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Town Board Meeting

Monday, 7 July 2008 

After getting the preliminaries out of the way (the minutes were unanimously approved on a motion by Bob Graham, seconded by Bobby Gray; the water and police reports were unanimously approved on a motion by Graham, seconded by Shirley Williams; and the financial statements were unanimously approved on a motion by Gray, seconded by Williams), the Bethel Springs town board began its July meeting by symbolically spitting in the eye of long-time Police Chief T.E. “PeeWee” Sowell, and the meeting was fittingly ended more than an hour later by Sowell “thanking” the board for its “support.”

Personnel pay raise requests

Mayor Norma Smith presented to the board Sowell’s request that his salary be raised from its current level of $17,680 to $21,632.  Although Sowell has served as police chief for nine years, his salary is the equivalent of $8.50 an hour, and he had submitted a request that that rate be raised to the level of the town clerk, who is presently paid $10 an hour.

After Bobby Gray made a motion to give Sowell the raise he was asking for, Bob Graham signaled the unsympathetic hearing Sowell’s request was about to receive: “I guess I’ll second it,” Graham said unenthusiastically, before adding, “so we can have discussion.”

Mayor Smith pointed out that “the local average for a police chief is forty-two to forty-nine thousand a year, and the national average is seventy-four thousand a year.”

Before the discussion could proceed any further, Shirley Williams observed that the question of a raise for the police chief had been tabled at the previous board meeting, so it needed to be untabled in order to be discussed.  She made a motion to that effect, which was seconded by Hickman and passed unanimously.

Included in the proposed 2008-2009 budget, which the board would take up later in the meeting, was a 4% pay raise for all town employees, and Graham repeatedly evidenced concern about whether Sowell’s requested raise would be in addition to that 4%.

Williams also appeared to be cool to the idea of raising Sowell’s salary more than the blanket amount. “I’m the one that voted in June that we put it on the table and do a little research,” she said, “and I talked with our town attorney, and she in turn talked to Ronnie Neill at MTAS, and he suggested that we just have a straight across-the-board raise, he said, would be the best thing for a town this size.”

After some further discussion, Williams said “I have no problem with anyone getting a raise, but my concern last meeting was that we did not really have any type of guideline or policy that covered that.  We just arbitrarily, giving people raises.  So, are we still going to continue to do that?  Are we going to use across the board?  Which one are we doing, is all I would need to understand.”

“We’ve agreed to give all the employees a 4% raise,” Mayor Smith said.  “The chief of police would like an additional raise, to be equal to $21,632, in addition to that.  Now if I’m not mistaken, I think some of the information that the attorney and Ronnie Neill gave you was that it wasn’t feasible to have a personnel board—”

“For evaluations and such as that,” Williams interjected.

“—for evaluations and for pay policy,” Smith continued.  “And if I’m not mistaken I think in the ordinance that we passed last month, the personnel administration was assigned to the mayor in that ordinance.”

“So, again,” Williams said, “in answer to my question, then what are we going to be following?  Is it just going to be open, and the mayor—”

“No,” Smith said, “we’re going to be giving them a 4% raise.”

“Right,” Williams agreed.

“That’s what we approved last month,” Smith continued.  “And now we’re considering do we want to increase PeeWee’s pay from $17,680 a year to $21632 a year.  And that would be at $10 and hour.  The local average is forty-two to forty-nine thousand a year.”

After more back and forth about the blanket 4% raise, Graham again showed his lack of enthusiasm. “  guess what I’m trying to say is, I don’t have any problem with making a raise, as long as we do what we’re supposed to.  But if you based everything on 4% when you done your budget, do we have the extra money, now?  You see what I’m saying?”

“PeeWee’s budget request was received before I did finish the budget,” Smith replied.  “His is factored in.”

“One other question,” Williams persisted.  “In the future we will always just go by a request from the employee, and we will do that if we have the money.”

Smith replied that the board would go by “what’s in the ordinance.”

“Yeah, I know, I know it’s in the ordinance,” Williams responded.  “What’s in the ordinance is that, ultimately it will come from the mayor and then the board will vote on it.  Is that correct?  Is that what we’re doing here?”

When Mayor Smith replied in the affirmative, Williams said “I’m just trying to get it clear where we’re, what we’re exactly trying to do, and what will happen, you know, in the future.”  She paused for a moment, and then continued.  “The mayor will act on a request coming from an employee and bring it to the board to be voted on.  Is that fair, to say that?”

“I tell you what,” Mayor Smith said, turning to town recorder Nancy McClain, “why don’t you go get the municipal code and they can look at the ordinance they approved last month?”

“I know what we approved last month, Mayor,” Williams said impatiently, apparently unaware that her numerous questions indicated just the opposite, “but I’m just asking is that what we’re going to be doing in the future from now on, so that we’ll understand?”

“That is what the ordinance says,” Smith said, patiently.

“Okay, we just need a simple yes or no, okay?” Williams replied huffily, as though it was the mayor who was being unreasonable, rather than Williams herself.  “That’s all that’s necessary,” she added sanctimoniously, before telling the recorder, “You can call for the vote, if, if— I’m through with my part of the discussion.”

In the vote that followed Aldermen Graham, Williams, and Hickman all voted against raising the salary of the police chief (who had worked for the city for nine years) up to the level of the town recorder (who had worked for the town for about one year).  Smith and Gray voted in favor of giving Sowell the raise he had requested, but the motion failed, and Bethel Springs’ police chief’s salary for 2008-2009 will be $18,387.20.  At the end of the meeting, Sowell let the board know how he felt about what the board had done.

Sowell was not the only town employee who had requested a raise above the blanket 4%.  Utility department employee Rodney Steen had asked for a dollar-an-hour increase (from $7.50 to $8.50), plus what he was pleased to call “back pay” (which amounted to a request for additional pay for continuing to work a 40-hour week when another department employee was off sick), as well as a cost of living increase.

The board voted unanimously (if needlessly, since it already applied to him) to give Steen the 4% blanket raise, but Gray’s motion (seconded by Williams) that Steen also receive a dollar-an-hour raise was defeated by a three-two-vote, with Mayor Smith joining with Graham and Hickman in voting against it.  During the discussion of Steen’s request for “back pay”—moved by Gray and seconded by Williams “so we can have discussion”—Williams asked if Steen had “put in any extra hours” during the period for which he was asking for “back pay,” and Mayor Smith replied that he had not.  The motion failed when only Bobby Gray voted for it.

2008-2009 Budget

“The next item is the budget adoption for the year 2008-2009,” Mayor Smith said when the personnel matters were concluded.  “A public hearing was held on the 23rd of June to hear comments for or against items in the budget.  The public hearing started at 6:30 p.m. and ended at 7:00 p.m.  There were no public comments, to or from the public.  The hearing was attended by myself and Alderman Bob Graham.”

Smith pointed out that “The budget includes 4% pay raises for the employees.  It did factor in a pay raise for the police chief.  That will have to be deducted back to his current pay.  It does include an annual amount for a code enforcement and part-time clerk.  It does include purchase of multi-use equipment, not to exceed $20,000, financed for five years at 5%, and that’s a high estimate.”

“The board will conduct quarterly budget reviews,” Smith continued, and “the next year’s budget process will begin in February.  The property tax rate for 2008-2009 will remain unchanged at .61.  And the public notice in the Independent Appeal will stay the same.  Is there a motion to adopt the budget for ‘08-’09?”

“And the only pay raise in here is the 4%?” Hickman wanted to know.

Smith acknowledged that was so and then asked again, “Is there a motion to adopt the budget?”

“I’ve got another question about it,” Graham said, then he asked,  “ff we buy PeeWee a new car, or whatever—” Sowell’s wife, Katie, interrupted to say “He don’t need a new car, Bob,” then Graham continued,  “—if we buy him a new car we’re going to finance it?”

Mayor Smith agreed that was so, then Graham made a motion that the budget be approved, which was seconded by Vernon Hickman.

“And then,” Smith said, before the roll was called, “one other note is to adopt the budget as modified, because I have to redo the police chief’s pay in the budget.”  The budget was then approved, with Bobby Gray casting the lone no vote.

Zoning Ordinance—Flood Hazard Areas

“The next item on the agenda is in regard to the national flood insurance program,” Smith said before adding, in reference to the forty-five pages of documentation each board member had received, “and you’ve probably got more than enough information than you wanted to read.  In a nutshell, what it consists of is an ordinance, and the ordinance is to amend the current zoning ordinance that we have, to include provisions governing the flood hazard areas.  So that’s what the ordinance is.  An ordinance, in order to be adopted, has to be read at least twice.  Tonight is only the first reading, and in order to adopt this we do have to have a public hearing to give the public the opportunity to make comments either for or against adopting a, the national flood insurance program.  The ordinance is to amend our current zoning ordinance to include the provision governing flood hazard areas.  So that’s what the ordinance is.  You also have in there a resolution of intent, but it is not adopted until after a second reading and adoption of the ordinance.  But what the resolution of intent says is that the Town of Bethel Springs, it is our intent to require the recognition and evaluation of flood, mudslide, or flood related erosion hazards in all official actions relating to land use in areas having these hazards.  And in it, according to that resolution, the Town of Bethel Springs would be required to ensure that we have a code enforcement officer to carry out those intents.  That’s what the resolution says.”

“A question,” Shirley Williams said.  “It says that the planning commission is supposed to review that?”

“The planning commission needs to review it,” Smith confirmed.  “It came from the state.  You got it when I did.”

Smith explained that “All of the information came from, as far as the draft of the ordinance, the resolution, and then the information that we have on the national flood insurance program, it all came from FEMA.  Because the entire town is being considered to participate in the national flood insurance program.  And I say, I think like the end of September or October I mentioned that we would probably be getting contacted by them to participate in the program, and that’s what this is.  They went ahead and drafted everything for us to consider.”

“So it enables them to get the necessary insurance?” Williams asked.

“Right,” Smith replied.  “The national flood insurance program is—  As a community we can participate in it voluntarily, but participation in the program makes flood insurance available to the residents at a reasonable cost and provides some level of protection with flood insurance.  And then they remind us that it should be noted that no federal financial assistance such as loans, grants, insurance, guarantees, or disaster assistance for flood-caused damages currently available for acquisition or construction of buildings in the town of Bethel Springs.  And, that you can’t get assistance unless you participate in the national flood insurance program.”

Williams asked, “So the next step is for the town to actually have a meeting to decide to do this?”

“We probably should,” Smith agreed.  “I do know that the state did, back in September and October, they got our zone coordinates, and that’s how they were able to draft it.  There should be another little fact sheet on there for you for the national flood insurance program as far as benefits.”

