County again prepares for icy weather

If you believe the weather reports, and at this point I do, then looks like it's another end-of-the-week snow job. Heh.

Anyhoo, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett said in response to this evening's winter weather advisory, the highway crews will begin applying brine to county roads after rush hour - about 6 p.m. - and will continue to treat primary and secondary roads until midnight.

To report a problem with a county road, please call 865-215-5800

No word yet on whether the mayor will join the brine crew again for another round of misadventures.

Police chief to seek 40 new officers

Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch

I wrote a story today about Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones' plan to ask for 20 more deputies to patrol the schools. (Click right smack here.)

Well, he's not the only one who wants more officers.

In talking to Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch yesterday, he told me that he's going to ask the city's administration to restore 40 positions.

I didn't really get into in my story, since it was mostly about school security and Rausch said he doesn't plan to put any new officers – if he gets them – in the schools.

He said in 2003 the department was authorized to hire 456 officers, but over the years the prior administration (re: Gov. Big Bill) cut a number of unfilled jobs. The chief said at the time, the department wasn't retaining the positions, so it did make some sense.

“We're at 416 now – and that's our authorized full strength, but the reality is there's a need for 456,” he told me. “But that doesn't mean we can't keep the city safe. Obviously we can.”

He said he's already mentioned the 40 positions to Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and several City Council members.

He also acknowledged that the request will cost some serious coin. My guess - based on what the county pays is that it would be at least $4 million for training, equipment and salaries/benefits in the first year and then about half that afterward.

“The reality is that it costs a lot of money,” he said. “It's a $100,000 an officer from the hiring process through training and through equipment. That's the initial cost. It goes down a little more to sustain it, but it's a lot of money.”

On a side note, I did hear a joke that if the city gets the extra officers, then instead of clocking motorists every 200 yards on I-40, they'll be clocking them at every 100 yards.

Heh.

Psychiatrists versus Bartenders

Saw this somewhere. Got a kick out of it. Figured I'd share. Conversation overheard. Joke. All that.

So, ever since I was a kid, I've had a fear of someone hiding under my bed at night. I go to one of those headshrinkers and tell him:

“I've got problems. Every time I go to bed, I think there's someone under it. I'm scared. I think I'm going crazy.

The shrink: “Just put yourself in my hands or a year. Come talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get rid of those fears.

“How much do you charge,” I asked.

Shrink: “$80 per visit.

“I'll sleep on it,” I said.

Six months later, the doctor met me on the street. “Why didn't you come see me about those fears you were having?” he asked.

“Well, $80 for a visit three times a week for a year is a ton of coin! A bartender cured me for $10. I was so happy to have saved all that scratch I went about bought me a new pickup!”

“Is that so,” he said with a bit of an attitude. “And how, may I ask, did a bartender cure you?”

“He told me to cut the legs off the bed. Ain't nobody under there now!”

Heh.

School transparency grade improves

Well, darn. It wasn't 100 percent correct. But, hey, I'll admit when I get it wrong. (Which is like never. Heh.) Anyhoo, I'd normally just update the prior post, but there's been some confusion apparently.

Sooooo, the previous posts notes that the school system got a "C-" grade for transparency but the kind folks in the communications department argued otherwise.

Turns out, loathe as I am to admit it, school spin doctress Melissa Ogden is correct. The system actually got a "B-" grade in the latest evaluation, which I believe was in December. The other score was for May.

According to Kristin Decoy over at Sunshine Review, the organization that scored local and state governments, the reports were duplicated on different parts of the website. So, everything is now updated. Click right smack here and all that.

Government transparency grades out

I thought this was kind of interesting. I'm not going into a lot of detail, but you can follow the links.

The Sunshine Review, which says it's a national non-profit dedicated to state and local government transparency, just released it's “2013 Transparency Report Card” that graded every state and the largest counties, cities and school district within each state.

Anyhoo, Tennessee is ranked 24 and received a “B” overall. Find the report card right smack here.

Knox County got an “A-” which you can check out here.

Knoxville got a “B.”

And the county's school district got a“C-”, which is actually surprising considering taxpayer spend about $1 million on the system's PR/spin team. Heh.

