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.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Update 1/21/09

Hello MJ:

Just a short update since most of my time this week will be away from the office.

Since the Home Owners Association/Citizens Update we held a couple weeks ago there has been several requests to take the briefing into the community. On behalf of the Department Heads of Team Mt. Juliet, let me say we will be happy to come and speak to any group. Those in the audience that night may recall that this is just one of several ways we are trying to get the city’s message out, so don’t hesitate to ask. If you are interested in hosting this or any other city related discussion please call Sharon at 754-2552 and give her some dates to choose from.

Mr. John Rossmaier, MJ’s Director of Finance announced last week that we still continue to buck national sales tax trends. The latest local sales tax report show total net collections attributed to Mt Juliet for December 2008 (November Sales) were $864,032, representing 37.6% of the total net collections for the Wilson county as a group. Mt Juliet should see its share of the allocation about the end of January, amounting to over $427.5k. This compares to a net of $731,436.69 for December 2007 representing 29.1% of the Wilson county group and a net to MJ of $362k. As Kenny Martin says, keep buying here in MJ!

Finally, a couple words about the proposed red light camera ordinance being considered by the Board of Commissioners. While the Police Leadership is not necessarily promoting or negating the use of these cameras, they do continually research new safety programs. Here are the figures they see from data for the first part of CY08 indicating the city recorded nearly 500 vehicle accidents with 83 of those resulting in personal injury. Of those, approximately 124 accidents were recorded at or near high volume intersections, with 27 of the passengers involved having a personal injury. Between October and December of 2008 there were 127 crashes in the city with 26 passengers having some form of personal injury. 56 of those 127 accidents were at or near major intersections. One of the deadliest type of crashes is front impact, or head on, the next, side impact, or t-bone. You be the judge of whether the cameras would improve the survival chances at intersections.

Take care and talk with you later.

R. Robertson
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