Smith continued with her explanation. “This was the national flood insurance program.  It provides flood insurance rates that are a little bit decreased from normal insurance rates for property owners.  It can also provide flood plain management to enhance public safety, reduce damage to property and public infrastructure, avoidance of economic disruption in law suits.  It also provides technical assistance in designing and implementing some activities available at no charge.  That means free.  And some of the pros, since we are a small and impoverished community, instead of normally, any type of grant you have to match something, but since we are small and impoverished it would only be a 10% match instead of a 25% match, so that’s kind of like a pro.  It’s also a con, because we have to match 10%.  Some of the type of assistance that the town can apply for are protective measures for utilities, such as water, roads, and bridges.  And that includes storm water management, such as culverts and retention basins.  And then, of course, it could include equipment, such as generators for backup to the compound.  The cons to it, that I’ve pulled out if it would be that we have to match 10%.  Even though we’re poor and small, we still have to match something, and then the zoning ordinance does require us to have that code enforcement officer, and then they would also serve as the administrator of that.  And that— you’ll see that in that resolution of intent.”

Summing up, Smith said, “So as a process, it would work like this.  We would have a first reading tonight.  We would have to advertise a public hearing, and give them a 15-day notice.  That means probably the earliest that we could have a public hearing, in order to get it in the newspaper, would be the 7th of August.  And then at the August executive session we would have the second reading, with adoption or not, based on the input that we get from the public.  And once it’s adopted, then we do the resolution of intent.”

The first reading passed by a unanimous vote on a motion by Williams, seconded by Graham.

* * *

Smith continued. “The next item on the agenda is, back toward the end of last year we put in for the TDOT enhancement to improve downtown.  Normally, those advanced grants when you submit them, we would not get the results of until close to the end of this year, but normally they consider them for the next year as well, if you’re not awarded the TDOT grant.  This year they’re changing that, and they’re not going to sort of carry over the grant application from year to year.  So, do we want to resubmit the downtown project that we have for the next year’s cycle?”

“I move that we reapply for the grant,” Williams said, and her motion, seconded by Gray, passed unanimously.

Vernon’s bluegrass

The last item on the agenda proved to be the most contentious: Vernon Hickman’s bluegrass request.

“What I would like to be approved by the board,” Hickman began, “is that I would be in charge, and what money was made would be turned over to the clerk on Monday morning.  And, if, I think they said that, Buddy [Sisk] was talking about we needed a bigger amp, share the load with and have a better sound system.  And I would see what that would cost, but it would be paid for out of the income we would take in as we have process.  I’m not sure what it would cost, but I can bring it back before y’all and let y’all approve that I do that.  And that I would be in charge of it.  And all of it would be volunteer, and what money—  And any organizations here, or if you know of any body that would want to take the concession stand, then that would be fine with me for doing that.  If you don’t, well we’ll run the concessions.  I’d just like it be approved that I be in charge of it.  To use the best of my knowledge, and run it to the best of my knowledge, and that decisions, you know, that I have to make, so as long as I have authority to do so.”  The fifteen first-person singular pronouns in Hickman’s opening paragraph, including three repetitions of the phrase “I would [or will] be in charge,” set the tone for what followed.

Mayor Smith observed that “Last month you brought it up, and I think we suggested that— you were going to get some volunteers.”

“I can put it on,” Hickman said, ignoring the mayor’s point that Hickman had failed to produce any volunteers.  “I just want it to be approved by the board.”

“Well,” Smith began, “when you say ‘put it on—’”

“I just,” Hickman interrupted, “I don’t want it to come up at a meeting, and them say you did this or you let them.”

“—who’s going to be putting it on?” Mayor Smith said, finishing her question.

“The town,” Hickman replied.  “Just like we did before.  The town will be putting it on, and anybody that wants to volunteer to help me put it on, that’s fine.  They can take up the door, or whatever they want to do.  It don’t matter to me.  But I’ll take all the volunteers that want to help.”

“Who’s going to be contacting the bands?” Smith asked.

“Well, I’ll contact the bands,” Hickman said.

“How much do they get paid?” Smith asked.

“Hundred dollars,” Hickman replied.  “Each band.”

“And how many bands?”

“Three.”

“And who’s going to do all of the advertising?” Mayor Smith continued.

“Okay,” Hickman replied.  “The clerks did it before.  Now if she don’t have time to do it, then I can get it, because all you have to do is fax it in to different—”

“And then who’s going to set up the community center?”

“Well,” Hickman answered, “I need a key, or you’d have somebody up there to open it up.  Because you have to set the sound system up on Saturday afternoon.”

“And then who’s going to clean it up?”

“The town has been doing that,” Hickman said.

“And then,” Smith asked, “who’s responsible if something gets broken or misplaced?”

“Well,” Hickman replied, “the town’s getting all the profits, so I assume the town would be—”

“Well,” Smith began, “take a walk down memory lane—”

“—nothing has got broken before,” Hickman concluded.

“I think you need to go down memory lane a little bit, Vernon.  Last year, we made the effort to continue bluegrass that was already set up.”

“Yeah,” Hickman responded, “you just continued my help.”

“And you couldn’t get volunteers to help you—” Smith began.

“I could have got volunteers,” Hickman interrupted.  “I had volunteers for everything.  You—”

“—so,” Smith continued, “you took the liberty to pay a relative to sit at the door and collect money, and that money was public money.  Did you inform the board of that?”

“I turned it in every Monday,” Hickman responded, ignoring the mayor’s question.

But Smith persisted. “Did you ask the board to approve using public funds to pay a relative to collect money at the door?”

Hickman continued to avoid the question.  “It was all volunteers, that I, I couldn’t do it all, and I couldn’t be there that night, and I couldn’t get volunteers, so I had to pay someone to take my place until I got there.”  He paused briefly, before adding, “But I’ll take it out of my pocket, if it’s going to break you.”

“Well, it’s not me,” Smith began, only to be interrupted by a laugh from Hickman. “It’s the public’s money—” Smith continued.

“I thought it was you,” Hickman said. “That’s why I want approval of the board.”

Mayor Smith continued.  “And then we had some missing, so we actually had to change the locks on the supply cabinet for the senior citizens, because you were breaking into it and using their supplies and—”

“No,” Hickman interrupted again, “we did not use their supplies.  What I got in, the switchbox it’s in there, and the money box that we were taking up, money box is in there.”

“Then you also threatened a city employee.”

“No,” Hickman interrupted, “I didn’t threaten him.  I told him that we needed the key.”

“And you threatened you were going to—”

“I didn’t threaten nobody,” Hickman interrupted.  “You’re making it up now.  If he told you I did he told a lie.”

Smith then changed tacks. “And the other part is, as far as managing and telling employees what to do, in section 11 of the town charter, restrictions on aldermen, city aldermen are prohibited from interfering in any way with the performance of duties by any officer or employee.  And then, of course, one of my biggest questions that I have is, how is this in the best interest of the public of the town of Bethel Springs?”

“You just don’t want me to put it on,” Hickman said, petulantly.  “I’ve got other ways to occupy my time.  The other organization that we had in here, they wanted something for the people of the town to have the opportunity to come if they want to, and most of them helped up there, and, they did.  That would be an objection, if anybody volunteered but—  See, the youth center was built by volunteers, help.  But you [the mayor] weren’t here.  You don’t know nothing about it.  But [Smith attempted to speak, but Hickman bulled on] lot of people getting up there at night sweating, and blood, building it together.  The senior citizens paying for the material that went into the walls, and the volunteers put it up.  And then we had people that had volunteered their time and putting the sheetrock and hanging, and, uh, up there to get it.  And it’s for the community to have things.  It wasn’t put there just to rent out.  And we have raised high as five, six hundred dollars at a bluegrass show up there.  The other times, we didn’t make that, but it has been raised that much.”

“And then,” Smith said, when Hickman finally stopped speaking, “last month you brought up the same thing to the board, and we asked you for some volunteers.”

“I ain’t giving any names,” Hickman said, inexplicably.  “I can put the show on, I put it on for several months.”

“There are no volunteers.” Smith said flatly.

“I’ve got volunteers,” Hickman insisted.  “They done told me they’d help me.  I just want the approval of the board.  The board don’t want to approve it, that’s fine, we’ll forget it.”

“Then we’ve got the code of ethics,” Smith continued, “section seven, that prohibits elected officials or employees from using municipal time, facilities, equipment or supplies for the private gain of themselves or a family member.”

“Well,” Hickman said, “you’re welcome to go up there and take up at the door if you want to.  I just put it on for the community.  You’d be up there every Saturday night—”

Smith attempted to offer a suggestion: “Maybe you should get you a petition to—”

“I ain’t getting a petition,” Hickman said, petulantly.  “I think that’s up to the board.”

“You don’t have the support of the town,” Smith repeated.  “You don’t have volunteers.”

“I’ve got volunteers,” Hickman insisted, sounding increasingly like the late and unlamented Senator Joe McCarthy.

“You’ve got your personal request,” Smith persisted, “because Vernon likes to go to bluegrass.  And you want to use the town employees as your labor.”

Hickman indignantly denied it.  “I haven’t used the town employees as no labor.  They didn’t help me before.  And it’s not— It’s people come to me.”

“It’s kind of odd,” Smith observed, “that those people didn’t come to the public hearing so it could be included in the budget.  In fact, you didn’t even attend the public hearing and ask for it to be included in the budget.  How are you going to pay three hundred dollars a month?” Smith then asked, changing the subject.

“We take up at the door, and we took up four dollars a head, and this time it’s going to be five dollars.  But if the board don’t want, I mean if they don’t approve me doing it, then I don’t care.  I mean, I’ve got other places I can go on Saturday night.  It’s not—”

“Well,” Smith asked, “have any of the board members already deliberated with you?”

“Well,” Hickman said, ignoring the question, “just put it for a vote.”

“Well if you’ve already deliberated on it—” Smith persisted.

Hickman, for his part, persisted in ignoring the question.  “Do I make a motion, or do they make a motion?  Do I make a motion that you give me the authority to put on the bluegrass program?  That I be in charge?  And what profit’s made comes to the town and is delivered to the clerk’s office Monday morning?”

“You’re probably going to have to recuse yourself from voting,” Smith observed.

“It ain’t hurting me, I tell you,” Hickman said.  “You’re not hurting me, you’re hurting yourself.  Not me.”

Bobby Gray then asked, “Vernon, will the employees have to sweep up and clean up after the meeting?”

“Well, they did it before,” Hickman replied.  “And, they also set up the chairs.  Rodney and Dean was going to go set up chairs and John said, ‘No, that’s Vernon’s job.’  But the other, I reckon they’d rather have them sit on their [unintelligible word] and not do nothing.  It takes three to do water meter reading,” he added, sarcastically, as Mayor Smith asked her next question.

“Why could you not get you some volunteers?  Did you check with any of the organizations—”

“I ain’t going to argue,” HIickman interrupted.  “If the board don’t want me to have it, that’s fine.”

“—or any of the schools groups, or any of the businesses, to ask for their support?”

“I’ve got all the support I need,” Hickman said, grandly.  “If the board wants me to have it, I can have it.  If it don’t, then we can forget it and I’ll call the people and tell them we ain’t having it.  That the mayor didn’t want it.”

There then followed a long eighteen seconds of silence, which Mayor Smith broke by asking, “Is there a motion for the town to sponsor Mr. Hickman’s bluegrass?”

