Road projects, airport on mayor’s agenda

By Eric Miller • Hendersonville Star News • September 26, 2008 The mayor is running unopposed in the upcoming election, almost certainly ensuring another four years in office, barring an unlikely write-in campaign. With another four years to carry forward his agenda, Mayor Scott Foster said he will continue to work toward his goals of completing road projects in progress and helping the Sumner County Regional Airport expand for the benefit of Hendersonville’s economic development. Short-term goals for Foster include moving forward on infrastructure projects currently in various stages of completion.“First of all, we need to continue those projects that need to be finished,” Foster said. “It takes an enormous amount of time to develop those projects at the state level.”Projects proposed or currently underway include the realignment of Saundersville Road due to be completed in early 2009 that will connect to Indian Lake Boulevard and move beyond it to connect to the Wessington Place neighborhood via Grapevine and Milburn Roads and Scotch Street. Other projects include extending Rockland Road to Center Point Road to provide an alternate route for the Vietnam Veterans bypass and a project to interconnect and resynchronize the traffic lighting throughout the city.Foster considers the highlight of his first term to be the library, which holds its grand opening next week.The new 38,000 square-foot building, more than twice the size of the previous library on Dunn Street that recently closed after 40 years, is scheduled to have a grand opening next week.The new library features a separate story time room for children complete with a built-in, drop-down screen; a separate children’s activity room; meeting space that can be accessed by groups when the library is not open; a separate periodical reading room; four private study rooms; a reading porch and fenced-in garden; and a separate young adults area complete with computers specifically for teens.As his likely second term nears, Foster said he is focused on continuing infrastructure-related projects currently underway and pushing forward on expanding the Sumner County Regional Airport in Gallatin.Expanding the airport will be a big boost to economic development efforts, according to the mayor. A longer runway and more hangar space is needed to attract more corporate headquarters to the city of Hendersonville.Many corporate jets currently can’t land at the airport due to lack of runway space and those that can must have optimum weather conditions to even attempt a landing there, something that has made recruiting corporate headquarters more difficult, Foster said.“We’ve lost several big fish because of the length of the runway at the existing airport,” Foster said, who has been working with the county, airport and other agencies to further expansion efforts. “I think we’ve got tentative support to expand the runway from 5,000 feet to 6,300 feet.”Hanger space is also an issue for potential corporations, Foster said. The airport currently has 15 privately owned single-plane hanger spaces, another 30 owned by the airport and approximately 28 outdoor tie-down spaces and a waiting list of people wanting to use the facilities.Making progress on the airport expansion is contingent on the cooperation of several entities, including the county. When a new county executive is elected in November, the mayor said he will talk to the newly-elected official about moving the project forward. Star News reporter Tena Lee contributed to this article.

Dean to give State of Metro speech Tuesday

By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer(Tennesssean) • May 12, 2008 Mayor Karl Dean will deliver the annual State of Metro address - his first since he was elected last year - Tuesday morning. Dean will speak in the Grand Reading Room of the Nashville Public Library, 615 Church St., at 10:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public, but limited seating will be available, the mayor's office said in a news release. Overflow seating will be provided. The library setting will be new this year. State of Metro was held in the Nashville Convention Center for years, then moved to the Public Square in front of the Metro Courthouse last spring amid criticism that the convention center seemed uninviting to average citizens. Many government and business leaders routinely attend the event. Dean is the sixth mayor of Metro government, which formed from the consolidation of the Nashville and Davidson County governments in 1963.

Metro Council to look at mayor's budget deadline again

By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • May 9, 2008 A proposal to give Nashville's mayor an extra two months to prepare the city's operating budget each year could go to the voters in a charter amendment referendum this summer, Metro Council members said today. The council will decide next month whether to put the proposal on the August ballot, said Councilman Rip Ryman, who is sponsoring the council bill. The idea is to change the deadline for the mayor's budget recommendations back to May 25, which was the original deadline until voters changed the Metro Charter in November 2006. The deadline is now March 25, giving the council an additional two months to review and tweak the mayor's proposal. But Ryman, who chaired the council's budget committee last year and serves on it this year, said the change has made the mayor's job more difficult and hasn't helped the council in a substantive way. "I just don't see that last year or this year we've accomplished anything," he said, adding that full revenue projections from the state aren't available by March 25. "We had it like that for 40 years." Councilman Jim Gotto said he was opposed to going all the way back to the earlier deadline, however. Five weeks isn't enough time for the council to digest the mayor's proposal, talk to all the Metro departments and make changes, he said. The council has to approve the operating budget by June 30."I'm not sure we need as long as we have, but we certainly don't need to go back to the way it was," Gotto said. "That's just ridiculous." Gotto said getting the mayor's budget proposal by May 1 "would probably be sufficient." Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling, Mayor Karl Dean's budget chief, said the extra time would be helpful, "but it's not something we're out there advocating or demanding." Ryman's charter amendment proposal would need to be approved by 27 of the 40 council members to be placed on the August ballot, where it would need approval from a simple majority of voters.

