1. This won’t be a “blog” per se. It isn’t meant to be a place to post all commentary or opinions. Everyone is invited to send in a note, but don’t be offended if it isn’t posted. There’s other sites that are perfectly content to drag through what they believe to be wrong with every issue at every turn. This is about what was done, why and where do we go from here. We won’t talk about two and three year old issues. If the desire is to engage in those discussions then look somewhere else.

2. This isn’t the Board of Commissioner forum. MJ has a City Manager form of government. The Board makes policy; the staff implements. I’ll be happy to pass your comments along to the Board, either good or bad, but the intent of this medium is to address how we could better enact policy and improve city services.

3. The narratives will be directly from me, your city manager. I won’t hide under some pseudonym or other persona. My name is Randy Robertson. My phone number is 754-2552. I am your City Manager. If your issue or concerns involves another department of the city (Public Works, Police, Animal Control, etc.) I will invite the appropriate team member to provide some comments, but it will still be done under the auspices of the City Manager.

4. I will try and be as timely as possible, but this is another one of the “additional duties” for which civil service is renown.

5. The City Staff is here for you. The desired outcome is for us to have a positive relationship with the citizens we serve, but we all know that always won’t happen. Everyone has an opinion. It is the staff’s responsibility to work through the opinions and emotion, meet the requirements of the laws and rules under which we operate, and hopefully serve the greatest number in that process. It is not an exact science. The more we have a relationship with you, the better we can meet your expectations.

6. Finally, this is about telling our story. Hopefully you will be able to sort the myth from reality or see the issue through a different set of lens. I hope you will find this of value and participate.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Update: 9/20/09

Hello MJ:

This morning Darlene and I attended the chartering ceremony for Providence United Methodist Church (UMC). As a "seed' church of Mt. Juliet's Grace UMC, Providence has been holding services at Stoner Creek Elementary School for a year. Today's ceremony, with probably close to 400 in attendance, commemorates the Providence congregation now being an official and duly recognized church under the United Methodist umbrella.

The minister at Providence, Pastor Jacob Armstrong, is a very sharp, dynamic young man; his messages go to the heart. At today's chartering ceremony he chose to speak about the power of vision, and the faith to see evolving opportunities. As he succinctly put it, instead of ". . .I'll believe it when I see it", the strength of the words ". . .I'll believe it until I see it." Pretty powerful stuff!

Jacob's words gave me pause to think about our city, about the challenges we've faced, the determination and strength of our character, the spirit of selfless service that prevails in this city, and most important the faith of believing the best is still to come. So, the message for this posting is the hope that all who read this will look where we've been and have faith in believing until we get there. There are those who are consumed tearing into everything they perceive wrong with the city; it is always much easier to tear down than to build. Yes, look at North Mt. Juliet Road. It's hard to navigate, its noisy, dusty, dirty and looks bad. Yes, there's construction everywhere in Mt. Juliet. Yes, we're in a recession and the cost of everything has gone up. Yes, all of that is true. But those issues can't be the focus. I believe our strength must come from taking a look at our progress. Mt. Juliet is the envy of every town and city in Middle Tennessee. In 13 of the last 15 months the volume of our sales tax revenue has increased, the barometer of a healthy and growing economy. The Beckwith intersection opened two years ago and the improved Mt. Juliet Road/I-40 intersection last year. We've established Tennessee's first railroad "Quiet Zone" and opened Wilson County's first skate park. We've got a new $400k recreation facility posed to open next month, a gift to city by the Panattoni Corporation. The Panattoni complex is up, as is the Paddocks and the Lebanon Road Publix's. The Boyle Corporation's Publix just south or Providence is scheduled to come on line in November and a Cheddar's is on it's way early next year. Mt. Juliet has two new hotels and another on the way. There is a new, state-of-the-art high school and a new road that will soon to open to make the trip to school safer. The Bender's Ferry intersection was completely revamped, and over 300 businesses opened their doors in Mt. Juliet in the last two years. The crime rate in Mt. Juliet declined last year and we've opened one of the best Animal Shelter's in the state. The state gave us a waiver for improvements made at the I-40 slip ramp saving hundreds of thousands of dollars, we received a $350k state housing grant, and a $1.4m grant from TDOT for the Reverse L road. The city underwrote the training and equipping of 12 volunteer firefighters for WEMA's Station 3 and assisted opening our first Farmer's Market.

So, yes North Mt. Juliet Road is and will be a challenge for the next couple years, with noise, dust and dirt. I call that the sights and sounds of progress, or believing it until I see it.

On another note, the light at CD Parkway was scheduled to become operational last week, but the weather precluded MTEMC from hooking it up. It's coming as soon as the rain stops.

Finally, many thanks to hundreds of volunteers, donators and customers who made Saturday's Animal Shelter Yard Sale a tremendous success. Sgt Keith Youmans, Director of the MJ Animal Shelter and Reverend Jon Gray, Volunteer Coordinator for the Shelter advise we raised over $5k for the animals. Way to go Mt. Juliet.

Until next time, take care, stay dry, and talk with you later.

Sincerely,

R. Robertson
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