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, November 16, 2008

Update: 11/16/08

Hello MJ:

It is about 7:30 on Saturday night and my wife and I have just left the Teen Concert at Charlie Daniels Rec Center. Not a bad start, with about 60 to 70 teens listening and dancing to 5 different bands for the evening. The crew of the Parks and Rec Department has done this to provide an alternative for our teens and hopefully it is the start of more to come. Many thanks to Mrs. Mar Augelli for all her work to set this up, and to Mr. Dennis Buchanan and the entire Parks and Recreation staff for their hard work to make the event a success. I also want to pay special thanks and recognition to Mr. Josh Cooper, of the Parks and Rec staff who will deploy next week to Fort Eustis, Virginia, for training and then on to Iraq. Keep your head down and your powder dry Josh, and thanks for what you’ve done here at Mt. Juliet and what you are about to do for our nation.

I want to remind the community that we will have a full presentation of the MJ Land Use Plan on Thursday, at 7 pm, here at City Hall for the Planning Commission. Members of the Planning Commission have met several times and spent many hours refining the first edition unveiled last month. By nearly every indication this is one of the most extensive and innovative land use plans MJ has devised since its incorporation. This key to the plan, like all others, is it serves as a glide path for future development and growth, but is sufficiently flexible to adapt and change.

Finally, we plan to have an “all hands” meeting of the MJ volunteers for the WEMA fire department on Thursday evening. We still have over 20 men and women who have been plugging away at various training and physical requirements, set to start the state required training early next year. Thursday’s meeting, with Chief John Jewell and members of WEMA, will serve as an update to the volunteers before they start the formal required training. Our hats are off to these great individuals, all citizens of Mt. Juliet, for stepping up to make a difference in their community.

Take care MJ. I’ll talk with you later.

Sincerely,

R. Robertson
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousNovember 19, 2008 at 6:17 AM

    Hi Randy

    This is the first time I've had the opportunity to look at your blog and it is great. I have always associated a blog site, or page, with some psychopath writing nonsense and spewing venom, hate, and discontent and it is wonderful to see positive items posted with real information. Thank you for the great job you've done over the past year and I'm very proud that I can call you my friend.

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