Gee, go figure. The least expensive communications department ends up getting the best grade.

On a side note, California ranked No. 1 and Nebraska ranked No. 50.

UPDATE: School system spin department says it really received a "B-" and not a "C-". Melissa Ogden supplied a link with pretty much zero detail. You can find it right smack here. Eh, you decide. I'm moving on. I got a funny story to tell about the city's communication-less department that I need to get to.

Who really owns that county school?

Officials with the Knox County Commission and the Board of Education in the next month or so will meet to discuss which party's name gets placed on the deeds of four elementary schools.

But, at this point, it looks like there's just no way the BOE will get official ownership of at least one of them.

Here's the deal: The school board recently approved a resolution that puts the deeds to Brickey-McCloud, Amherst and Gibbs elementary schools and the yet-to-be-built “Southwest” Elementary School in its name, rather than the county's name.

Officials say – and you can find the story right smack here – that it's just in case the buildings are sold as surplus property then it will be clear that the money goes back to the school system. (There's a whole 'nother debate going on about whether a name on the deed really means jack, and that's coming.)

The resolution was then brought to the county commission, which balked. Instead, members said the newly formed education committee will more than likely take up the issue in February.

Still, at this point, it doesn't appear that the deed for Southwest Elementary School, which doesn't actually have an official name, will be transferred.

You see, the county took out Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, or QZABs, to build it. In fact the county issued $29 million worth in fiscal year 2011, according to finance records. The Southwest piece is a little over $15 million and the rest is for various other schools.

Now the problem. If the county turns the deed over, then it would violate the loan agreement (which says you can't transfer property) and risk losing the entire $29 million. That would mean heading back out to the market and issuing more bonds, possibly at a higher interest rate.

In other words, it would create a big headache.

As for the other three pieces of property. I think it's possible that the commission approves the resolution to transfer the deeds. But, I would not be surprised if a new issue comes up: Whether it really matter whose name is on them.

There is some talk that it is all “county” property, meaning any money from surplus school property – even if the deed says “Knox County Board of Education “ – goes into the county's general fund for the administration and commission to spend.

Hang with the mayor at Nick & J's

The county on Friday will continue its “lunch with the mayor” series, this time at Nick & J's Cafe at the Lovell Road exit off Pellissippi Parkway. The event, as always, is Dutch treat, and the restaurant – according to its website – will serve “southern comfort food in a delightful diner setting."

The luncheons are an offshoot of the mayor's “cash mob,” a concept that encourages people to show up at a small business at the same time and shop. It appears that the luncheons will move to a once-a-month schedule and the mobs will become a quarterly event.

In the meantime, Burchett still makes fun of his chief of staff for trying to shoot down the whole (so far successful) concept when he first proposed it.

Education panel starts to take form

Knox County Commission Chairman Tony Norman appointed commissioners Dave Wright, Amy Broyles, Sam McKenzie and Mike Hammond to the long-talked about education committee, which - if it's like every other committee that isn't required under the charter - will probably meet once and that'll be about it.

In the coming weeks, School Board Chairwoman Karen Carson will pick three or four members from her board to also serve on it.
More than likely, the panel will meet in February to talk about whether the county or the school system's name should be placed on the deed to the new Southwest elementary School, Brickey-McCloud Elementary School, Amherst Elementary School and Gibbs Elementary School.

In addition, the panel is expected to address finances and where the money should go - paying off reserves or general fund or wherever - when the county sells surplus land.

Officials say the committee will let the boards work through the issues without the typical bitterness that occurs between the two.

We'll see.

UPDATE: It appears that school board members Lynne Fugate, Doug Harris and Gloria Deathridge will represent the school board on the committee.

'Casual' county coin report Part III

Chris Caldwell

And, once again Knox County's top bean counter, Casual Chris Caldwell, held court with county commissioners today during their monthly luncheon to go over the finances for the first six months of the current fiscal year.

As usual, he threw out a lot of mumbo jumbo, voodoo and whatnot, detailing where, when and why we do or do not have money. And, yes, we do have money. Got a lot of it, actually, but there's quite a few folks who would have you believe the county is flat broke.