Mayors discuss plans for tornado preparation

Mayors discuss plans for tornado preparation BY KATRINA CORNWELL Staff (Tennessean) • May 7, 2008 Deadly tornadoes – killing 15 people in just two years in Sumner County – have officials talking about the best way to notify the public and save lives when severe weather strikes. A council of mayors in Sumner County is weighing the merits of installing a countywide tornado siren warning system, according to Gallatin Mayor Jo Ann Graves.Meanwhile, Ken Weidner, director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA), is spearheading a parallel initiative by asking the group to consider putting a weather radio in every home in the county instead.Ray Horky, of Gallatin, says he wants tornado sirens installed.“I think it ought to really be looked at, Mayor,” Horky said. “There are several companies that provide such equipment. As we all know, one of the nice things a government gets to do is protect its citizens. This might be another way the government can protect its citizens with a warning at nighttime.” “The verdict is out whether sirens are the best to do or weather radios,” Graves said in a City Council meeting. “I will say this: weather radios are fairly inexpensive, at least as an interim, until we decide whether we’re going to do sirens or not.”Weidner told The News Examiner on Monday that although he had discussed his idea of placing weather radios in Sumner homes with the mayors’ group, he had not begun that dialogue with the county commission.“I’ve been looking at what it would take to do that,” he said. “It hasn’t gone to any committees. EMA could possibly secure federal grants to do that. I would go to emergency services committee to discuss that first.”Much of Tennessee, along with parts of Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi, has been identified as being part of a band of frequent fatal tornado strikes in a study published by Walker Ashley, a meteorologist who teaches at Northern Illinois University. According to Ashley, the Mid-South has the most deaths in the nation as the result of tornadoes, even though the Great Plains has been known as the national funnel-cloud hotspot for generations. “The weather changes we have seen in the last couple of years, we are in tornado alley,” Weidner said. “If that is so, we definitely need to look at ways to protect ourselves, and with the weather changes we’ve seen and the warm weather, it does present a problem.”Outdoor warning systems generally cost between $25,000 and $30,000 per siren, and the typical installation would include multiple sirens. Portland, for example, was examining estimates for an eight-siren system that would serve a 13-mile radius of the city at a total cost of about $216,000.Weather radios generally cost between $20-$50 each. EMA will program them free for residents at the emergency operations center on Cairo Road.“They’re fairly inexpensive,” Graves said. “I have one. It stays on 24 hours a day. They’re wonderful about warning you, if you’re in your home.”A tornado siren system is most effective in notifying people who are outdoors, Weidner said.“The best fit for sirens is in places where people are outdoors, in parks, downtown areas, or college campuses,” he said. “I think they are very useful for their intended purpose, not to blanket an entire city or an entire county.” Gallatin officials have discussed the possibility of putting tornado sirens in city parks.Issues like decibel level, when to activate the system, a system’s range and maintenance are part the ongoing discussion into tornado sirens. Placing weather radios into homes and businesses is another kind of severe-weather warning system, Weidner said.“Why not have a weather radio in our homes?” he asked. “It does the same thing. It saves lives from severe weather just like a smoke detector saves people from fires. If everybody had a weather radio in homes or businesses, we would have 40,000-50,000 tornado sirens in the county.”Tennessean staff writer Lacey Lyons and staff writer Jennifer Easton contributed information to this report.

Mayor's budget plan cuts 200 jobs

Few departments to get more funds.
By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer (tennessean) May 7, 2008

Metro Nashville's budget is expected to increase slightly in 2008-09, edging toward $1.6 billion.
But rather than adding a job here and a job there, the city will lay off 200 people and eliminate 127 vacant positions if the Metro Council approves Mayor Karl Dean's budget recommendations.

Most Metro departments would receive less money in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. The school district, Davidson County Juvenile Court and some programs for the homeless would get more, however.

Mark Naccarato, political director and spokesman for the union that represents many Metro workers, said Dean seemed to be "robbing Peter to pay Paul" by boosting schools' funding 4.8 percent at the expense of some employees.

"We think you can do both," Naccarato, with Service Employees International Union Local 205, said Tuesday. "It's about priorities. … What these people do is important to the city. You get what you pay for."

Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling said he and others in Dean's administration tried to limit the cuts to jobs that aren't involved in providing direct services to the public. Riebeling also said many of the 200 people who would be laid off would land in other Metro jobs.

"Technically, it's still a layoff, but the good news is that they won't be without a job," he said.
Whether those people will still make as much money remains to be seen, Naccarato said. SEIU represents more than 2,500 Metro employees, including some who work for the school district, he said.