After another ten seconds of silence, Bob Graham made a motion “that we give Vice Mayor Hickman the opportunity to try this on a voluntary basis, and all money that is collected comes right to the city.  Is that what you’re asking? [Hickman replied affirmatively.]  We try this, and if it works, it works, if it don’t—”

“And,” Smith asked Graham, “in your version, a volunteer—”

“Not city employees,” Graham replied.  “Unless they wanted to volunteer.  With no pay.”

“Should city employees be prohibited?” Williams asked.

“They can volunteer on their off time,” Smith replied.  “They can do anything they want to, Ms Shirley.”

“All right, then,” Williams replied, huffily.  “I just wanted to make sure.”

“That’s what I wanted to know,” Gray interjected, “whether the employees was going to go up, clean it up, and all that.”

“The difference is, are they required to, or did they volunteer their time,” Smith said.  “There’s a difference between the community supporting something and the town obligating the city employees to do all the work.”

When the roll was called on the motion Graham and Williams voted yes, Mayor Smith voted no, and Gray and Hickman passed, which led Recorder McClain to say, “I don’t know what that means, because I’ve never had two people pass.”

“Well,” the mayor responded, “it would have taken three yeses for this to pass.”

“So it failed,” McClain said.

Sowell speaks

That concluded the regular agenda, whereupon Mayor Smith made a few announcements. “Saturday we had the grand opening for Dollar General.  From the county 2008-2009 budget, the senior citizens received a contribution of $2,000 for the annual year, and for the United Way this year’s contribution was $1,875.  Old Highway 45 has been designated as Rockabilly Highway.  That puts Bethel right smack dab in the middle of Rockabilly Highway.”

She then asked if the board wished to do anything about the scheduling of working sessions, which some of the board members have had some trouble attending.  Hickman observed that the meetings need to be “later than 3:30,” and the board ultimately decided to set them for 5:00 instead.

Alderman Williams had certificates of appreciation for those citizens who had participated in the recent clean-up campaign.

It was when Mayor Smith finally asked if there was a motion to adjourn that Police Chief Sowell spoke up.

“Mayor?” He said, getting to his feet.  “I’d like to say something.  Mayor, I’d just like to thank the board for their support,” he said, sarcastically.  “Let them know that I appreciate the three votes, and who they are.  I know where I stand with the board.  I’ve worked here nine years, for nothing.  Only thing I asked was to be brought up with the secretary over there.  I didn’t ask for no thing.  I’m on salary, not hours.  I just asked to be brought up with the secretary.  And I know what I got.  And I thank each one of you for discussing it, and having your minds made up about it before you come to the meeting.  I know each one of you was threatened that you wouldn’t be voted for, wouldn’t be voted, they wouldn’t vote for you if you voted for me.  And don’t be sitting there shaking your head, Vernon.”

“Nobody—” Hickman began, then he started over.  “I haven’t talked to nobody about it.”

“I’m not going to quit,” Sowell resumed.  “I’ll give you $200 a week before I’ll quit.  I work here.  But I appreciate y’all’s concern, that the safety of this town, and you know what kind of shape it was in when I come in.  And I know I ain’t doing much now, but I’m keeping the town [several unintelligible words].  And the next time there’s somebody shooting a gun, I want one of y’all to go out there and find out who it is.  And the next time somebody’s knocking on some old woman’s door at 2:00 o’clock in the morning and scaring them, I want you to go down there and see who it is.  Don’t bother to call me, because if it ain’t dangerous it can get, out there in the dark.  It’s not dangerous getting knocked in the head.  I’ve been that a way.  But I really appreciate the feeling, to know where I stand with this board.  Now I do.  Y’all are man enough up there to hurt my feelings, to tell me that I ain’t worth nothing.

“And you, Shirley,” Sowell said, addressing Alderman Williams, “surprised the whole bunch.  You questioned it worse than a Philadelphia lawyer at a Supreme Court meeting.  So, I’ve got the right to speak, same as anybody else.  Now if you don’t want me to work here, let’s have another vote and send me home.  I mean, if that’s the way this board feels about me, I don’t want to work for you.  If you don’t think I’m worth as much as Nancy [McClain] is over there for the city, then you’ve got very little feeling for law enforcement.  And I feel like you don’t even need none.  There’s many a night I come out here, when y’all are home asleep, I’m the only one out here.  I don’t charge for it.  I don’t work by the hour.  If I did, you couldn’t afford me.  I work on a salary.  And I’m keeping up with the time that I get paid and the time that I work, on account of insurance purpose and all, but now if you don’t want that, tonight is the night to tell me you don’t want it.  

“And when a man sits on this board and lets some outsider tell him how to vote, he’s not much of a man.  I don’t have to have a sheriff come up here and tell me what to do, who to arrest, who to write a ticket to, who to talk to them, and he’s the chief law enforcement of the county.  If I don’t suit you, just say I don’t.  Don’t beat around the bush about it, okay?  That’s all I got to say,” and then he sat down.

“Appreciate your comments, PeeWee,” Mayor Smith said.  The other board members remained silent, and the meeting was adjourned on a motion by Graham, seconded by Williams.

Town Board Meeting

Monday, 9 June 2008 

The June meeting of the Bethel Springs town board was relatively short (just over half an hour) and largely lacking in the acrimony which has characterized recent meetings.

After dealing quickly with the preliminary matters—the minutes were unanimously approved on a motion by Vernon Hickman, seconded by Bob Graham; the water report was unanimously approved on a motion by Graham, seconded by Shirley Williams; the police report was unanimously approved on a motion by Graham, seconded by Hickman; and the financial statements were unanimously approved on a motion by Graham, seconded by Bobby Gray—Mayor Norma Smith moved on to the second reading of an “Ordinance to establish a new system of personnel administration,” which passed unanimously on a motion by Graham, seconded by Williams.  Also passing by a unanimous vote (on a motion by Graham, seconded by Williams), albeit with a bit more discussion and some minor revisions, was the resolution regarding the town’s personnel policy which Alderman Williams had introduced at the previous meeting.

“The next item on the agenda,” Smith continued, “is the, sort of the aftermath of the three year audit.  We got the letter from the state comptroller requesting a response to all of the issues that were addressed at the last meeting,” and Smith said she had responded on June 2 with a letter which she presented for the board’s consideration, the text of which was as follows:

“Effective 27 November 2006, the previous Mayor and Board of Alderman [sic] were replaced through the election process.  Immediately upon taking office, as the newly elected Mayor, I placed the highest priority on the accounting and financial status of the city.  With the assistance of the State Comptroller’s office and the accounting firm of Alexander, Thompson & Arnold, after 14 months, the town focused on meeting the basic accounting requirements mandated by section 9-3-211, Tennessee Code Annotated.  In response to your notification dated April 1, 2008, on behalf of myself and the Board of Alderman [sic], the following actions, resolutions, and/or ordinances have been initiated to correct accounting deficiencies and put preventive measures in place:

1) Effective January 7, 2008, in accordance to [sic] the majority of board of Alderman [sic], oversight and the day-to-day operations of the town do not fall under the responsibilities of the position of Mayor, nor can the Mayor be held liable or accountable.

2) As of 10 March 2008, all elected officials (Mayor and Board of Alderman [sic]) must attend MTAS Elected Officials Academy (Level I) within six months of taking office or first available class, whichever comes first.  This mandate applies to current and future elected officials.

3) The town formally adopted an Ordinance for Purchasing Policy, as of 7 April 2008.

4) All accounting and controller services were outsourced to the accounting firm of Alexander, Thompson, Arnold, PLLC, as of 10 March 2008.

Most accounting deficiencies should be resolved and improved with the implementation of item 4 listed above.  Lastly, as was noted in the reports, the town utilized inconsistent accounting measures not only for the past three consecutive years (2004, 2005, and 2006), but also for years 2002 and 2003, auditors were only able to perform compilations due to the significant extra work because the city did not have adequate accounting controls and financial records.  However, as the Mayor of a town with no day-to-day oversight responsibilities, the financial status rests solely on the majority of the board of alderman [sic].  If additional information or questions arise, contact the Board of Alderman [sic] through city hall at (731) 934-7021.

“Any questions on that?” Mayor Smith asked.  There were none, so she continued with the agenda.

The next item was “TML Loss Control Survey Recommendations.”  Tennessee Municipal League had conducted a survey on March 13, and Mayor Smith observed that these recommendations pointed out “significant things that we’ll have to do that haven’t been done in the past.”  Town Recorder McClain told the board that she had been able to answer all of the questions raised by the survey “except when it come to the panel of physicians, because I didn’t know what to do about that.  That’s why I brought it before the board.”

McClain was referring to the recommendation which read: “It was learned during the survey that the town does not currently have a panel of physicians.  T.C.A. 50-6-204 authorizes employers to designate a panel of three or more physicians to treat work related injuries.  This is an effective means of cost containment for the treatment of on the job injuries.  TML Pool recommends the town designate a panel of physicians.”

After a brief discussion, Graham said “I make a motion we go with Prime Care,” and his motion, seconded by Gray, passed by a unanimous vote.

Moving to the next item, Mayor Smith said, “We’ve got two additional requests from employees who put in for additional pay raises for the fiscal year ‘08-’09.  One of them was from Rodney Steen, requesting that his pay raise be increased to $8.50 an hour.  And then the police chief is requesting his be increased to an annual salary of $21,632.  Any questions or comments?”

After some inconclusive comments from the board, Smith asked “Is there a motion to accept or deny these requests?”

“I make a motion that we accept them,” Gray said.  “Rodney Steen’s been here a year, and he didn’t get his 90-day raise.  I don’t think PeeWee’s had a raise in eight years.”

“Is there a second?” Smith asked.  After half a minute of silence, she said, “Okay.  Didn’t get a second to increase their pay.”

Williams then spoke.  “That motion failed, so can we, can I make a motion that we table that until the board has a chance to sit down and look, or can we do that?”

“Yeah, you can do that,” Smith replied.

Williams said, “I make a motion that we table those until we have a chance to sit down.  We didn’t have a working session this month, because of, you know, different reasons.  We can sit down and review those, and—  When we vote on these things, we need to know exactly what we’re voting on.  That’s my concern.”

Graham seconded the motion to table, which passed with only Gray voting no. 

“The next item on the agenda,” Smith continued, “is the resolution for a records retention policy, which was one of the several things that were identified during the audit, and this is a resolution that pertains to the records retention, that we adopt the retention schedule that’s outlined in the MTAS Records Management for Municipal government Handbook.  Is there a motion to accept the resolution to adopt the records retention policy as outlined in the MTAS Records Management for Municipal Government Handbook?”  Graham made the motion, which was seconded by Hickman and passed unanimously.

With the agenda completed, Smith said, “For announcements, in case anybody hasn’t noticed, they are stocking the Dollar General Store.  It will take them about three days to get it stocked, and then they’ll open it up for regular business and have a grand opening at a later date.  So you should be able to get bread, milk, and eggs by the end of the week.”

Smith also mentioned that “the 23rd of June, at 6:30 p.m., here at city hall, is the public hearing for next year’s budget.  You should see the ad in the paper with that announcement on it as well.  That’s the 23rd of June at 6:30.  And then included in that budget is the potential hire of part-time clerk and codes enforcement, so if you know of people in the area that might be interested in doing that, they can put in an application for that for us to look at, in the near future.”  The position will be at the minimum wage of $6.55 for approximately 675 hours per year.

