Another Case of a Government Official ~Millington, TN~ Treating Citizens like Peasants

A friend of mine, Rhonda O'Dell, lives in Millington, TN and she is concerned about the path and direction that her city leaders are taking ~specifically the budget and raising property taxes~.  She is doing what she learned in Civics 101 and is paying attention to what those in government are doing, asking questions of her elected officials and holding them accountable for their actions.  She is running into the same attitude that we as a nation are experiencing on a national level.  It is yet another example of how our elected officials ~who are really our employees~ are treating "We the People" like peasants. 

She is trying to shine the light of truth and wake up her fellow Millington citizens.  Here is what she posted on her Facebook page:

I want the citizens of Millington to understand 2 important issues and I will TRY and not get "deep in the weeds" and confuse you.

 

 1. The NEW CHARTER totally changed what you know as normal. This budget is NOT THE MAYOR’S - it is the City Manager’s. It takes four Aldermen on three readings (votes) to approve the budget and tax rate.

 2. The only way our elected leadership can directs or tell the City Manager what to do is by resolution/ordinance at an official meeting with four aldermen voting yes.

The system that is set up can be a TRAIN WRECK if/when you have a City Manager that is totally out of sync with the direction most of us want. AND IF WE AS CITIZENS DON'T LIKE HIS ATTITUDE, his INCOMPETENCE or leadership we have to convince 5 aldermen to vote him out. Once he is in - it is close to impossible to get him out; although the last few cities found a way to FIRE HIM.

The City Manager AND the Charter is a major obstacle right now. I have researched tonight NUMEROUS lawsuits that he (our city manager) is/was either named in or mentioned that his incompetence - or unauthorized actions caused the lawsuits.  

The city manager lives in a HOTEL. He doesn't pay the property tax he just raised on us AND he doesn't pay our hotel-motel tax either. He fired an employee for violating the residency requirement in another city yet he tramples on the true intention of our city manager residency requirement.  

His blatant disrespect of our elected officials AND citizens (me personally - with an email) demonstrates his leadership - well actually total lack thereof and the culture he has created is WORSE than anything I've seen in my 20+ years of living here.  

THANK GOD THE CITY MANAGER DOESN'T HAVE CRAP TO DO WITH OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM OR ITS BUDGET!!!  Mainly because in a past city he didn't want to budget $10,000 for crossing guards. Do a google search - you will not be happy!! 

And you can thank our past mayor Carter and her HR Director that pushed him & hid this... The same people that gave the illegal - unauthorized raises with the help of our CURRENT FINANCE DIRECTOR!!!!

I have documents to back all of this up (and more) if you want to see it - let me know. 496-1955.

I have FULLY expressed my feelings about the City Manager especially after he forwarded an email I sent him encouraging the Mayor, Alderman and him to look at other areas to cut in the budget. He forwarded that email to the directors involved AND ENCOURAGED THEM TO FORWARD IT TO EMPLOYEES. What a great culture to encourage productivity, professionalism and ethics because the CM didn't cc me on that email. I DON'T THROW A ROCK AND HIDE MY HAND - you know exactly where you stand with me - that is why the CM received my email in the first place.

When you say convince them to fire him - I can't convince them to discipline him - much less send me an apology. 2 or 3 replied via email the next day but NOTHING since then. Alderman McGhee actually replied that he doesn't communicate via email (first time he ever replied to my many emails) BUT he never called to discuss or meet me regard the CM's insubordination. Then during Thursday nights meeting he has the nerve to reply to Lisa's comment that they (ald) don't even reply to ME he says he wants to hear from Ms. O'Dell .... The citizens not knowing the background would say.. Aww he's a pastor and he is so sincere. I say GIVE ME A BREAK!

They have a lot going on with the budget and they NEVER figured out the CM is causing more problems than they could fix meeting every night.

I AM READY FOR LEADERSHIP not keeping quiet because it’s not politically correct to openly deal with these issues because AGAIN they have to direct his actions via a Resolution or ordinance.

If someone doesn’t plug the hole, all the people running around saying we can't afford our schools will see their CITY (not school system) receiving a letter from the State just like Memphis. I've said it before and I'll say it again, WE DON'T HAVE A REVENUE PROBLEM - WE HAVE SPENDING PROBLEMS!

AND WE DON'T HAVE A PLAN FOR ANYTHING... I actually LOL we I remember the CM told everyone how great he is with a strategic plan and he says, “well I'm not familiar with Millington's culture, history, or direction the people want to go so I can't give you a plan (as you requested) so I’ll just tell you how great I can do a plan.” I call BS. He is (by his actions) planning our future and I don't agree with his direction.

And using the only budget I had access to - I cut the heck out of the budget and via a PLAN I can restructure and streamline several areas. By the time I had access via the website the BMA had one budget hearing (citizens can't speak) and then the public hearing 5 minutes before they amended the budget and approved it.

