end as they were only "elected" to 4-year terms back in 2009. With their own will and the help of the State they are getting bonus time - an extra year without the public's vote of trust. They tell us that this will help reduce future election cost by aligning the city election with other elections. This transition period of extending their own terms causes questions.

From the Charter -

NCSE's executive director will be speaking on "What the New Tennessee 'Academic Freedom Act' Means to You" at 5:30 p.m. on April 10, in Greve Hall 122 on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Please join me in opposing SB1071/HB571 and SB916/HB741 which would allow a return to elected school superintendents. The House Education subcommittee will be considering this issue tomorrow (March 26th), and the Senate Education committee on March 27th.

Over twenty years ago, the Education Improvement Act ordered the move from elected superintendents to appointed. Every year since then, legislation has been introduced to allow counties to elect their local school superintendents. Please let your elected officials know that you oppose these bills.

Pretty noteworthy news for little Kingston, but no talk about it anywhere - (link...)

Congrats David!

Mr. McNew's proposed reforms to metro government laws during the campaign were spot on. I hope Mr. McNew's ideas are still taken seriously. We needed a visionary then. We really need a visionary now.

With the State changes to education (charter schools) and the power grabs by the State we are already losing our local control. School spirit has been cited as one reason against Metro. School spirit is no longer a valid reason.

Jack didn't get elected, so which of our elected official will lead?

People who live in the city of Kingston are going to be watched a little more closely now due to a decision by the city council.

Ten new surveillance cameras will be going up this summer to help stop crime.

Link - (link...)

This is better than Norm Sugarman's proposal to install traffic cameras a couple years ago.

GOP Bill Would Merge EPA, DOE

By Robin Bravender, May 5, 2011

Senate Republicans are pushing a plan to morph the Energy Department and the EPA into one giant agency. A bill introduced Thursday by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C) would combine the DOE and the EPA into a new agency called the Department of Energy and Environment. Burr’s effort has the backing of 15 GOP co-sponsors. Consolidating the agencies could result in more than $3 billion in savings in 2012 alone, according to a statement from Burr’s office. The super-agency would retain the core functions of the DOE and the EPA but would cut ineffective or redundant programs, the statement said. The new department would include an undersecretary for nuclear security to oversee the weapons and nonproliferation programs that now fall under the DOE, according to the bill. The effort may also be an attempt by the GOP to rein in the EPA, which many Republicans accuse of pursuing too many costly environmental rules under the Obama administration. “The amount of money wasted annually on duplicative programs within the federal government is staggering,” Burr said. “This common sense approach will reduce duplicative and wasteful functions across these two agencies and streamline our approach to a comprehensive, coordinated energy and environmental policy.”

(link...)

Two organization they just don't like. This is a step towards easier elimination of both as one.

Jim Henry, a former House Minority Leader and Van Hilleary’s primary challenger in the 2002 GOP gubernatorial primary, will be the first Commissioner of the Department of Intellectual Disabilities.

Link: (link...)

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR), the state's free market think tank, today announced the Roane County Economic Development Foundation as the recipient of its “2010 Lump of Coal Award.”

TCPR awards this dubious distinction annually to the person or group in Tennessee who, more than any other over the past year, acted as a Grinch to Tennesseans by bah-humbugging the principles of liberty and limited government.

TCPR Press Release - (link...)

Note: I personally understand the potential economic benefit of the Princess Theater and The Princess Foundation for the Arts Foundation.

Loudon County's Creekwood Park has been named as "giga-site" for large data centers. The giga-sites are designed to bring high-paying information technology jobs to the region. Creekwood Park is located near I-75 close to Exit 81.

Did Roane County even try for this?

Roane County taxpayers took out a loan for $2.5M. That money is basically already invested, with much of it going to the purchase of the property ($4.6M for over 1,000 acres). The Park includes $2 million in updates, including a 5,000-foot-long parallel taxiway.

Yes, the lack of infrastructure is a problem. Do we have the existing infrastructure within our county lines to handle major industrial tenants needing 1,000 acreas? (link...)

Let's compare: Roane County Industrial Park (400 acres), Roane Regional & Technology Park (275 acres), Harriman Industrial Park (91 acres), Horizon (450 acres) or Heritage Parks (40 acres).

