Update: 11/19/10

Good Afternoon MJ:

Here’s some items of interest from around the community:

1. We’ve had a rash of vandalism at all of our parks this week. This week the Mt. Juliet Parks and Recreation Department announced that someone had vandalized the children’s play area at South Park; tore up one of the holes at Mundy’s Frisbee Golf Course; bent the frame and stolen a soccer net from the city’s soccer park on Curd Road, and tore up some of the platforms and defaced some of the signs at the recently renovated Planet Playground at Charlie Daniels Park. That’s mean spirited shortsightedness. Deputy Chief of Police James Hambrick indicated that funds may be available for any tips to who was responsible for these acts. You can get more info on our “Crime Stoppers” program at the city’s homepage, or by calling Corporal Tyler Chandler, our community policing officer at 394-3092.

2. Some better news: the Nashville Business Journal announced today that MJ was Tennessee’s number one business friendly city as declared by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. This is absolutely fantastic news, and speaks volumes to the vision and goals of this community, and of the Mayor and Board of Commissioners of our city. Congratulations MJ! Click below for a link to go to the full story.
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/feature/tennessee-center-for-policy-research.html?surround=etf&ana=e_article

3. Calling all Citizens interested in alternative transportation, clean air, traffic mitigation, healthy lifestyles, and biking. We will be holding a public meeting for Phase 3 of our West Division Greenway project this Monday at 5:00 p.m., in City Hall. To refresh your memory, we should be finishing up Phase 1 construction, which runs from the MJ Train Station to 4th Avenue within the next few weeks . . . stay tuned for an announcement on the ribbon cutting. We learned a couple weeks ago, that we were one of the few communities in Tennessee to be awarded Congestion Mitigation – Air Quality (CMAQ) funding, to push Phase 2 initiatives. Phase 2 will take the greenway/bike path from 4th Avenue to Brookstone. Phase 3, the longest, most challenging and most expensive element of the project, will run from Brookstone to South Greenhill Road. Monday’s Public Hearing is a requirement for future grant opportunities. We hope you can join us.

4. Some upcoming Parks and Rec events: Our first ever Urban Master Gardner program is tentatively scheduled hold its kick off meeting on Tuesday, 14 December, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the MJ Community Center in Charlie Daniels Park. Come join Master Gardner and class leader Johnnie Harper of the University of Tennessee Extension, Wilson County Masters Gardeners Association in the ground breaking (pardon the pun) Parks and Rec initiative. For more info call Jan Litterell, at 758-6522. Stay tune to Channel 3, the city’s web page and the local papers for more info.
Our 2nd Annual Holiday and Crafts Bazaar will be held on 4 and 5 December, at the Charlie Daniels Rec Center. Times are 9am to 7pm on Saturday, and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. This Bazaar will feature booths specializing in holiday related items, jewelry, floral, art, crafts, home décor, skin care and much more. We’re expecting over 40 vendors from across the region. It will be a great place to get that unique gift for the hard to buy family member or loved one. If you are interested in a vendor’s stall, call Taylor Bates or any of the Parks crew at 758-5622.
Finally, anticipation continues to build for our 11 December Christmas parade with “Rudy” Ruettinger and Ross Browner as the co Grand Marshals. Rudy is known for the inspirational film about his Notre Dame football exploits, aptly titled “Rudy.” Ross Browner was the fellow who pushed to have Rudy get in during the final game of the season, and who went on to over a decade in the NFL. This promises to be MJ’s biggest parade with tons of floats, marchers, bands, horses and even a nationally renowned bagpiper. The place to be on 11 December is along Mt. Juliet Road, from West Wilson Middle School, north to Division Street; starting at 11:00 a.m.

5. Notice the progress along the North MJ Road project. I had the opportunity to meet with the TDOT leadership and project contractor last week, and they are really pleased with the initiative. Barring major material or weather problems they are looking for an October 2011 completion date; months earlier than originally forecasted.

6. Here's a couple of ways to help support your city:
- The Mt. Juliet Senior Center designed and is selling Christmas Ornaments for $10 each. Proceeds benefit the Senior Center. Contact Pat Gwin at patgwin@comcast.net
- In a similar vein but on a different note, our very own Animal Shelter has 2011 calendars for sale. They are $15 each or (8) for $100. The calendar features animals from our own shelter and has several discount coupons attached. To pick some up, call any member of the MJ Animal Shelter at 773-5533

7. On a final note, if you live or frequently travel towards the southern end of the city, on South MJ Road, there will be some significant traffic changes coming up next week, weather permitting. With help of some technology and some existing asphalt, we’ll be creating a middle turn lane in the South Providence/Publix Number 2 area early next week. This is should be a real boost to commuters and businesses in the area. For more info check out the power point slide on Channel 3.

That's enough for this week. Take care and God Bless.

R. Robertson

Update: September 26, 2010

Good Afternoon MJ:

Its been some time since my last posting; quite a bit has occurred and there a lot of items on the horizon.

We received our August Sales Tax figures and they continued to exceed projection. August 2010 figures were over $80k more than in 2009. Again, this speaks to the success of and need for the city's "Shop MJ" program.

Red Alert!!! We'll be hosting County Mayor Randall Hutto in MJ City Hall on Wednesday, 29 September, starting at 8:30 for an "Open Door" opportunity with citizens. For now the plan is to do this the last Wednesday of each month. If you have any concerns or questions with county operations or issues, here's your opportunity to voice them right here in MJ. As an added feature, the County's Veteran Affairs Officer will also join in during these sessions. If your a vet, here's your chance to check out changes and programs within the VA. For more details look for the slide on Channel 3 or call us in City Hall at 754-2552..

