New Judge For 22nd Judicial District

This from the WLLX website 18 November 2014

  J. RUSSELL PARKES OF COLUMBIA HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS 22ND JUDICIAL DISTRICT CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE.  ACCORDING TO A PRESS RELEASE FROM GOVERNOR BILL HASLAM'S OFFICE, PARKES WAS APPOINTED TO THE POSITION MONDAY.  HE REPLACES JUDGE ROBERT LEE HOLLOWAY WHO RECENTLY WAS NAMED TO THE TENNESSEE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS.  PARKES, A LAWRENCEBURG NATIVE, HAS BEEN A MEMBER OF THE LAW FIRM HARDIN, PARKES, KELLEY AND CARTER IN COLUMBIA SINCE 1990.  THE 22ND JUDICIAL DISTRICT INCLUDES LAWRENCE, GILES, MAURY AND WAYNE COUNTIES.  

Why Spend Thousands of Dollars To Find What You Already Have?

Why is the School Board so determined to subvert the will of the people and look for another Director of Schools when they already have an extremely well qualified and proven leader in Mr. J.B. Smith?

There have been a number of claims or suggestions made ranging from racism to personal animus toward the current Director. What the real reason is I do not know since I have not heard a clear response to the question from Board members

Mr. Smith was appointed the Interim Director of Schools with the understanding and commitment,  that as soon as the time requirements, imposed by the election, were met he would be made the Director of Schools. This commitment was made in part based on the fact that Mr. Smith had been fully vetted in the previous search for a Director where he had been the second choice behind Dr. Webb.

What is the point of spending several thousand dollars going through the process and paying an attorney, whose advice has proven faulty and costly in the past, to find the best person for the job when by most accounts he is already in that position.

It's time, past time, that this county stop depending on what the elitist, out of touch "political educators" in Nashville want and consider what the people paying the bills want.  I can not more strongly endorse Mr. Smith for School Director and I urge the School Board to drop this expensive inaneness and appoint Mr. Smith as permanent director before he becomes so disgusted with the games that he withdraws and the county loses its opportunity to provide students with a higher quality education.      

From The County Legislative Meeting 17 Nov. 2014

Two members, Commissioners Beech and Campbell, of the Legislative Body were absent.

Two major issues were brought before the Legislative body for action.

1. Amendment 2014-36

This amendment authorized the non-controversial actions of reorganizing the Driving School which brings in a considerable amount of money to the county each year as well as helping drivers avoid more severe penalties, for minor offenses, on their driving record. It also provided money for the library and money to purchase a better sound system for the court.

This amendment also contained a provision for a new hire and a pay increase for a current employee and this was the part that was controversial. It was felt, very appropriately, that raises should be planned for and requested during the budgeting process not in the middle of the budget year. I believe that this request had been made during the last budgeting process and was rejected.  Commissioner Greene made a ,option to vote on the pay increase and new hire separate from the other three items. After the County Executive and commissioner Jackson throughly confused the issue during the twenty minute discussion it was defeated and the full amendment was approved.

It was during this discussion that the Nancy Pelosi quote of the day was made when Mrs Vanzant stated in reference to the proposed $5,000.00 pay increase, "This is not a raise it's paying for what they are worth to this county"


2.  Amendment 2014-37

This amendment was for the Board of Education to amend it's budget for 2014-2015

This turned out to be the most controversial matter discussed during the meeting. This amendment would have authorized or approved the already completed actions of restoring some previous cuts in staff salaries and salary increases for principals.

A large group of commissioners were very upset that the Board had taken actions and made expenditures prior to getting approval of the county legislators. When the vote was taken to approve nine voted against and ten voted for approval. The amendment failed because eleven votes, a majority of the total number of commissioners was needed to pass.

The question was raised as to what exactly did failure to pass this amendment mean. The basic answer was nothing unless it was not approved sometime before July which would then result in a negative finding by the auditors. There would be no change in what had already been done by the School Board.

Under new business Commissioner Reedy asked about the status of the waste water treatment plan at the I65/Hwy64 interchange. The response was the all to familiar refrain "Lucy is working on it".

Commissioner Aymett suggested that the county establish a method by which the citizens could be better informed and give feedback about issues to be discussed and voted on by the commissioners. Commissioner Aymett's concern was the need to have citizens more involved with their government and that would help create more trust of the government.
It was stated my the County Executive that a new extension had been installed to the county website and "as soon as they learn how to use it" more information about the issues would be posted.

I applaud the effort to increase involvement by the public but I fear if the "new" additions aren't maintained better than the calendar and other "older" parts of the website it will be just another expense without any benefit. I can only hope and wait to see the results and what happens over time.