Broyles seeks $500K for 'Meals' plan

Amy Broyles

So, last year, when Knox County Commissioners were on a spending spree, eating up that good surplus money (man, you should have seen finance director Casual Chris Caldwell cringe as they were doing this), Commissioner Amy Broyles convinced the board to set aside $500K in coin for the Community Action Committee to dedicate toward senior transportation.

She swore she wouldn't ask for it again.

And she isn't. Not really. But she is asking for another $500K in folding paper for CAC. This time, though, it's for the Meals on Wheels program.

As one commissioner joked to me recently: Last year she asked for the wheels, and this year she wants the meals.

Heh.

Anyhoo, she told me that because of the federal sequester from earlier this year, the program lost “tons of their funding,” and now has a waiting list of more than 100 folks.

She said if the county put up the money it would take the pressure off the organization, and give folks a year to fund the mobile meals program and hire a consultant to work with the program and help develop professional, long-term fund-raising plans not dependent on federal resources.

“Frankly, I don't think those funds are ever coming back,” Broyles said. “And if you see the folks on the waiting list – they're very, very elderly – if you see the list it will make you cry.”

Well, what the heck. You can read the list right smack here.

She added that “this will be money for the elderly citizens who can't prepare meals for themselves.”

“We drive on the roads that these people paid for and now we're going to skimp on the basic necessities of life?” she said.

Broyles acknowledged that $500K is a ton of coin, but called it “very miniscule in the scheme of Knox County government.” She said the remaining surplus money – we could get as much as $12 million – should go toward paying down debt or placed in the reserves, something Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett has suggested.

My guess is the commission signs off on at least some of the money, although I've heard a few compromises that will be kicked around during Monday's work session that also sound pretty good.

There's is a chance, too, that the board approves all of the money (or none, I suppose). Last year my jaw – and many others – hit the floor when she asked for that much to fund transportation. But she made a pretty compelling argument up there on the dais and as local radio guy Hubert Smith pointed out at the time: Most of the people up there are a few weeks away from needing the services themselves.

Heh.

Hubert Smith talks Stacey incident

So, this whole Stacey Campfield thing has really taken off, huh? (Click right smack here for an earlier post on the incident.)

Heh. Funny stuff. 

Anyhoo as you may or may not know, the good state senator was a guest on Hubert Smith’s talk show before he headed over to the Bistro for what wasn’t lunch. Hubert along with local comedian Spanky Brown and Dan “The Man” Andrews went with him.

Here’s part of Hubert’s take on what happened:

Brown and I rode together for the five minute ride and park. Andrews and Campfield drove separately. We all met at the entrance of The Bistro. Campfield and Andrews went inside to get a table and I waited outside and talked with Spanky while he finished his cigarette.

It took two minutes or less for Spanky to finish his smoke and we walked in to join the others. When we walked through the door the exchange between Campfield and the owner of The Bistro, Martha Boggs was in progress. I didn’t hear it all obviously, but less than 30 seconds later I knew brunch wasn’t going to happen here, and Spanky and I turned around and walked out. We waited outside for Dan Andrews and Stacey. Stacey didn’t need me to defend him and there was nothing I could say to Martha to change her opinions either.

An owner of a business has the right to serve whomever they please and far be it from me to tell them otherwise, but Campfield was there on my invitation as an extension from being a guest on my radio show and to support a sponsor. I regret the whole ordeal. Considering the online buzz this has generated seemingly around the world, I felt compelled to offer this background information to those concerned and interested.

To read his entire post, click right smack here.

Bistro at the Bijou boots Sen. Campfield

I see there’s been somewhat of a fallout for Stacey Campfield over those comments about gays, bullies and AIDS. (You know, because they were so brilliant and insightful.)

Apparently, the owner of Bistro at the Bijou gave the good state senator the boot yesterday afternoon.

Campfield, local comedian Spanky Brown, reporter Dan “The Man” Andrews and radio talk show host Hubert Smith went to the restaurant to eat, when owner Martha Boggs pretty much told Campfield to get the $&%* out.

(From what I understand she called him a homophobe, but there was also a choice word that preceded it. Heh.)

Anyhoo, Dan told me that as they were exiting, Brown said: “Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever seen two black guys walk into a restaurant and a white guy gets thrown out.”

(What’s that expression? You shouldn’t crap where you eat?)

For his part, Stacey was “very calm, very professional and very understanding,” Dan said.

They ended up having lunch at Latitude 35 on Market Square.