Graham had no announcements, but Williams did.  “Just like to say that we completed our cleanup.  I don’t know if anybody noticed.”

“I think that everybody noticed,” Mayor Smith interjected.

“Oh, they did?” Williams said with obvious pleasure.  “Good.  And our town wasn’t as dirty as we thought it was.  We had several bags—  I thought we were going to have a huge pile of bags, but it didn’t turn out that way, so.  But as I drive down the street I see it’s collecting again, you know, so, we know we can’t, the only way we’re going to be able to stop people, maybe be able to stop, is we have a fine.”

“Well, there is a fine for littering,” Smith observed.

“Oh, there’s already a fine?” Williams asked, before adding, “If you can catch them.  I know.  That’s another story.  But I am so grateful.  Some of those ladies who worked so diligently—and gentlemen—I didn’t forget you guys.  We had very few gentlemen, but we had some gentlemen who came to work, and I, we were so grateful to have them.  And, you know, the people who were out working were senior citizens.  But, it was hot that day, and the work is not easy when you are walking down the street picking up bottles and cans.  But they came and they worked, and it was a wonderful feeling to see that collaboration of people really concerned about how our town looked.  So we’re hoping that that’s something that’s going to catch on, and once we get the hire in codes enforcement we can take it to another level.  We were just doing the sides of the streets.  We didn’t go in anyone’s yard.  We didn’t infringe on anyone’s privacy.  But we’re hoping that, seeing us out there, that whenever the codes enforcer goes and asks them to clean up their yard that they will be willing to do that.  And when you drive through Bethel our yards, most of them, are in pretty good shape, but we do have some that could be, some cleaning could be done.”

Williams concluded by saying, “I’m going to ask our secretary, our recorder, to do up some certificates.  I want to say ‘thank you’ to those people who worked so hard, and let them know that their work was appreciated.”

When Smith asked Hickman if he had any announcements, Hickman replied, “I’ve had several request, people want me to start the Bluegrass Night.  And if the city council wants me to do it I would take it, and start it back in the same way that we were doing it.  Buddy [Sisk] said he wouldn’t do the sound, he didn’t want to do that, and if you know of anyone that would want to do the concessions …”

“Well,” Smith said, “it sounds like you need a little bit more planning and coordinating and get some more support for it.”

“I’ve got people that are saying they’ll help,” Hickman insisted, “but if anybody wanted that particular thing—”

“Or,” Smith suggested, “what you might want to do is approach these people that are interested in doing it, and have them pay the town the rent and the cleaning deposit, and maybe that will motivate them to actually follow through and do that.  If they have a vested interest they’re more apt to actually follow through.  But if you are giving something to people on a silver platter and they’re not having to invest anything, then they don’t have anything to lose.”

“Uh huh,” Williams said in agreement.

“You’re not giving them anything,” Hickman said to the mayor.  “I’m just volunteering my time to put the program on—”

“We rent the building at $150 a day,” Smith responded.  “We are giving them something, Vernon.”

“If the board don’t want me to have it,” Hickman said, “if the board wants to vote, you know—”

“I don’t think it’s a matter of the board not wanting you to have it,” Smith said.  “I mean, if you want to pay the $150 rent?”

“No,” Hickman said, abruptly.  “I’m giving my time and everything it takes to do the thing.  It’s not a money-making thing.”

“That’s exactly my point,” Smith said.  “You know, you’re wanting the town to invest all this money, and you’re not even sure if you’ll have enough people to help you organize and plan—”

“I didn’t say I didn’t have any,” Hickman argued.  “I wanted to know if anybody wanted to do the concessions.  I’ve got people that do the concessions, but I didn’t know if the, any other group that would want to do the concessions and get themselves something out of it.  I don’t think anybody—  And I wanted all, I wanted people on the board if they wanted to help me ….”

“Well, Vernon,” Shirley Williams spoke up, “you probably need to call the group together, and I find that if you sit down and involve folks that they will cooperate much better.  And once they get, once you call a group together I’ll be glad to help you on that.”

“I’ll just forget it,” Hickman said, dismissively.  “Because it seems like it’s not, certain ones didn’t want it to start with, so I’ll just forget it and tell them we ain’t going to have it.”

Mayor Smith ended the meeting on a more positive note: “I just want to encourage everybody to shop local.  The more money we spend at Dollar General, the more potholes we fill.”  The meeting then adjourned on a motion by Williams, seconded by Gray. 

Town Board Meeting

Monday, 12 May 2008 

Your intrepid reporter was at the County Commission meeting on Monday, 12 May, and planned to use an audio recording of the Bethel Springs town board meeting.  Unfortunately, the recorder failed to record, so there is no extended coverage of the May meeting.  What follows are the as-yet unapproved (they won't be approved until the June meeting) minutes of the May meeting.  We'll try real hard to do it right next month.

MINUTES

TOWN OF BETHEL SPRINGS

REGULAR TOWN MEETING

May 12, 2008

Mayor Norma Smith called the regular Town Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. on May 12, 2008.   Chief Sowell led the invocation. Those in attendance were: Mayor Norma Smith, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman, Alderman Shirley Williams, Alderman Bob Graham, Alderman Bobby Gray, Attorney Melissa Stewart-Leitschuh, Recorder Nancy McClain and the citizens of Bethel Springs.

Mayor Smith asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the April 7, 2008 meeting with two corrections on page 2 second paragraph, change resented to presented and delete the word with.   Alderman Bob Graham made the motion to accept the minutes and Alderman Bobby Gray seconded the motion.  Board members voted as follows: Mayor Norma Smith-yea, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried.

Mayor Smith presented the Water and Police Department Reports for review.  Mayor Smith asked for a motion to approve the reports.  Alderman Bob Graham made the motion and Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman seconded the motion. Board members voted as follows:  Mayor Norma Smith-yea, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried.

Mayor Smith presented the financial statement and a list of bills to be paid.  Mayor Smith asked for a motion to accept the financial statement. Alderman Bob Graham made the motion. Alderman Bobby Gray seconded the motion. Board members voted as follows:  Mayor Norma Smith-yea,  Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS:

Alderman Shirley Williams presented to the Board an Ordinance to establish a new System of Personnel Administration in the City of Bethel Springs.  Alderman Bob Graham made a motion to accept the 1st reading of the Ordinance.  Alderman Shirley Williams seconded the motion.  The Board voted as follows:  Mayor Norma Smith-yea, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

The Mayor presented to the Board the formal adoption of a Resolution pertaining to public records.  This resolution provides an outline on the maintenance, preservation, and protection of public records and establishes a procedure for accessing and coping these records.  Alderman Shirley made the motion to accept the Resolution and Alderman Bob Graham seconded the motion.  The Board voted as follows: Mayor Norma Smith-yea,  Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried

The Mayor discussed with the Board recommendations for the 06/07 and 07/08 audit.  The Mayor informed the Board on what had been done to find an accounting firm that would and could do the town’s audit.  Since all the firms that we contacted turned us down, the state found a firm to do the town’s 06/07audit.

The Mayor presented to the board a personnel issue.  Nancy McClain, Recorder asked the Mayor and Board for a 4% cost of living raise to be put in the budget for 08/09.  Alderman Bob Graham made a motion to put a 4% cost of living raise for all employees in the 08/09 budget.  Vice Mayor Hickman seconded the motion. The board voted as follows:  Mayor Norma Smith-yea, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried

The Mayor presented to the Board for City Hall improvements for the year 08/09. There needs to be something done to the pond beside City Hall.  There was a discussion on what to do with the pond.  It was decided to fill in the pond and plant flowers and maybe shrubbery.  Alderman Williams made the motion to fill in pond and do landscaping not to exceed $250.  Alderman Bob Graham seconded the motion. The Board voted as follows: Mayor Norma Smith-yea, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried

The Mayor presented to the Board a request to put in the 08/09 budget for street signs.  Several citizens have requested street signs.  Alderman Bob Graham made a motion that we put $1000 in the budget for street signs.  Alderman Bobby Gray seconded the motion.

The Board voted as follows:  Mayor Norma Smith-yea, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mayor Norma Smith:

Last year we agreed to apply for the Delta Grant.  We have received a letter of invitation for a full application.  June 14th is information day at the Guy’s Community Center.  The Dollar Store will be finished by the end of May and inventory will be brought in about June 12th.

Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman:

None

Alderman Bob Graham:

Alderman Graham wanted to know if the Board could put in the  08/09 budget for the town to  purchase a smaller police car. Everyone agreed that we need to check into it.

Alderman Shirley Williams:

Alderman Williams presented to the Board the results of the meeting of The Beautification Committee on cleaning up the town.  Beautification Day will be May 31st.  Everyone is to start at 8:00 a.m., and everyone will meet back at the community center at 12:30 for hot dogs and cokes.  There was a discussion on furnishing garbage bags. Alderman Williams made a motion for the town to furnish the food and garbage bags.  Alderman Graham seconded the motion.   The Board voted as follows: Mayor Norma Smith-yea, Vice Mayor Vernon Hickman-yea, Alderman Shirley Williams-yea, Alderman Bob Graham-yea and Alderman Bobby Gray-yea. Motion carried

Alderman Bobby Gray:

He wanted to check and see if there was a set price for renting the community center for a benefit for someone who is ill.

Motion to adjourn by Vice Mayor Hickman

Seconded by Alderman Graham

All were in favor and meeting adjourned. 

Town Board Meeting

Monday, 7 April 2008 

While not a model of harmony, the April meeting of the Bethel Springs town board was somewhat less rancorous than recent meetings, and it wasn't until near the end that the hostility Alderman Bob Graham had displayed for Mayor Norma Smith at the March meeting broke out again, with repeated utterances of "Foolish" and "You're wrong."  Still, there were no demands that the mayor perform her daily duties while submerged in a vat of chicken fat, or that she stand on one foot throughout the duration of the town board meeting, so it could have been worse.

The meeting began with the unanimous approval, with minor corrections, of the minutes of the March meeting, on a motion by Graham, seconded by Alderman Shirley Williams.

The department reports were then approved, also unanimously, on a motion by Graham, seconded by Gray.  One item in the water report received special attention.  Pointing out that the water loss for the previous month had been 45%, Mayor Smith observed, "One thing we might want to consider in the long term, when we’re getting ready to address the budget for the upcoming year, is maybe making some improvements to the water system that we have.”

Alderman Vernon Hickman asked, "Do we know where we're losing the water?"

No, Mayor Smith replied.  “I think it’s a combination of old water meters, and if we have a leak it’s not usually found immediately.  It takes a while for the water to come to the surface.  And right now we’ve had so much rain we don’t know what water is from the rain.  The water system was put in in 1964.” 

The water and police reports were then unanimously approved, as was the financial report, on motions by Graham, seconded by Alderman Bobby Gray.

The second reading of an ordinance establishing a purchasing policy for the town of Bethel Springs was then unanimously approved, on a motion by Graham, seconded by Hickman.

