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.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Update: 11/13/08

Hello Mt Juliet

Some news from City Hall . . .

I would like to thank Jim Curtis, Del Webb and Rutland Place for hosting a couple Veterans Day events yesterday. My wife and I participated in the one at Del Webb, and as retired veterans ourselves, thank all involved for the thoughts and tribute. Major (Ret) Pat Unger, Colonel Jeff Holmes, Senator Beavers, students from Rutland Elementary and Del Webb singers all made the morning a little special for those of us who were there. Also, a special well done and “HOOOAH” for the members of the MJ Police Department Color Guard. They were absolutely superb! All of us at City Hall sincerely appreciate the MJ News and MJ Chronicle for their front page coverage of these remarkable young men.

I happened to be at City Hall for a little while on Tuesday morning, and was surprised by the number of phone calls received. It looks like lots of people forgot it was Veterans Day, and that City Hall was closed; which led me to the conclusion we need to better advertise our holiday schedule. Ms. Tina Guinan, the brilliant lady who is responsible for so much of what happens in City Hall, will post a voice mail message on our system for future holidays. Remember, City Hall will be closed on Thursday, 27 November (Thanksgiving), and the 28th as well. Emergency calls should go through the Police Dispatch system.

In the next few weeks we hope to be reaching out to the community in whatever forum available, to solicit your thoughts and wishes regarding higher education here in MJ. We’ve been working with a couple colleges and universities about a presence in the city, and we’ll be asking for help in defining what you think that should look like. I would certainly appreciate hearing from you on this matter, but more info will be available in the not too distant future. We’re also looking into the possibility of some type of recycling program within the city. Again, we will use whatever media available to us to solicit your thoughts on what you might like and what you might be willing to pay for. Stay tuned!

I’ve spoken with Mr. Mike Davis, Director of Wilson County Schools, about having quarterly get togethers between MJ schools leadership staff and those of us in City Hall. It looks like our first meeting will be the first week of December. If there is an issue you would like us to discuss please let me know by call or email.

Finally, some good news . . . September sale tax receipts are up: $422,260 for Sept 08 versus $355,955 last year. This is a 19% gain and the highest increase MJ has had this year.

Take care.

R. Robertson
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousNovember 13, 2008 at 9:58 PM

    Thanks for the information Randy. It is nice to see that there is good information being passed along. Please keep writing so the accurate knowledge base about city activities and status are made public.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)