AUCTION OF HUNTER SMITH BUILDING????

It was finally agreed to sale the Hunter Smith building to the highest bidder at auction sort of. A stipulation was placed on the auction and a reserve of $50,000.00 was set.
If this "white elephant" is finally sold and put back on the tax role instead of being a tax drain it will be an accomplishment that will finally correct a terrible mistake made when the building was purchased over ten years ago.
One incident of interest took place during the discussion of this sale and that was the utterly false statement by the County Executive that there never was a bid made on the building. I along with a number of other people was in the meeting where a man offered a firm $125,000.00 for the building as it sat, I even wrote about this on the blog and I believe there was an article about it in the newspaper, the committee turned down the offer stating they wanted more money. This request for more money was made in part based on the statement of the County Executive that she was receiving offers for the building every week. While the County Executive has had much trouble with her credibility in the past this reached an new low even for her.

IF THE MEANING OF IS "IS" THEN WHAT DOES BEFORE MEAN????

By far the topic that took the most time and debate to pass today was the simple matter of an amendment offered by Commissioner Harris stating that no highway or roads be brought into the county system until after the property had been properly registered. This simple amendment took over seventeen minutes and the county attorney explaining what they were voting on, even then the County Executive had to read the amendment at least five times. The amazing thing is that everyone agreed with the amendment some just could not understand what "before" meant.

RESOLUTION ASKING FOR ELECTION OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS

The Commission today passed a resolution to be sent to the State Legislature in support of counties being allowed the option of electing their school superintendent instead of appointed. Commissioner Reedy spoke against the resolution saying that appointed school superintendents are better because School Boards appoint superintendents on their qualifications instead of being elected on popularity. Commissioners Reedy and Lovell voted against the resolution while Commissioners Holt and Brown abstained.

SENIOR TAX FREEZE

In 2006 the people of Tennessee overwhelmingly voted in favor of placing a tax freeze on the house and up to five acres of certain low income senior citizens. Several counties have implemented this optional action. Giles County has discussed this issue over and over without a decision until it's become right embarrassing.
Today in the County Commission it was to have been voted into existence or into oblivion, yet once again it was tabled for more discussion.
The hang-up seems to be the "added work load" to the County Trustee and Tax Assessors office. With approximately only 800 senior taxpayers being involved the idea that these offices will need additional personnel to implement this program is beyond absurd, especially when you consider that they now work approximately 35 hours a week for forty hours pay and only about 200 days a year. A little added to the work load of these folks when it benefits some folks who are having a hard time paying their taxes seems a fair trade off. Allen Barrett