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.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Update: 4/17/09

Hello MJ:

The City staff or otherwise known as Team Mt. Juliet held our Second Annual Health and Safety Fair this week, and by every account the event was a tremendous success. The only reason I mention what is considered a “staff only” event is this year we invited residents of our assisted living communities and members the MJ Senior Citizens Center to participate. I know all the staff and participating local health care professionals were extremely appreciative of the kind remarks made by our guest. With nearly 40 health and safety related booths packed into Charlie Daniels Rec Center last Wednesday, we saw an outstanding display of partnerships and cooperation all focused on good health and preventive activities that will ultimately save our citizens dollars spent on health care expenditures and staff lost time. A big thanks to everyone who worked and participated in this free event.

The most exciting news of the week comes from an article in the Tennessean regarding TDOT’s listing of North Mt. Juliet Rd (N MJ Rd) for widening. We’ve received several questions from citizens since the article was posted. Our concern is, that at this time the listing and the associated budget still has to be approved by the Tennessee State Legislature. Although we certainly believe this announcement, will, in short time prove to be a very positive move for our city, right now it is premature to indicate the road has been “approved”. Speaking with Ms. B.J. Dowdy, TDOT Spokeswoman, she indicated it would likely be a couple weeks before the legislature would formally act on the list. Until then those of us here in City Hall continue to plan for the widening, but we won’t be making individual responses or public announcements about timelines, start dates, costs or other elements of the project. We’re just going to wait for the process to run its full course and then hopefully do our best to keep the entire community up to date on this challenging but extremely positive initiative.

As I conclude I want to give a little advance notice to an effort the Parks and Rec crew are working on for this summer. Once we have the Skate park and Rec Center expansion projects done we hope to start a series of “MJ Movies in the Park”. We are looking for wholesome, family oriented films to show outside this summer at the Charlie Daniels Park. Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Henson of the Parks and Rec Department are to be commended for their continued effort to expand recreational opportunities to our community. I invite readers to share their thoughts with them on what they would like to see.

Until next time, take care.

Sincerely,
R. Robertson
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)