Did you realize that Plateau Park was on the short list for Volkswagen? As we know they went to Chattanooga with their massive 1,350-acre site and as a result will produce 150,000 vehicles annually with numerous new suppliers and industries also supporting their regional economy. We were just 2 away from this game changing deal with Plateau Park with the jobs and revenue it would have brought.

Talking about infrastructure, let's really look at Plateau Park. It has the combination of rail and air infrastructure on I-40. The airport can accommodate private planes as well as commercial airliners up to Boeing 737 size. The short line rail service is approximately 7-miles from a primary Norfolk Southern connection. In addition, the rail connects to barge traffic on the Tennessee River offering transload opportunities (truck, rail, water). Do you know which of our existing parks offers all of that along with the acreage?

Yes, Plateau Park is located physically in Cumberland County, but did you know the "partnership" agreement allows for equal sharing of revenue. The one major adjustment that needs to be immediately made to the original partnership agreement is a much longer term on that revenue sharing. That action needs to be completed within the next 90-days as Roane County does already have the $2.5M at stake.

If we get a $100M prospect interested in the Park, yes, they may want it to be ready, but then again they maybe actually be planning ahead in which case we could make a deal. No one really knows until the deal is made and we start seriously marketing the property. Currently marketing is only being done through the Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce.

Should we cut and move on? I think we should have first asked - "Are we big enough to do the hard work?" Are we big enough to figure out creative ways to get the infrastructure? Are we big enough to recruit the top industries that offers top jobs for our regional workforce? The hard questions haven't yet been asked? If we go with the easy answer of cut and move on, then we sell the property (for much less in this bad economy) or we abandon it. If we do that then the tax payers lose some or all of the $2.5M in borrowed money from just 3 years ago. These things take time. Renegotiate, then start to work on solutions before cutting and running. The next VW type deal could be a game changer for this region and Roane County's economy.

It's easy to do the easy things. Most often those things worth doing aren't easy, but hard with good returns.

Why not debate the County budget during the Commission meeting were the budget is the agenda?
(link...)

The past Commissions often rubber stamped without debate. I had hoped that this Commission would be a more open and thoughtful. I understand the fact that there was a public hearing and a commission workshop on the budget last month, but a little open debate before the final Commission vote could have improved this budget process.

The Commissioners that voted against the motion to reconsider (debate) - James Brummett, Ray Cantrell, Collier, Randy Ellis, Jerry Goddard, Carolyn Granger, Steve Kelley and Fred Tedder.

These Commissioners need to understand that debate is good for the public process and that it is necessary to properly represent us.

A national environmental group has labeled the man TVA hired to head its energy efficiency efforts a "superstar," leaving a state clean energy group cautiously hopeful.

Whether Bob Balzar, who until this summer ran Seattle City Light's conservation program in Oregon, will get the resources needed is the concern.

Read more - (link...)

I picked up a copy of the Morgan County News yesterday. The front page from top to bottom was full of news stories on the election. They started off with "New record coming? Early and absentee voters top 1,500", and then continued down the page with individual indepth stories on each of the races for Road Superintendent, Sheriff, and Trustee.

The Morgan County News is owned by the same company as the Roane County News, Landmark. Morgan County only has a population of 19K while Roane has a much larger population of 53K.

Damon Lawrence has done a great job with the resources he is given. In contrast, the Morgan County News has their actual long-term Editor Judy Byrge covering the election with great detail and passion. It is evident that the governmental process is important to Morgan County. How can a smaller community with a smaller newspaper that is owned by the same company provide better coverage? Roane County's election is also important to our community and our future. We need better coverage to inform the voters beyond squabbles and conflicts.

Roane County was greatly damaged by this massive preventable disaster. It is my belief that we are not even close to being made whole again by TVA. The problems that we experienced with property tax appraisal process brought to light some of the impact and disparity.

Therefore, I have the following questions as we approach the voting both during the next few weeks -

1. What affect will the TVA ash spill have on the upcoming election?
2. Which incumbent candidates have shown real leadership on this issue?
3. Which non-incumbent candidates have pledged to make this one of their top priorities?
4. Have the voters already simply forgotten about this issue?
5. If the ash disaster is a factor, how much of a factor will it be?
6. In retrospect, what should our leaders have done differently?
7. From a county and city government perspective, who are the ones that are mostly to blame for letting TVA off so easily?