Erik Cole, chairman of the Metro Council's Budget and Finance Committee, gave Dean and Riebeling credit for "an extraordinary job" of balancing competing priorities in a tight year. But he said the job cuts were his biggest concern.

"At this point, my inclination would be that if we do something (to adjust Dean's budget), it would be to try to ease the pain of the layoffs," Cole said.

School funds to increase

Metro schools would be the biggest winner under Dean's plan, reflecting his consistent statements that education is the city's top priority. The district's budget would increase by about $29 million, including about $10 million in state money, to reach $627 million.

It's not yet clear where the new money would go, said David Fox, chairman of the Metro school board's Budget Committee.

The school district is under great scrutiny from state education officials after years of failing to meet federal standards, and the state could take over the district if its performance continues to lag.

School board members are getting input from the state on how they should spend the additional money to address the district's most pressing needs, Fox said.

"We've been in a lull for a month," he said.

The Davidson County Juvenile Court's budget would increase so the court could start another education-related program, a $500,000 truancy center. The center would take teenagers who regularly skip school and work to get them back on track educationally.

Dean also would increase the budget for the city's homelessness commission by 18 percent, pushing it to $1.15 million. There would be more money for direct health care for the homeless and a $110,000 software package to help city and nonprofit agencies better manage and avoid duplicating services.

New jobs found elsewhere

Metro Human Resources Director Dorothy Berry said her office has placed at least 40 to 50 layoff victims in new jobs, mostly within the government. She said she expects to be able to place "a large number" of the eventual 200 victims.

But Berry acknowledged Naccarato's point about the possibility of reduced salaries.

"You can't guarantee everybody's going to stay whole when you're doing a reduction in force," she said.

NES president tops Metro pay chart again

By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • May 7, 2008 While the Metro government prepares to lay off 200 people, another 200 sit at the top of the city's salary heap, each of them pulling in a six-figure salary. The list of Metro's best-paid employees is again led by Decosta Jenkins, president and CEO of Nashville Electric Service, the city's power utility. Jenkins is making more than $257,000 this year, according to data compiled by Metro Human Resources. But Raul Regalado, president of the Nashville Airport Authority, could make more than Jenkins if he meets performance goals. Regalado makes $232,000 but could earn a 20 percent bonus for an additional $46,400, said airport spokeswoman Emily Richard, who noted that Regalado's pay comes from airport revenues, not property tax dollars. Jenkins and other NES employees aren't eligible for bonuses. However, 49 of them are among the city's 200 best paid, including three of the top four and six of the top 10. No other Metro department or agency has more than 13 employees on the list. NES is run by an appointed board that doesn't answer to the mayor or Metro Council and doesn't receive tax dollars to pay its employees. Leo Waters, chairman of the NES board and a former councilman, said the salaries are often necessary to attract good people. "Compared to Metro government, the salaries are high," Waters said. "But most of those folks have very technical, specialized skills, and some of them have been there a long time." Waters also called Jenkins, NES's day-to-day leader since 2004, "one of the better administrators you'll find anywhere." Each of the 200 employees in the elite group makes at least $101,749. Two years ago, 160 employees made at least $100,000, and the lowest salary on the top-200 list was $95,971. There are more than 10,000 employees in Metro's central government. When NES, the airport, schools and several other agencies are included, the work force jumps to about 22,000. The salary list also shows that the mayor's salary doesn't go as far as it used to. Former Mayor Bill Purcell ranked 26th on the pay scale in 2006; his successor, Mayor Karl Dean, ranks 43rd. The mayor's salary is fixed by Metro statute at $136,500. Dean's deputy mayor, finance director and law director all make more, and Dean made more when he was Purcell's law director, earning $143,190 in 2006.

Mayor urges city workers to ride MTA bus

Mayor urges city workers to ride MTA bus Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has put $50,000 in the budget for city employees to ride to and from work on MTA buses. "It helps employees by dealing with the issue of expensive gas, it helps the city with environmental and traffic concerns and just makes us a more commuter friendly city," said Mayor Dean. There are 10,000 city employees, not including schools, and all would be eligible for bus rides. Mayor Dean said he encourages all employees to take advantage because he believes it's good for the city. "This is something I think we should be doing. We should be leading by example. Of all the things in the budget, I am really excited about this and I think it's a step in the right direction," said Dean. The Metro Council has to act on a proposal by the end of June. If it passes, city employees could be riding MTA buses for free as early as this summer.

