The Week of September 5th

Date & Committee/Board             Time                    Location

Monday - September 5

HOLIDAY - Offices Closed                                                         

Tuesday - September 6

Education                                                            6:00 P.M.                             Central Office

School Board                                                      7:00 P.M.                             Central Office                   

Wednesday - September 7

Foster Care Review Board                            9:00 A.M.                             General Sessions                                                                                                                              

Thursday - September 8

Animal Control                                                  5:30 P.M.                             County Mayor’s Office

Friday - September 9

Open

The Week of August 22nd

MEETINGS SCHEDULED WEEK OF

August 22 - 26, 2011

Date & Committee/Board                 Time                            Location

Monday - August 22

Special Session:

            Board of Education                6:00 P.M.                    Central Office

Tuesday - August 23

Legislative                                          6:15 P.M.                    Juvenile Courtroom

Public Hearing/Budget                 7:00 P.M.                    Juvenile Courtroom

Wednesday - August 24

Open

Thursday - August 25

Highway Commission                        7:00 P.M.                    Highway Offices

Friday - August 26

Open

2011-12 Operating Budget: Heading into Monday’s Regular Meeting

Here is the most recent coverage from the Robertson County Times of the August 2, 2011 Robertson County Commission Budget Committee Meeting. The article covers some of the rates in sister counties – remember, I did the same thing back in April by looking at a good part of Middle Tennessee.

My summary can be found here.

As we head into Monday’s Regular Meeting, we will have an up-and-down vote on the 2011-12 Operating Budget.

I am still committed to not raising your property taxes. We have a long way to go, and I do not think we have adequately explored the budget in its current form.

Robertson County: Notorious?

This will likely be an unpopular post.

With that being said, I must address this story. For, as you can see here, it becomes that much more notorious (see the right-hand sidebar – this is a daily publication sent to members of the Tennessee Bar Association).

I have said it before, and will maintain that we must address the issues facing our schools. We must, because internally or externally, they will be solved by others. And, it is not just a federal investigation. We can continue to be concerned with how each of our schools performs with regard to state and federal standard.

Again, I will continue to state that there is not a silver bullet solution, so we must continue to leave all options on the table as we move forward.

It is my hope that the formation of the “Study Committee for Review and Recommendation of Educational Initiatives in the Springfield School Cluster” will go a long way to address these issues.

What this growing concerns illustrates to me is that the finger-pointing must cease and the sectionalism throughout the communities must cease.

Like it or not, this is a Robertson County issue.

Internally or Externally, something must be done, and that thing will affect the entirety of Robertson County.

Redistricting Committee & the City of Springfield

The Robertson County Times covered the last Redistricting Committee Meeting (Do not forget the Redistricting Committee meets again this Thursday at 4pm).

With that being said, the Mayor Billy Paul Carneal spoke at the last meeting to convey concerns that the City of Springfield apparently has moving forward with the entire redistricting process. I believe those concerns can be summarized in the following quote (See the full story here):

“We just think it would be a little fairer if we did not have so many representing a few, but had fewer representing a larger [city] base,” he concluded.

I am not quite sure I agree with this proposition. This is a county matter, and though I can understand the concerns that the City of Springfield may have with Robertson County Schools, I do not think that the redistricting process is the proper direction to meet this challenge. The reason-being is that if the Redistricting Committee began accommodating each and every municipality in such a way, then it would be impossible for lines to be drawn.

NOT in this environment...

I would rather not contemplate the fallout if any of our commissioners proposed this sort of resolution.

August 'Commission Packet'

Please do not forget that Robertson County Clerk Susan Atchley posts the “Commission Packets” in the weeks leading up to the monthly “Regular Meeting” of the Robertson County Commission.

You can find the packets at the Robertson County website. Here is a direct link.

Also, here is a list of the resolutions and those commissioners who will be presenting them at the August Regular Meeting:

CTAS Visulization Tools

These “Visualization Tools” offer insight on a county-by-county level and insight into economic data and population growth:

Explore Tennessee state data with one of these interactive download or visualization tools developed in partnership with the University of Tennessee Center for Business and Economic Research, the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) and the University of Tennessee Department of Geography.

June Unemployment Rate

This is a concerning development regarding Robertson County’s unemployment rate.

Robertson County was one of 91 counties in the state of Tennessee whose unemployment rates increased for the month of June.

Tennessee’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for June was 9.8 percent, up slightly from the May rate of 9.7 percent.

Robertson County’s unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent in June, compared to the previous month at 8.6 percent.

Upcoming Economic Development Workshops

There are Economic Development Workshops scheduled later this month presented by County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) and the Tennessee County Commission Association (TCCA).

I look forward to attending the workshop in Franklin on August 24^th.