Turning to the next agenda item, Mayor Smith said "we did get a notice on the first of April from the state comptroller’s office.  It’s an additional notice regarding the three-year audit and the results.  Overall, ‘It is the responsibility of the locally elected officials to manage and safeguard ... and ... comply with [the] statutory requirements....  However, for the past three consecutive years (2004, 2005 and 2006) [our] auditors were only able to perform compilations in order to comply with their own professional standards.  This was due to the extra work the audit firm was required to perform because the city did not have adequate accounting controls and financial records....  Further, qualified opinions were issued on the city’s financial statements for 2003 and 2003.’  According to the state comptroller, ‘Municipal officials should treat this situation very seriously, taking whatever action is necessary to ensure that independent audits are conducted in the future which [will] result in unqualified opinions.  Steps should be taken ... immediately [to] implement procedures and internal controls that would allow for the proper accountability and accounting of all transactions....  The water system has reported a negative change in net assets for two consecutive years.  Should the system incur a negative change in net assets for three consecutive years, it will meet one of the criteria … defining a financially distressed system.'  The state comptroller's 'office is required by state law to refer financially distressed systems to the Water and Wastewater Financing Board.'  The state comptroller's office has directed the mayor and board of aldermen to notify them in writing within ninety days 'as to [the] actions taken to address the issues.'  We've got ninety days.  Any questions or comments on that?" 

"Well," Gray observed, "that's pretty bad, isn't it?"

Mayor Smith then described several things the town had already done to meet the state's concerns, adding, "Unless y'all have some objection, I'll draft something up before the meeting with Melissa [Town Attorney Melissa Stewart-Leitschuh] and present it to the board."  Summing up, she said, "Probably the biggest thing the town has to do, is we have to give the state the assurance that we're taking some form of correction, and then also putting something in place so that it don't happen again."

The board then unanimously approved, on a motion by Graham, seconded by Hickman, a mowing bid by Randy Russell.  "He's submitted an increase for his rates from $45 an hour to $55 an hour," Mayor Smith said.  "It normally takes about twenty-five hours to mow all the streets, and this is the first price increase in two years."

Moving on to the next agenda item, Smith said "Ms Shirley's been doing some work to revise the policies and procedures in the employees' handbook.  And Ms Shirley, I know that you've given us a lot of different things."

Williams reported that a committee of three had met the previous Thursday and had come up with some recommendations.  There then was considerable discussion of procedures, and Graham made a motion to adopt the recommendations, which Hickman seconded, but before the vote was taken the mayor suggested that the recommendations be tabled until the next meeting to give the board members time to study the recommendations of the committee.  Williams then moved to table the matter, Graham seconded her motion, and it passed unanimously.

Moving on, Mayor Smith said "The next item that we have on the agenda is, Ms Williams would like to request that city employees report to the mayor and board of aldermen in person with a written report at Thursday working sessions at least once each quarter or sooner if the employee deems it necessary." Smith asked if this was something that could be added to the employees' handbook, and when Williams agreed that it could the mayor asked for a vote to that effect.  Graham made the motion, which Williams seconded, and it passed unanimously.

The next two agenda items—"Request that the Mayor and Board review contract with the accounting firm," and "Request that the contract with the accounting firm be for one year only"—were both approved unanimously, on a motion by Williams, seconded by Graham.

The next agenda item was "Promotion of a city wide clean up day."  Williams emphasized the need to get the community behind the project.  Mayor Smith pointed out that the town already has "a town beautification committee.  What we could do is, someone could head up the committee and beat the bushes and get the committee to come up with the date and the who and the how, and the board support it." 

"Here's the thing," Smith added. "There's a lot of things in the town that need to be done, in addition to cleaning up.  And the best way to get that done is, the more people you get involved, the more that you can get done."

Williams agreed that more community involvement was needed.  "We started off last year hoping we would have community involvement, and that didn't materialize."  Even so, she continued, "I know that the town needs to have a clean up day.  Because it's in bad shape.  And, so, you drive down the streets and there's garbage on each side of the street and it’s a problem.  I know it's this board's responsibility to initiate that."

Williams enquired about the possibility of using inmates, but Mayor Smith said that the town had tried that before, but that it took most of the town's workforce just to supervise the inmates so it was not practical.   Town Attorney Stewart-Leitschuh observed that an alternative to using inmates would be to use people who had been ordered by the courts to perform community service.

Finally, Williams said, "I move that we use the beautification committee to design and implement a clean up day for the town of, spring clean up day for the town of Bethel Springs."  Hickman seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

"The next item," Williams continued "is a formal adoption of a monthly list of bills to be prepared by the town recorder and presented at each meeting of the board for review and vote for approval.  I'll put that in the form of a motion."  Hickman seconded the motion, which passed on a three-two vote, with Mayor Smith and Bobby Gray voting no.

The next agenda item engendered more discussion.  Mayor Smith said that "Ms Shirley would like to request that the mayor and the board of aldermen review the various ordinances and provide enforcement of said ordinances.  In accordance—this is for the information to the board—in accordance to the oath that each of us took, we did take the oath to observe the provisions of the charter and the ordinances, and faithfully discharge those duties of the office that we were elected to.  So all board members should review the ordinances, and then the board as a whole, it's our responsibility to ensure that they're enforced, to the best that the town can." She then asked Williams, "Are you wanting to make a motion to make sure everybody reviews them, those ordinances?" 

"Yes," Williams replied, "because I think we have not been, well, I know that they are not being enforced.  You know, last meeting we even had a citizen to come in and remind us that the clean up, that the slum ordinance is not being, you know, enforced.  So, there again, I'm about that just like I was about the clean up day.  You know, we talk about things, but it never gets done, so I thought if it goes into the minutes, that we would talk about it, we would vote something, some kind of solution.  And I'm not saying that we can come up with that solution tonight, but I know it is something that needs to be addressed.  So if it takes a motion to do that, you know, I'll be glad to do that motion."

"I don't think it takes a motion," Smith responded.  "Perhaps it takes a reminder to the board members that we're obligated to be aware of the ordinances, and that the board as a whole we have to enforce them, with the means that the town has."

"Here's the thing," Smith continued.  "There's so many things that the town needs to do, and we have so many limited resources.  We have to prioritize what we do.  Anything we do is going to cost some form of money.  Time is money.  Supplies are money.  Enforcing an ordinance takes money.  So we have to come up with a good, long-range plan to enforce, and provide all the services that the town is supposed to be providing to the taxpayers.  But we can't clean up and do everything all at once.  We have to have some priorities of what we do and when, and we have to make sure that we're fair and impartial in providing all the [unintelligible word] services."

"Maybe," Smith suggested, "we can all agree to at least review the ordinances so that we're aware of what they are, and then that way when we're getting some ideas for the budget we can focus on where we want to spend the money for this particular fiscal year."

"That's why I wanted to get this in," Williams replied, "because I know budget time is coming up, and we need someone who is going to—  Again, we talked about that, about having someone that would be a codes administrator.  And that hasn't never really happened, and it was given to an employee who already had responsibilities, and so—  I just think that we can do better than we're doing."

Williams restated this concern a few moments later.  "I am so aware that none of this stuff can be solved overnight.  But if you don't start addressing it, you know, it's not going to ever be solved.  And you know that for the last sixteen months we have not been able to do some things that I felt like we should, could do.  And it concerns me." 

After some discussion about the need to have money in the budget for the enforcement of any ordinances that the town board passes, Mayor Smith suggested that "maybe a good idea would be, if every board member has something that they would like to focus on, if you could put that on a piece of paper, we're going to have to be putting the numbers together for the budget.  Unless I know what you want to focus on, I don't know where to suggest where to put the money.  If you want it on the streets, you know, there's a limited amount of everything.  But the good thing is, we'll have an increase in sales tax revenues, that we can forecast that.  But you don't want to put all the eggs in one basket." 

The next two agenda items—"Street Repair (potholes)," and "Get Cold Mix, 20 Tons, $65.00 per ton"—were discussed together.  "Ms Shirley and Bob Graham have kind of associated with each other about potholes and that kind of stuff," Mayor Smith began.  "And once again, there are many potholes, and I don't know if anybody has taken the liberty to drive around when it's raining, but that's a good way to find the source of the problem with the potholes, because water is what washes the potholes….  How many outstanding work orders have we got on the street for potholes?"

"We've got plenty," Town Recorder Nancy McClain replied.

"It was in the newsletter," Smith said, "I think it was in November, you know, we did tell the public. 'Help us help you.'  You're going to have to call so that we can do a work order, and we can prioritize the resources as we get them, and we can do that."  As a practical matter, though, Smith said "It doesn't make sense to say we need to fix every road in Bethel, because every road in Bethel needs to have some sort of work on it, because we don't have the resources."

Graham said, "I just think we need to have just the cold mix to have on hand, where we can fix these potholes."

Mayor Smith voiced some concerns about purchasing a large amount of cold mix, including the lack of a secure place to store it and the lack of any money in the budget to pay for it.  "We've already exceeded our street budget by almost a thousand dollars," she pointed out.

Graham angrily swept those objections aside.  "Well, could, some of this could come out of water.  We just need some on hand."

Mayor Smith suggested purchasing one ton at a time, as it was needed, and Graham became increasingly agitated as she again explained that there wasn't money in the budget.

"Let me ask you something," Graham said, angrily.  "Why can't this come out of water, because water causes a lot of it where we're digging up the holes?"

"Well, technically," Smith replied, "we wouldn't be able to use it except for the part that we messed up the water with."

"No, that's wrong.  You're wrong," Graham repeated, dismissively.  "Well, I make a motion we purchase twenty tons of cold mix.  We need to fix these streets." 

"What do you want to take the money out of?" Smith asked.

"You've got general funds," Graham replied.  "Can't you take it out of general funds?  That's what streets comes under."

"I'm not saying we're not going to spend any money on it, Bob," Smith began, but Graham just raised his voice and talked over her. 

"It's foolish to go there and buy a bag of cold mix when we're paying way too much money for that," he said. "That is foolish."

"Yeah," Smith said, in mock agreement, which engendered a loud "Well it is!" from Graham.

In the end, Williams seconded Graham's motion to "purchase 20 tons of cold mix out of the water ... or general funds," and the motion passed unanimously.

The remainder of the meeting proceeded more smoothly.

"The next item on the agenda," Mayor Smith read, "MTAS elected officials academy, wait until the next election, presented to us by Bob Graham."

"I just think that, me and Bobby is up for election," Graham explained, and there's no point in the town paying $150 to send them through the academy if they aren't going to be around after the election.  Gray seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. 

The board also agreed to consider a raise for town employee Rodney Steen in the upcoming budget, and agreed also that the mayor had the authority to hire temporary help for Steen for up to thirty days.

The meeting was finally adjourned on a motion by Hickman, seconded by Williams. 