Chief Garrett advises that reportable crime is slightly up compared to the same time period last year, with the rate of auto crashes even higher. Please share with your family and friends the MJPD is actively working on both of these elements.

Work is progressing well on both the North Mt. Juliet Road (NMJR) and West Division Greenway projects. For the most part we anticipate all the utility work on the NMJR to be done by the first of the year, with efforts now focused on the road widening. Those who use this road frequently can see this "shaping" is starting to take place. Barring any unforeseen issues or obstacles, Phase 1 of the West Division Greenway should be done by late November or early December.

Here's some upcoming events to post on your calendar:

1. Thursday, 30 Sept, at 6:00 p.m. there will be a Commissioner's Candidate Forum, hosted by the MJ News, at City Hall. All are invited. It is my understanding all candidates from District 2 and 4 who are running for election this November will be there. There will be an opportunity to pose questions to the candidate and if you miss it, tune in to Channel 3 where it will be rebroadcast.

2. Saturday, 9 October. Halloween in the Park (Charlie Daniels). Starts at 11:00 a.m. Lots of booths, candy and fun.

3. Saturday, 11 December. The MJ Christmas Parade. Come join us and hundreds of floats and marchers. If all goes well we'll have an extraordinary "Grand Marshal" this year. Watch Channel 3 and the city's web page for more info as we get closer to 11 December.

Congratulations to Jon Gray and the Volunteers of the MJ Animal Shelter for their recognition of our volunteer program in this year's Greater Nashville Regional Council Annual Awards Program. There's no question the MJ Shelter is comparable to the best Shelters in the U.S. Recent data indicates we have over a 96% adoption rate; in large measure due to the volunteers. It's also noteworthy that through donations we haven't had to buy animal food since the Shelter opened in Dec 2008. Thanks to all involved for making your Shelter a phenomenal one.

Remember: Early voting starts in mid October with Charlie Daniels Rec Center serving as the MJ early voting site.

Want to keep up with when the Chipper service will be in your neighborhood? Check out the city's web page. You can also rent a pavilion at CD Park, report a pot hole, take a look at the animals in the Shelter, or even pay city bills through the menu on the city's web page. Take a look.

That's about all for now. Take care and God Bless.

R. Robertson

Update: 5/28/10

Good Afternoon MJ:

Here’s a few items of interest for those on Nixle or who follow the City Manager blog:

1. We’ve finished the initial draft of the city budget and overall things are looking fairly good. Generally you can classify MJ revenue from three primary sources: sales tax, court revenue and development/building related. The good news is sales tax receipts are up. While the numbers are not astronomical, sales tax receipts are better than projected. The challenging news is both court and building related revenues are down. While court revenue is off, again, it isn’t an astronomical number. On the building side though, just like virtually everywhere else, anything related to new building has taken pretty much of a nose dive. When you put all three into the mix, the overall news is the city has a slightly better revenue stream than projected. The real challenge is each of our primary forms of revenue aren’t static; predicting dollars associated with them with accuracy during a recession can be difficult at best.

2. This is an all points bulletin for volunteers at the Animal Shelter. The numbers of animals housed are on the rise, and while we have a great cadre of volunteers, too few are carrying the load. Give the Shelter a couple hours a week and you’ll be hooked for life. Interested? Check with Sgt Keith Youmans or any staff member or volunteer at the MJ Animal Shelter. Their number is 773-5533.

3. We’ve named a new Parks and Rec Director, Mr. Jay Cameli, of Mt. Juliet. Jay has been a MJ resident for nearly 20 years. He’s a graduate of Purdue University and has a license in Landscape Architecture. Jay has tremendous experience in greenway design and grant development, and will be a tremendous asset to the Parks Department and the city team. On that note, all of us in City Hall want to thank Mr. Rocky Lee for his leadership as Acting Parks Director this last year. During his tenure the Parks crew unveiled the new Rec Center expansion, built the para course and skate park at Charlie Daniels Park, build a Frisbee Golf Course at Mundy Park, fielded new programs like Futsal, and our semiannual flea markets and fashion shows. He also led the team through clean up and repair from the historic 2010 flood. Thanks for all you have done for the city and its citizens Mr. Lee.

4. If you drive North Mt. Juliet Road, you have probably see the two “thermometers” that are tracking the pace of work on this major road and utility project. We are nearing the end of the first year. While it may seem slow, overall the progress has been on track. It has been an extraordinary wet winter and summer, and the various crews are doing a fine job working with businesses and traffic to keep things moving.

5. Please encourage your friends and others within the community to sign up for Nixle. During the recent floods, we were able to communicate in near real time with over 1k of you who are on the Nixle distribution list. We’ve received many words of support, encouragement and thanks from across the city from those who followed the near hourly changing events of early May via Nixle. It’s fast, easy and can be tailored to the type of information you desire. Just tell your friends to go to the city web page (www.cityofmtjuliet.org) or to www.nixle.com for instructions.

6. On a final note, please take time during this weekend to remember what Memorial day is all about. Our thanks and prayers go to the men, women and families who have given their lives or lost a love one in defense of this great nation. In specific my thoughts will be with Private Ernest Robertson, MIA and later classified as KIA from the Yellow River Campaign of the Korean War, and with those whom I have lead and served who are no longer with us.

Take care and talk with you later.

R. Robertson