I keep complaining how exactly does this work well for the citizens? I keep saying ‘Sunshine’ a citizen budget meeting - let us sit at the table and show all seven aldermen at the same time what we want. I don't have time to meet with all seven aldermen in a few days and get my point across.

If you live in Millington, please get involved and contact Rhonda.  She has left her phone number for you to do so.  Even if you don't live in Millington, please get involved in your local community government ~and state and national~ and find out what they are doing.  Every citizen needs to experience your local bodies of government and your elected officials spending your TaxPayer Money ~TPM~  and see how they treat those that pay for their salaries and provide the funds for what they are funding. 

Spending TPM ~TaxPayer's Money~

Every citizen needs to go down to their local governing body and sit in on a session of hearing your elected officials spend TPM ~TaxPayer Money.~ I did just that yesterday. I went down, with a group of other concerned citizens to observe the Shelby County Commission meeting yesterday, June 17, 2013. Believe me, the sound bites that you get from the local news are not what really happens. Did you know that three of your elected employees ~County Commissioners~ routinely leave early from their own board meeting? Walter Bailey, James Harvey and Sidney Chism left before the end of the meeting ~as did the media with their cameras~. There were just a few of us that stayed to the end.

These are the highlights that I found interesting from yesterday’s meeting:
1) The cavalier attitude that many commissioners spend, as Commissioner Shafer refers to it, TPM ~TaxPayer Money~

2) The spoiled childlike behavior of several commissioners. If they get their feelings hurt, they will use their vote to “punish” the perceived offender. Really? This is TPM ~TaxPayer Money~ you are voting with, my money and you are going act like a spoiled child? On Resolutions 29 and 30; the County Commission ordinance concerning “living wage” for County contractors is in violation of TN state law and they didn’t pass the amendment to fix it because Commissioners Brooks, Mulroy and Ford abstained from voting because they were pouting ~and electioneering~ that their resolution was violation of state law and Commissioners Bailey, Harvey and Chism had already left. The bottom line ~as I understand it~ is that we are in violation of a state law that if implemented will invite a lawsuit by the state of TN. IS that being fiscally responsible? More TaxPayer Money for lawyers?

3) The bloviating of many commissioners. They love to hear the sound of their own voices. It doesn’t matter that they make no sense or listen to their fellow commissioners; they just want to make the news. Commissioner Bailey is bad about this.

4) The idea of “us vs them” is prevalent among the Commissioners. Many use the rhetoric of “unity” but their idea of unity is everyone agreeing with them. It’s good for their reelection and sound bites if they can sell their constituents on that they are “fighting” against the injustices of the white suburbanites who don’t want to fund their slush funds and require fiscal accountability for TPM ~TaxPayer Money~. Commissioner Bunker talked frequently about the failed policies and mindset that those in Memphis bring to the table, yet those are the policies that they want to continue to adopt. Seriously?

5) The media doesn’t do their job. They only stayed for the property tax vote. I didn’t see one reference to the debate and votes on delaying the effective date for the new building codes. Not mentioned was the fact that the new Residential code that they passed previously was impossible to build and Commissioner Bailey voted against delaying an impossible building code. 6) When discussing the school’s budget, no one from the school administration was there. They were asking for an additional $20 Million from the County Taxpayers and they can’t even show up to answer questions?

7) The prevailing attitude of the Shelby County Commission is, “Just write a check; it doesn’t matter whether there is money in the bank or not.” Don’t worry; we’ll just raise the taxes on the working people of Shelby County.

Here are some of the reports from local media on the meeting. Note that I couldn’t even find a report from WREG; maybe they covered it during their newscast, but nothing online. I guess this wasn’t important enough for them to cover.

MyFoxMemphis

Commissioner Bunker said something that I really like ~and am going to steal~ “I represent the people to the government, not the government to the people.” to which Commissioner Bailey couldn't understand what he meant. and when Commissioner Bailey said that the best financial minds said that we had to have a tax increase, Commissioner Wyatt says that the best financial bureaucrats saying that we need a tax increase.

Memphis Daily News
WMCTV
Local News 24



Also note that I didn't link to the CA because they require a subscription  and as the CFO of TNWAHM,  I didn't authorize myself to approve that expense.

Bottom line, Memphis and Shelby County, until we educate the public on why we need fiscal responsibility and how lower taxes increases the tax base and businesses coming into the Memphis area, we aren't going to grow and flourish into the great city that we have the potential for, we will be traveling down the pathway of Detroit.  The best thing for Desoto County has been Memphis tax policy.    

Update:  I contacted "News" Channel 3 about their lack of coverage of the meeting.  They directed me to this story about the new payroll plan that was adopted by the school administration and By the way, the Shelby Co. Commission passed the Schools budget," and didn't bother to mention that no one from the school administration was there to answer questions about the budget.