Monday, 10 March 2008 

The March meeting of the Bethel Springs Town Board began with an invocation by Police Chief "Pee Wee" Sowell and the reading, by Mayor Norma Smith, of a statement on the purpose of public meetings:

 "For the general public," she read, "the meetings are to allow the public to OBSERVE public policy and public business decision making process.  The mayor serves as the Chairman of the Board and presiding officer of the board, in accordance with the town charter.  Public observers and/or board members who conduct themselves in a disorderly fashion may and will be charged with a minimum of disorderly conduct, harassment, and disturbance of a public meeting.  Should disorder become so great that business cannot be transacted, and the chairman cannot enforce order, as a last resort the chairman can declare the assembly adjourned."

 As the mayor concluded, Alderman Bob Graham spoke up abruptly. "Mayor, I think we need to discuss that.  Make a motion to suspend the rules."

 "Well," Mayor Smith observed, "we had the working session, there wasn't any discussion or comment whatsoever—"

 "Well," said Graham, "this is a public meeting—"

 "Yes, it is," Smith agreed.

 "And the people have got the right to say what they want to say, and so we were elected by the town, and they've got a right to speak their piece in an orderly fashion."

 "In an orderly fashion," Smith agreed again.

 "Right," Graham said, becoming more agitated.  "And nobody since I've been here has done a disorderly fashion."

 "We had to have somebody removed just this last month," Mayor Smith pointed out, referring to the ejection of former mayor Kay Cox from the 11 Feburary meeting after Cox had repeatedly interrupted the proceedings.

 "Because you would not answer her question, that was all," Graham said.  "Well, you know, you're the mayor.  You're, and if you would answer her question—"

 "I am the mayor and the chairman of the board," Smith said.  "If you want to be the chairman of the board you can run—"

 "No, I don't," Graham said, before turning to condescension, "but I'd like for you to settle down a little bit.  You know, I don't see what your problem is.  We all try to work together here, [Honest, he actually said that!] but you, you know you come in here like you're the ruler, or the queen, or something."

 "Yeah," Smith said.

 Graham continued with his rant. "You can set there and 'Yeah, yeah,' all you want to.  I'm telling you the truth.  You know, I, I've been to many board meetings, and I never have seen that on top of the board, where a number two item tells, if Pee Wee opens his mouth, or Terry opens his mouth, he's going to be throwed out, if Larry opens his mouth, you going to throw him out too? You know."

 "That just refers to disorderly conduct," Smith observed.

 "Well, that's just what I was talking about," Graham said, even though it wasn't.  "Why, why do you keep bringing this up every meeting?  This is the third time that this has been brought up."

 "Some people just need reminding," Smith said.

 Graham muttered something unintelligible, then the mayor proceeded to detail some corrections to the minutes, which were approved unanimously as amended on a motion by Bobby Gray, seconded by Bob Graham.

 "The next item on the agenda," the mayor continued, "we've got the department reports, the water and police reports.  And then one thing to note.  It's on the water report.  We've always identified the water used by the city, and it's actually on the agenda.  It's mainly, you know, information, the town, you know, in accordance with the law, is supposed to be paying its water bills.  It hasn't been paying its own water bills, so we have to start paying the water bill for that.  And then you have the police reports."

 Gray made a motion to accept water and police reports, which was seconded by Williams and passed unanimously.

* * *

 The next agenda item was "Financial Statements," copies of which had been distributed at the 6 March working session.  Since Vernon Hickman evidently has better things to do with his time than attend the working sessions which are held to provide the aldermen with an opportunity to go over and question documents and reports before the regular town board meeting, Hickman spent several minutes at the Monday meeting questioning various expenditures, and then, as Mayor Smith was calling for a vote on Bobby Gray's motion to accept the financial statements, he interrupted to say "I thought that we were going to have the bills, a copy of the bills—"

 "You can review the bills any time you want to, Vernon," Mayor Smith said.

 "I mean," Hickman replied, setting off a prolonged discussion of the town's bill-paying practices, "I thought that was a motion at the last meeting, that we have them.  I'm not complaining, I'm just—"

 [In fact, Hickman misrepresented what had happened at the February meeting, which the following extract from the full report shows conclusively: "Gray made the motion, which Williams seconded with a request. 'I believe that the board needs to have a list of bills, and I know we talked about this before, but it's continuing on, and if we are going to vote on paying bills I think—  I know you said we could come into the office and look at it, but it wouldn't hurt to have it in front of us.  So, if we could put that to a motion.  So we can have that, in the future we can have that in our packet then we'll know what we're voting on to be passed.'  The motion then passed by a unanimous roll call vote."  The motion which was made and passed was that the board be provided with "a list of bills," and such a list was in fact provided to the board at the 8 March working session—a session which Vernon Hickman did not attend.

 [What is more, the official minutes of the February meeting, which Hickman and Williams had just voted to approve, included the sentence, "Alderman Shirley Williams seconded the motion with a discussion to have a list of the bills being paid to be available at the next meeting."]

 The mayor having complied with her February request to be provided with a list of bills, Shirley Williams then changed her request to support Hickman's claim. "I do request that we have the bills to be paid," she said, before adding, "Maybe next month we can straighten that out."

 "Well," Mayor Smith said, "what you're asking, you want to see the bills to be paid—"

 "Yeah," Williams replied, "because, actually we're voting on these bills, but they've already been paid, so—"

 "Well," Smith clarified, "you're voting to accept this financial report."

 "Right, exactly," Williams replied.  "And then as far as bills to be paid, we're accepting those as well, and they have already been paid.  But we as a board—"

 "We have to pay bills more frequently than once a month," Mayor Smith pointed out.

 "Right," William said.  "I'm aware of that.  That could still be incorporated, you know, if something is paid between the meetings.  I guess I'm just saying that it would be good, that was my request at the last meeting, that because the bills that are to be paid and, because once they're paid [laughs], there's really no need for us to vote on them.  Is that fair enough?"

 "Well," Smith said, "you're not voting to approve these.  These are here, you wanted a list of the bills."

 "Yeah, right," Williams acknowledged.  "And you provided that.  But I'm still asking is it not fair to ask whether or not the bills, the board should have the right to see the bills before they are paid?  And I know you said there is a list in the office that we can come and see."

 "Well, the office is open Monday through Friday," Smith pointed out.  "You can go in and look at the bills at any time."

 "Right," Williams said.  "But if we had them, if we had them in our folders at the business, at the sessions, then we could look at them and see what is coming up.  That was what my request was.  I mean, if it's asking too much, then we need to talk about it, but that was my request."

 "The town is not going to be able to only pay bills once a month," Smith said.

 "Well," Williams persisted, "I think that whatever is paid in between, from the time we vote on the bills to be paid, and if there are bills to be paid after that time, then they would show up on this list."

 "Okay," Smith said, "So you just want—"

 Williams interrupted. "I'm not trying to make this [UNINTELLIGIBLE WORD].  I'm just trying to see where we are.  I think it's only fair that all board members, you know, have [UNINTELLIGIBLE WORDS], and we have voted to accept it, and we're not voting on them but we are voting to accept them, are we not?  Are we voting to accept—"

 "You are voting to accept the financial statement" Smith repeated patiently.

 "Just the financial statement?" Williams asked.

 "Yes," Smith replied, "the financial statement."

 "We're not voting on this at all?" Hickman joined in.  "We're not voting on bills at all?"

 "You asked for this extra last month—" Smith began.

 "Right," Williams interjected, reflexively.

 "—and then you want to go back and—" Smith continued, only to be interrupted by an abrupt "No" from Hickman.

 "Well, actually that was my question," Williams said.  "Last month, Mayor, was that we have a list of bills to be paid.  And to look at them, vote on them….  If something comes up about what's here now, like if you just asking questions about something, it's really to late to do anything about it, because they've already been paid."

 "Right," Hickman said, predictably.

 "And maybe it's our fault," Williams acknowledged, "because we didn't come in the office and look at these before they were paid.  But—"

 Mayor Smith interrupted with a practical question.  "Well, how are you going to manage the bills that get paid in between?  That have to be paid in between?"

 "Well," Williams replied, "don't we have a limit on how much money can be spent without it being approved by the board?  If it's a bill that's in the budget, then it's just fine." 

Smith persisted. "What I'm saying is, bills come in daily, and not each bill that comes in has the same, you have to pay it by this date.  So if we only pay bills once a month, we're going to have extra charges because they're not paid on time.  That's what I'm asking.  How are we going to manage—"

 "Well," Williams said, "maybe that's something that we need to sit down and look and see.  If you say they all are coming in and they have different times of the month to be paid, uh, but if they are in front of us tonight, and you have bills that have to be paid the 15th of this month, we're going to be [UNINTELLIGIBLE WORDS] be paid then.  You know, any bills that's got to be paid from now until the next meeting should be on this.  Is that asking too much?"  [Laughs]

 "No," Smith said.

 "Okay," Williams said.  "All right."

 "What you're wanting, then," Smith attempted to sum up, "you're wanting any bills that are unpaid as of the—"

 "Bills that need paid—" Williams interrupted.

 "—you want a list of those," Smith continued, "so you know what they are?"

 Williams replied, "For example, tonight, we have bills to be paid for the month of March."

 "Okay," Smith agreed.  "As of today."

 "Well," Williams said, "as of today, or our working meeting time, whenever we get our paperwork for the upcoming meeting, then bills to be paid for the month of March.  Whatever date that they're due on doesn't really matter, as long as they are on a list, you know, that we have read, reviewed, and said 'Yes,' as a board we've voted that these should be paid, regardless of the date, it wouldn't really make a lot of difference, I don't think."

 "All right," Smith said, "let's say that we give you all the bills that have to be paid—"

 "Just like this one, for the coming month," Williams said.

 "And where should they be sent?" Smith asked.

 At this point Hickman got back in the game.  "Aren't they all supposed to be paid by the tenth of the month—"

"No," Smith replied.

"—of the following tenth of the month?" Hickman amended, unhelpfully.

 "No, no," Smith replied.  "That's what I'm trying to get at—"

 "Any of them that had to be paid—" Hickman interrupted.

Mayor Smith tried again. "We're going to have some that are not going to be—"

 Hickman interrupted, "—to be paid—"

 "—that are going to be due the month of March," Smith continued, "so if they are wanting to do the month of March, today is only the tenth.  So we're going to get, we might get a bill tomorrow, but it's due in the month of March.  You see what I'm saying?"

"I haven't reviewed the bills," Williams admitted.  "I'm just—"

 "Well, they've always been there, Smith said.  "Nothing is—"

 "Yeah," Williams interrupted, "I know that, I know that.  I'm not saying that anybody is—  You know, that's something else that we need to talk about.  Every time that somebody askes a question doesn't mean that they're trying to change anything or cause trouble, it's just an understanding.  We as a board, there will be some pieces in the work that we do here, we're all going to have to communicate, and we're all going to have to understand exactly what's going on, and maybe I might be a little slower than somebody else, or vice versa, whatever the case is, we're all in this thing together.  The citizens elected us, and we've got to carry it out as best that we can.  But we have to keep the lines of communication open, among all of us, at all times.  And make it as easy on all of us as we possibly can, what we're supposed to do.  That's my only objective," she added sanctimoniously.  "Has been from the very beginning."