UPDATE: The Metro Pulse talked to Martha this morning: Click right smack here for it it.

Did commissioners violate Sunshine law?

On Saturday, Brian Hornback posted this – click right smack here – about Commissioner Amy Broyles and what he – and quite a few people at the Deathstar today who read his blog – felt was a possible Sunshine law violation.

You know? That little rule you’re supposed to follow when you’re a commissioner and you want to hang out with your buds and not get in trouble.

Here’s the deal I got from talking to commissioners: Broyles, who was in the hospital recently, wanted to catch up on some of the recent audit committee discussions. So, she sent some folks this email:

“Commissioners Amy Broyles and Ed Shouse will meet at Panera Bread in Bearden (4855 Kingston Pike) on Sunday, September 25, at 3:00pm. Other Commissioners may be present. The public and press are invited.”

(Shouse, by the way, is a member of the audit committee.)

I got the email at 4:52 p.m. Friday, according to my delete folder where I dug it out of because that’s what I do with those things. Because I’m immature that way. Heh. (OK, that wasn’t fair. I have actually gone to one of Broyle’s meetings.)

It appears Amy sent that to me personally. Going back through the junk box of bad boys I also found the exact same email sent to me again, but this one was at 8:18 a.m. Saturday. It also included a bunch of other email addresses. So, lots of people got it. On Saturday.

At issue is whether the meeting was adequately publicly noticed. I don’t recall seeing it on the county’s Web site, but who checks that thing anyway?

I asked Joe Jarret, the county’s law director, about it during today’s commission luncheon and he said Tennessee Code says officials need to give “reasonable public notice.”

And there is the problem. What’s reasonable? Jarret felt 48 hours was a good number.

He also emailed me this during the luncheon:

Mike, here's the latest analysis:

What constitutes adequate public notice depends on the totality of the circumstances. In Memphis Publishing Company v. City of Memphis, 513 S.W.2d 511, 513 (Tenn. 1974), the Tennessee Supreme Court declared that, "[a]dequate public notice means adequate public notice under the circumstances, or such notice based on the totality of the circumstances as would fairly inform the public." See also Neece v. Paris Special School District, 813 S.W.2d 432 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1990).

Mike, based upon the above, the courts have issued inconsistent rulings. If a court ruled that notice was inadequate, then any action taken by the members present, presuming they had a quorum, would be considered void and of no effect.

Hornback got a similar email. Check it out right smack here. Jarret also reiterated to him the 48-hour thing.

Oh yeah – almost forgot. Broyles and Shouse did meet for several hours. They were joined by Commissioners Richard “The good doctor” Briggs and Dave Wright. In addition, radio talk dude Hubert Smith and Dan “the man” Andrews were there.

The group talked about audit stuff and then the proposed Carter Elementary School.

Anyhoo, I talked to Wright about the meeting and he said “it wasn’t kosher” that Broyles didn’t give more than 48 hour notice. He said “someone” called him Saturday to give him a heads up about the meeting.

Commission Chairman Mike Hammond agreed.

“I want to talk with Joe Jarret about this,” he said. “We need to get some clarification. When we do these things, someone has to take notes and there has to be an agenda. It’s probably time to have Joe weigh in on this again and refresh us.”

He also said he wants to put it on the chairman’s luncheon next month. (The commission meets for lunch between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on commission meeting days. Yes, they are adequately notified.)

Commissioner Jeff Ownby, who was with Wright and Hammond when I approached them about this, said he didn’t get a notification until 7:50 p.m. Friday, but he didn’t see it until Saturday.

Shouse said he got his some time Friday but he’d “prefer a 72-hour” advance notification.

None of the commissioners I spoke to said they felt there was a violation, but they weren’t exactly thrilled at the timing of the email.

I also talked very briefly with Amy about it. She didn’t seem concerned, and said that she had a number of email addresses on hand, so she sent them out as soon as she could Friday; and then later that night – when she had rounded up all her other addresses – sent out another email. (She also made a comment during the luncheon that the meeting was "sunshined".)

So, you can decide whether the commissioners violated the Sunshine law. Keep in mind that it wouldn’t just be Broyles. Although she sent out the email, three other commissioners attended the meeting.

I’m just glad they didn’t vote.

Credit goes to the rogue for pointing this out. Also, Dan Andrews has a video of the meeting but was having problems uploading it to Youtube, since it was too large of a file. He said he might be able to upload it later. If so, I'll post a link to it.

If it's as riveting as most commission meetings, I'm sure you'll all watch it.

Heh.