Anyhoo, Chris noted that general fund revenues are up about 2 percent right now compared to this time last year, which translates to about $3.2 million more.

However, spending is up by about $11.1 million. The Casual One says this is because in December he ordered his minions to post “all of what we know that is going to be transferred funds,” which is something the office typically does quarterly. (Really, it makes no difference, so long as it gets done.)

“So, if you look at the percentage, then we're at 52 percent half way through the year, and you'd like to be at 50 percent, but that 2 percent is in direct correlation to the transfers,” he told commissioners, adding that this will balance out in the coming months.

Chris also noted that the sales tax coin that flows into the general fund is up by about $169,000 and hotel/motel taxes are up a whopping $684.

He said wheel taxes are down slightly, or up slightly or flat. I can't remember. Regardless, it doesn't look like it's going to have an effect this year, but it's something folks should know and study.

He opted not to discuss property tax just to save a few officials from a heart attack (his words, not mine), since collections really aren't accounted for until the end of next month. However, he said we should see some growth, although not a whole heck of a lot.

Billboard regulation gets response

Had a story today about the proposed billboard bans that the Knox County Commission will discuss later today. Essentially, Commissioner Richard Briggs, who is leading the change against the outdoor advertising industry, opted to pull two of the ordinances (ones dealing with traditional billboards and electronic messaging centers), saying folks have mostly told him that they'd like regulation rather than an all out ban.

Note that the good commissioner, doctor, warrior does not want to pull the ordinance detailing a ban on digital billboards. Naw, he hates those suckers.

Soooooo, the folks in Briggs' corner were fairly quiet over the weekend. But this morning I got their response. You can click right smack here for it.

The letter is from Margot Kline, president of the Council of West Knox County Homeowners. She says a ban will not result in lost jobs or lower tax revenues for the county, but, rather, allowing billboards or digital billboards will result in lower property values “and a lot of very unhappy taxpayers.”

Obviously she goes into further detail in the letter.

Again, the issue is supposed to be put to rest today.

Supposed to be, anyway.

County to get $120,000 windfall

The county will get back a little more than expected under a rebate program it has with Sun Trust Bank. 

Officials initially budgeted for about $200,000 (the county got $210,045 last year) but now folks say it should receive between $318,000 and $319,000. The windfall will more than likely go toward paying off debt, if Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett has anything to say about it.

Under the P-card program the county gets a percentage back – about 1 percent – from the bank.

Briggs to pull billboard ordinances

Commissioner Richard Briggs

The Knox County Commission tomorrow was set to talk about an all-out billboard ban, but now it looks like the discussion could turn into something else.

Commissioner Richard Briggs, who was leading the charge, posted the following on the commission's forum on the county website:

Fellow Commissioners:

As you know, the vote to ban conventional billboards, digital billboards, and electronic message center is on the agenda for Monday. We have listened to arguments for, arguments against, and received numerous emails from citizens throughout Knox County. Most of us agree we need to do something yet some commissioners also feel strongly a compromise of some sort is more in order than an outright ban.

I have met with several of the smaller, local billboard and EMC companies that are based in Knox County. Most are small family businesses that would be adversely affected by a total ban of all billboards and EMC’s. The message I receive is “let’s regulate, not ban”. The small company owners are not opposed to sitting down with the MPC, environmental groups, homeowner associations, and local government representatives and working on regulations that everyone can live with.

Consequently, I would like to withdraw the ordinances banning conventional billboards and electronic message centers. The ordinance pertaining to the digital billboards would be left on the agenda to ban both the conversion of conventional billboards to digital billboards and a ban on any new digital billboards. The emails we have received from many citizens make it clear that a large number of voters do not want any more digital billboards in our community. Beyond the obtrusive and esthetic objections, the digital billboards are another distraction to already dangerously distracted drivers.

I hope this proposal is the compromise many of you have been looking for. We are listening to both our local small business owners who ask that we “regulate, not ban” and to innumerable citizens who feel passionately that we already have too much outdoor advertising.

Richard Briggs

By the way, I noticed that before Briggs posted (it's had nine page views so far), the last time a commissioner put anything up at the forum was in September.