 Mayor Smith tried to get the meeting back on track. "I'll entertain a motion to accept the financial statement as it is.  And then, between now and the next work— or the next meeting, y'all can come up with what you want and how you want it, so that we know to give it to you, at the monthly meeting.  But you're going to have to come up with something to do that, and make sure we don't pay the bills late—"

 "Right," Williams said.  "Exactly.  No one's asking for that to happen."

 Smith continued.  "That was one of the first things I had to clean up, was paying bills late, and we were being charged, taxpayers deserve better than that with their money."

 "Yes," Williams predictably agreed, "of course they do."

 And the financial statements were finally accepted by a unanimous vote.

* * * 

Mayor Smith resumed with the agenda. "And for the next item that we have on there, we're getting into the section where we had a meeting to go over all these tabled motions that we had from the last meeting.  That first one on outsourcing the accounting and controller things.  If y'all don't mind, it's kind of late to put it closer to the bottom.  The auditor, Mr. Hewitt, he's going to be here—"

 "I'm here," Michael Hewitt said, from the audience.

 "Oh, he is?  Okay" Mayor Smith said, then she attempted to proceed with that item, only to be interrupted by a procedural question (the irony of which would be made blatantly clear with the next agenda item).

"Do you not need a motion to admit those to the table?" Williams asked.  "I mean, we need a motion to admit those to the table, they all were tabled, they were separately tabled last month."

 "They were tabled," Mayor Smith acknowledged.  "We tabled them until this month."

 "But, still, a motion I think would be in order to admit them," Williams persisted, and was joined by that other expert in parliamentary procedure, Vernon Hickman.

"We need a motion to, uh—" Hickman began.

Williams finished for him, "—take them off of the table."

Graham provided the motion, "I make a motion to take them off of the table."

Hickman seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

"Anyway," Mayor Smith continued, after that hurtle was cleared, "we got the result of the three year audit, and there were several deficiencies that were identified, and overall, one of the things that could correct and prevent these deficiencies from happening in the future and also give the board more accurate financial statements so that we can make better decisions would be to outsource the accounting and controller services.  Alexander, Thompson and Arnold provided us with a proposal that outlines, they would take care of our bookkeeping pretty much, give us the financial statements that we need, and then their fee for those services would be $1,300 a month.  For professional-type services, taking bids for those type of services are prohibited, and then if I'm not mistaken, I think, yeah, Tennessee Code, I think it's competitive bidding or proposals for professional services are not required.  Well it's based on this mainly their competence and integrity.  So whenever we look at bidding services that fall into the line of professional services, the bidding and the proposal process is a lot different than if it was bidding, say, constructing a bridge.  But anyway, after the last month's meeting, it was suggested that we try to get alternative proposals.  We got a negative reply from one, and we didn't get any response from another.  So, it's not anything that we had to do, but we did.  Overall, the town would probably best be served if we outsourced those particular services."

Gray began, "I make a motion that we—"

Mayor finished for him, when he hesitated: "—accept Alexander, Thompson, and Arnold?"

"Yeah," Gray said. 

"Is there a second?" Mayor Smith asked. 

"I second it," Graham said.  "I've just got one thing I need to ask.  Do we need to do this on like a yearly basis, or—"

"We can do it yearly, or semi-yearly," Smith replied.   "You can do a multi-yearly—" 

"Before we make our budget up," Graham continued, "that's the only thing I was—"

Hewitt joined in: "Yeah, if we were, request at least an annual agreement—" 

"Okay," Graham said. 

"—for us to start doing this," Hewitt continued.  "We're going to invest quite a bit of time in it, and we would be greatly disappointed if you cancelled the contract."  [Laughter.] 

"Mike, we were discussing the bills a while ago," Graham continued.  "When we come to a, and I guess it needs to be like a, maybe a cap on a bill.  As far as, like, we paid $3,750 because Askew Hargraves, even though they are our engineer as far as our sewer project.  So I guess, what I'm looking at, shouldn't that come before the board, or should we set a—" 

"Well," Hewitt replied, "it depends on what your charter says, and I don't think your charter requires this board to approve the bills." 

"No," Graham replied, "it don't." 

"Now, you know," Hewitt continued, "we do work for probably thirty towns besides Bethel Springs.  Some of them do approve the bills.  It slows things down." 

"Right," Graham agreed. 

"You know," Hewitt said, "what we usually suggest is that you all get a policy of what you feel comfortable letting the chief administrative officer handle it—" 

"Right," Graham agreed, again. 

"—and then," Hewitt continued, "then you all approve every, I mean, you know, do you really want to spend your time approving a bill for changing a tire on a police car?" 

"Right," Graham interjected.  "I agree with that."

Hewitt resumed. "Now, if you get a bill for $10,000?  Yeah, that's probably something that the board ought to look at before you pay it.  And just design a policy that makes some sense, so that you, instead of spending your time at the meetings, you know, working through a stack of a hundred bills—" 

"Right," Graham interjected. 

"—that only a handful of them may have any suggestion for the real, for the budget.  You know, spend some time looking at those, as opposed to running a bill everyday thing.  But, theoretically, when you all approve a budget, you're authorizing anything that fits within that budget.  You're actually authorizing it for approval right then, unless your charter, or an ordinance, or a policy that you adopt requires something otherwise.  But the practice is not uncommon.  A lot of smaller towns do that." 

"Okay," Graham said. 

"We've had some larger municipalities do it," Hewitt said.  "I get a little nervous when I see them do it, because they'll approve 300 invoices in about 45 seconds." 

"Right," Graham said yet again. 

Mayor Smith then asked, "So what type of timeline are you looking at to transition—" 

"Well," Hewitt replied, "we're knee-deep in tax work right now, but probably, I would say, by the end of April we'll try to have you caught up.  The one thing that's got to be done, is we've got, you're over seven years ago, got a lot of problems with and that's got to be cleaned up first, and then start on this current year.  And we will, if we're doing this, we'll no longer be able to do your audit.  I explained that in the letter." 

"Yes," Smith agreed.  "You can also help decrease the cost of that audit, with—" 

"I would think so," Hewitt said, "because we're going to hand you the financial statements that the auditor's got to do.  The only thing they have to do is put their opinion page on the front.  So you won't be paying your auditor to draft a financial page.  Were y'all able to find somebody interested in doing the '06-'07 audit?" 

"Haven't got the proposals back yet," Smith replied. 

"Okay," Hewitt said.  "When you get those, if you want some help looking at them, just holler and we'll sit down and look at them with you." 

"Okay," Smith said.  "And, see, as far as access to our financial information—" 

"It'll be on line so that we can both access it, via the internet," Hewitt answered. 

"We have access," Mayor Smith said, "but we won't be able to change anything." 

"Yeah," Hewitt replied.  "Well, we'll work that out as to whether you change anything.  Our goal is for you all to do as much as you're capable of doing.  And that really depends on the capabilities of your staff.  I think you probably have better staff now than you've had at times in the past." 

"Any other questions for Mr. Hewitt?" the mayor asked, and when there were none the motion passed by a unanimous vote.

* * * 

Mayor Smith then turned to the next item on the agenda, which was a resolution that "The rules of order and parliamentary procedure contained in Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, shall govern the transaction of business by and before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen at its meetings in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with provisions of the Bethel Springs Charter." 

Alderman Gray moved that the resolution be adopted.  In light of the procedural questions raised earlier in the meeting by Williams and Hickman, the adoption of Roberts Rules of Order was an obvious no-brainer, but Mayor Smith's request for a second was met with dead silence.  For twenty-seven seconds Aldermen Williams, Hickman and Graham just sat there like knots on a log and the motion died for want of a second, leaving the Bethel Springs Town Board with no authority to appeal to on questions of parliamentary procedure.  Congratulations, guys (and gal).

* * * 

Mayor Smith trudged onward. "In December of '06, gave out the information on how the agendas would be, and would be available.  And the next item is to adopt a resolution, similarly adopt establishing agenda.  'The mayor or any alderman may have any item placed on the agenda for a meeting by notifying the city recorder by noon on the Wednesday before the meeting, of the subject matter and all attachments which will be presented to the city council as part of the request.  The city recorder shall include this information in the agenda packet for the city council.  No item may be added to the agenda after this deadline except by the affirmative vote of at least a simple majority of those council members present.'  Is there a motion to adopt a formal process for setting and establishing an agenda?" 

"I move we adopt the resolution establishing the agenda," Williams said, and her motion was seconded by Bobby Gray. 

"Questions or comments or discussion?" Smith asked. 

Hickman spoke up.  "It says, 'no item can be added to the agenda after this deadline except by the affirmative vote of at least a majority.'  Does that mean, like tonight, if somebody comes in with something that we, or would we—" 

"We could consider it, yes," Smith replied.  "We could consider it." 

The motion passed by a unanimous vote, whereupon Bob Graham asked a procedural question. "Mayor, on the, I want, I can do this, I guess.  We need some form that, you know, the person that makes the motion is the first person to vote.  That's the way it's always been.  I get to vote first every time.  I don't care.  I mean." 

Mayor Smith alluded to the just defeated resolution.  "If we would do something so simple as adopt, establishing Roberts Rules of Order.  We're not going to be experts in it, but this would give us a groundwork to do something—" 

"I think," Graham said, "you know, like I think everybody needs to know what we're adopting," as though Roberts Rules of Order was some rare and exotic book that no one has ever heard of, when in fact copies are available in every school and public library in the country, and it's even accessible on the internet at no cost at http://www.rulesonline.com. 

"Yeah," Smith replied. 

"You know," Graham continued, "I think you need a copy of that in front of you, maybe, so they'll know what's going on.  Because Roberts Rules of Order can be strict, or it cannot be strict." 

"If we don't even have a groundwork," Smith said, "there's nothing to—"

"Exactly," agreed Graham, who moments earlier had refused to second a motion which would have provided the very groundwork whose absence he was now lamenting. 

After some further Alice-in-Wonderland discussion about wanting to have some order by the very people who had just refused to adopt the commonly accepted authority for providing order, Mayor Smith finally pulled the meeting back through the looking glass, saying, "Bob, you don't want to vote first, so Nancy [Recorder Nancy McClain], in the future, it goes back to whoever makes the motion, whoever makes the motion and call the roll from that place."

* * * 

"The next item on the agenda," Mayor Smith continued, "the charter does not spell out or outline who's formally responsible for day-to-day operations.  Traditionally, it's always been whoever serves as the mayor.  This particular resolution is to formally adopt assigning the overall day-to-day operations to the position of the mayor.  And that's what the resolution stated, that "The mayor is to oversee and be responsible for the day-to-day operations, affairs and business of the City of Bethel Springs, Tennessee.'  In accordance with the charter.  And what I'm saying by that, is they're responsible for the day-to-day operations and the business affairs, they have to stay in compliance with the charter, and everything else.  Is there a motion to formally adopt assigning the day-to-day operations to the position of mayor?" 

"Well," Gray said, after a long pause, "I make the motion, because we're not around, anyway.  In the day time." 

"Is there a second?" Smith asked, and once again the remaining three alderman, Larry, Curly and Mo, remained silent, preferring to leave the responsibility for the day-to-day operations unassigned rather than show any support whatever for the mayor.  Way to go, guys (and gal).

* * *

"Elected Officials Academy," Mayor Smith intoned, after the previous motion failed for the lack of a second.  "The next item is to formally adopt, 'All elected officials shall attend the Municipal Technical Advisory Service's Elected Officials Academy, Level I, within six months of taking office.  If the Elected Officials Academy, Level I, class is not offered within six months of the official taking office, the official shall attend the next available class offering.'  And MTAS gives a lot of training sessions on how to better serve the public, and this would be a good way that, not only to us but whoever is elected, can better serve the town in the future.  Is there a motion to adopt the resolution to attend the MTAS Elected Officials Academy?"  After a pause of more than twenty seconds, Williams responds. 

"I make the motion.  I have some questions." 

"Is there a second?" Smith asked. 

"Yeah," Gray said.  "I second." 

"Any questions or comments or …" Smith asked. 

"Now this would be for all elected officials to attend this at their own cost and anything, is that correct?" Williams asked, before adding, "We need to understand what we're voting to do.  Not on this board, or all, putting that responsibility on the boards to come." 

"Yes," Smith replied, agreeing with the second point.  "But, as far as the cost, either the town pays for it, or the elected official is reimbursed.  That's already in the charter.  For there to be professional training, and travel expenses.  My intention was that the town pay for this for the elected officials, because we are going to be better serving them with it." 

Town Attorney Melissa Stewart-Leitschuh pointed out that "it's pretty normal" for towns to pay for their officials to attend such training, but Vernon Hickman showed that he didn't think much about stuff like training and such. "From my point of view," said the alderman (and vice mayor), "I don't think it's that much necessary.  I don't think it will help the town for $150 per person just to take this class.  If the mayor wants to take it ….  I mean, that's just my opinion." 

Williams said, "When I attended it, about three years ago now, it was mostly mayors.  At that time I was there preparing to do the planning commission, which has not been too effective for the town. [Laughs.]  But I was sent there.  The town paid my way to go.  And it was mostly mayors, and vice mayors, there.  There was very few aldermen.  But that's been several years ago, and I'm not saying that aldermen don't go, but I agree that it is very helpful, you know, you're going to study, and try to put this in practice, once you are on the board.  But, that was my experience when I was there, it was mostly mayors and vice mayors." 

When the roll was called Williams and Gray voted yes, Graham and Hickman voted no, and the mayor broke the tie by voting yes.

* * * 

"The next item on the agenda," Smith then said, "is the Personnel Issue, for the permanent dismissal of Amanda Fullington.  And this short summary, in January she was discharged from employment due to willful misconduct.  Parts of that included disobeying direct orders, insubordination, and being absent from work without good cause or giving her employer reasonable notice." 

Hickman asked if a motion was needed before the matter could be discussed, and then provided the motion, which was seconded by Gray, and Mayor Smith then asked if there was any discussion. 

"Yeah," Williams said, "I would like to make another motion to refer this to a committee, and also for us to look at our policy and procedure for our employees, since we don't really have a very good one at this time.  I have read it.  And my purpose for bringing this up is for one reason and one reason only, that we know, that we are treating all of our employees fairly, when they come here to work.  And that we have a policy and procedure handbook that we can refer back to, to make sure that the employees are being given the benefit of the doubt, and also given an opportunity to defend themselves.  So, I don't know if this motion, if I can make a motion to refer it to committee." 

Attorney Stewart-Leitschuh pointed out that a motion has already been made and seconded, whereupon Hickman withdrew his motion. 

Mayor Smith said to Williams, "I can see how you'd want to improve, because you've mentioned improvement of the employee handbook several times." 

"Exactly," Williams said. 

Smith continued.  "You've also made comments on how you want to make sure that city employees are protected." 

"Exactly," Williams said again. 

"And unfortunately," the mayor continued, "the only thing that protects city employees for the town of Bethel is the employee handbook and the town charter.  They are not protected by the Civil Service Act.  And in order for them to have all of these protections that you're referring to, they would have to be protected by the Civil Service Act, and that's where the miss is, they're not, there has to be a council or committee.  But if I'm not mistaken, I don't think elected officials are part of that council or committee.  And then from that you could fix, or improve, that employee handbook." 

"Right," Williams said. 

Smith continued. "I guess I could probably and check since the inception, city employees for the town of Bethel have never been protected by the Civil Service Act.  And that's what protects them and gives them the options that you're referring to.  Because right now the only thing that they have that works for them, or against them, is the employee handbook and the charter.  That's it." 

"Well," Hickman said to Stewart-Leitschuh, "is she correct?" 

"The Department of Labor decides—" the lawyer began, only to be drowned out by other voices. 

"And it's just not about—" Williams began, and then started over. "And I repeat, I was not bringing this up for that particular employee.  I'm thinking about employees in the future.  Because that's why this one got out of hand, because somebody was thinking it should be done this way, and the board was never given any reason, going back to your, Mayor, you were responsible for the day-to-day hiring and firing, and we had the final vote on it, but you chose the person to hire, if you remember." 

"Well," Smith said, "I think you sat through the—"

"But you never," Williams interrupted, "you never came back to me and said—" 

"Well, I'll presented to the board," Smith said, "and the board could have asked questions, could have said 'We like this person,' but they didn't—" 

"Well we had no problems with that at that time," Williams said, "but then later on things started coming up, and then, the board never was made aware of what was actually going on.  You know, we was hearing stuff, and somebody came to me discussed here in this meeting because it was hearsay—"

"Well, I think I did give y'all a copy of a letter of reprimand," Smith pointed out. 

"Yes," Gray said. 

"I have that letter," Williams acknowledged.  "I have that letter.  But what we never did discover, we were never told what led up to the reprimand.  And I just felt like that was not being fair to whoever it could have been.  It could have been Jack the Ripper.  It wouldn't have made any difference to me, as long as we were being fair.  Any time you hear me bring anything up, it's not against the mayor, the vice mayor, or any alderman on this board.  It's about us being fair, as a board, to people at all times.  Not because I don't like you.  I've heard somebody say that I voted sometimes as because I didn't like you.  That's not true, and I want the public to hear me say this.  I don't ever vote because I don't like somebody.  I vote because I want to be fair, and make sure that the citizens who elected me know that I'm being fair.  I'll stand on that to the day I die, because that's the only way I know to do what we're trying to do.  And, you know, we're no great politicians here, we're just a bunch of little people here, trying to help the town." 

Smith said, "I would probably suggest that we leave the motion to permanently dismiss open until Ms Shirley can get a group together and look at establishing protections for the city employees by using the Civil Service Act, and then that same group can help improve the employee's hand book, so it outlines, that protect them.  Because at the moment the only thing that exists is the employees handbook." 

Five minutes later the board finally around to voting unanimously, on a motion by Williams, seconded by Graham, to form a committee to update the employee handbook.

* * *

"That's all the old business," Smith then said.  "Into the new business.  One of the many things that was found during the three year audit, the town doesn't have a written purchasing policy.  We do not have a records retention policy, or a bad debt policy.  We did establish an fixed asset capitalization policy back in the summer at a thousand.  So we'll probably be making improvements for many months to correct a lot of things.  This particular ordinance is an ordinance for a purchasing policy.  It gives general procedures in regards to items expected to cost more than five thousand, general procedures for items expected to cost five hundred to five thousand, and it does refer, as Mike Hewitt was saying earlier, about items that have not been in the budget, and amounts and such.  It does establish competitive bidding.  It also identifies goods and services that are exempt from competitive bidding, in accordance with the Tennessee Code, such as professional services.  It talks about the surplus property, how to dispose of it.  Who can buy it.  Who can't."  She concluded her review of the twelve page document by observing, "This ordinance was provided by MTAS.  It's just a basic purchasing policy, that's been adopted through many towns our size." 

"This is basically what we're doing now, right?" Hickman asked. 

"Well, yes," Smith replied, "but the town does not have a written policy." 

"And they have to," Stewart-Leitschuh pointed out. 

"Yeah," Smith agreed. 

After some further discussion, Mayor Smith pointed out "In accordance with the town's charter, all ordinances have to have at least two readings." 

"I make a motion that we adopt this policy," Graham said. 

Smith pointed out that "this will give you time to study it and stuff.  So we've got the motion for the first reading.  Is there a second?" 

Williams provided the second, and the first reading passed unanimously. 

* * * 

Mayor then turned to the last regular agenda items.  "One of the other many things in the three year audit was the town has not been paying its water bills.  It actually goes back to prior to 1999.  I did talk to the auditors and such to see if the town should go back to make those back payments and such, and the recommendation was simply to start paying the water bills.  So we, we'll have to have the water on there, we've been putting water use by city buildings.  That's probably not going to be on there because it's going to be in the water pumped and sold, because the water, the town has to pay the water bill…. That's in accordance with Tennessee Code…, where municipalities have to pay for their public works." 

The regular agenda concluded, Smith then said, "Everybody in the town, I think, owes the Quilters and the United Pentecostal Church a very big thank you, because they're the one who have actually provided for the town sign….  It is a very nice sign, I mean we've been getting compliments from, you know, and we've still got a little bit of landscaping to do, but it's a very nice permanent sign, and I think they have a very high interest in two more signs, and of course they're still looking at what, make improvements to that artesian well, which we're going to have to find somebody that has a little bit more knowledge to make sure that if they do try to make improvements the water don't stop flowing.  That's a big concern."  Ray Hickman was particularly thanked for doing the brickwork on the sign. 

"And then," Smith continued, "you know, the Quilters are also going to do a feature in the Tennessee Cooperator, and that's circulated to more than 100,000 people just in the state of Tennessee.  And that's, you know, if you do business, that's the Co-op.  You're probably going to get that newsletter, or newspaper.  But they, the editor came up on Friday and spent several hours with the Quilters, and we took him for a little tour of the town, you know, to the park, and stuff, of the town.  Ray had finished with the sign, so they got good pictures of the sign." 

Smith then mentioned that "Bulk pickup is on the 15th of March," and that "there has been an interest from the churches in the community for a community Easter sunrise service.  Easter will be the 23rd of March. 

"And that's all the things I've got," she concluded. 

Bob Graham observed that work had started on the replacement of Murray Loop Bridge, and asked if anyone had any information about the Purdy Bridge.  No one had. 

Williams made a comment about the need to clean up the community, then the meeting was adjourned by a unanimous vote on a motion by Hickman, seconded by Graham.  Before the board dispersed, though, Mayor Smith recognized a woman in the audience.  "Yes, ma'am?" she said. 

"I have a question," the woman said.  "Just to clean up, ah, it doesn't pertain to what I'm saying, we have a lot of houses on Bethel Purdy Road, with cars out there.  That is very degrading to the ones that are trying to keep their homes up.  I have a next-door neighbor lives off, and their house is going down the tubes.  But just the cleaning up on the highway is not going to do that.  Those yards and everything, they've got trucks and things up on cinder blocks, it's not getting any better." 

The various board members commiserated with the woman, and Williams said something about setting a goal, but no action was taken to deal with the problem.