Fewer Layoffs Expected In Metro

Channel 5 News May 5, 2008 08:33 PM CDT NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A few months ago, Mayor Karl Dean announced that massive budget cuts could cost 200 Metro employees their jobs. Now, it appears the number of layoffs will be lower than initially expected. Metro Public Works and Parks and Recreation departments stood to lose the most employees, but now that's changed. A number of employees set to be laid off are finding other jobs within local government. Human resources director Dorothy Berry said her job is difficult as she tries to find new employment for what began as some 200 Metro employees. Metro Council members such as Jerry Maynard have the final say on a tight budget. The next few weeks will be intense as departments try to meet a late June budget deadline. "It will entail reviewing all of the departments' budgets," Maynard said. "It will entail determining what our priorities are." There are disagreements over who to let go and how to spend the money. A fire department plan to cut some employees salaries is already raising eyebrows. "But the chief has made a decision and made a recommendation to us that you rollback some positions instead of laying some people off," Maynard said. Metro may be able to work out their budget issues, but the so-called wildcard in this whole situation is the state budget. The state budget hasn't been finalized and it impacts the local budget, Maynard said. According to Gov. Phil Bredesen's office, the governor may reveal his budget plans sometime this week. It could include some layoffs. The Tennessee Funding Board discovered last week that the state could have a budget shortfall of $585 million next year. Bredesen has not yet indicated how many state's employees could face layoffs. As for the Metro's budget, council members continue their budget hearings Tuesday. The council has until the end of June to adopt a new budget plan. If not, Dean's proposal automatically goes into effect. To see Video Click Here

New bridge opens to pedestrians

Nashville opened the Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge Saturday morning. The 700-foot bridge spans the river from Shelby Bottoms to Two Rivers Parkway, joining pieces of the Stones River and Shelby Bottoms greenways. Outdoor enthusiasts walked across the bridge with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean to mark the official opening. The bridge, designed by Consoer Townsend Envirodyne Engineers and built by Bell and Associates Construction, connects schools, parks and businesses along a 22-mile stretch of greenways. Metro hopes the bridge will serve as an alternative method of transportation for people traveling from the Percy Priest Dam area to downtown Nashville. The city received $2.8 million from federal and state funds to build the $8 million bridge. STAFF REPORTS (Tennessean)

Mayor Karl Dean digs deeper into schools director search

By Amy Griffith, Friday, May 2, 2008 3:21 am(city newspaper)
Updated: Friday, May 2, 2008 3:21 am

As a new chapter for Nashville public schools continues to unfold today with school board interviews of director search firms, Mayor Karl Dean’s involvement with Metro Nashville Public Schools has the potential to grow.

A spokesperson for the mayor said he plans to conduct his own unscripted interviews more like “real conversations” with the three companies being considered to conduct the search for Nashville’s next director of schools.

“He’s expressed a clear desire to be involved in our schools, and that means he’ll be working with the next schools director very closely,” said Janel Lacy, spokesperson for the mayor, on Thursday. “I think it’s natural that he be involved in the decision of who that person is, considering the close working relationship they’re going to have. … This search is going to play a critical role in the direction of our schools, so it will in turn play a role in our city’s future.”

Danielle Mezera, director of the Mayor’s Office of Children and Youth, will be present at the interviews and will share Dean’s perspective on the decision Saturday morning, at an 8 a.m. public meeting called by the school board for the purpose of choosing a firm.

School board members have said they’re counting on whatever search firm they choose to play a role in shaping — at least in the planning phase — the process for selecting a new director, including the specific role that the mayor’s office and community stakeholders will play.

Dean — who has said repeatedly since his August election that he plans to be “very involved” in public schools — has been a part of the search firm selection from the beginning. Dean was one member of a team of three who narrowed down the list of applying firms to a group of three finalists. He has also offered to raise money through private sources to pay for a search firm, once chosen, and board members have indicated their interest in taking him up on it.

The specifics of Dean’s interviews of search firm candidates were not publicly discussed by the school board as a whole, and several board members indicated to The City Paper, when asked, that they hadn’t been aware of Dean’s individual meetings with candidates. No board member, however, has expressed to The City Paper sentiments other than support for Dean’s involvement.

“I have no problem with the mayor interviewing [the firms],” said school board member George Thompson on Wednesday.

Board member David Fox said Thursday, “If the mayor’s meeting with them, that’s fine. … I’m glad he cares enough to do it. That’s probably a good thing.”

Fox added that he expects the board to deliberate, publicly, on the role that Dean — as well as local stakeholders in public education — will play in the unfolding search before a firm is hired, either today or tomorrow.

But whatever the proposals of the search firm candidates, statements from the mayor’s office indicate that Dean plans to be a part of the search.

“The mayor’s going to continue to be a part of the process and continue to be a part of the conversation,” Lacy said.

Two Metro Council members — Jerry Maynord and Jim Gotto — said at MNPS’s budget hearing with the Council that Board of Education members should take care to make their own decision about choosing a director of schools, as board members are elected by the public for that purpose.

Dean has said he respects the school board and its legal role, and comments that Lacy said Thursday are still accurate. Mezera will present the mayor’s thoughts about search firms and Dean will leave it up to the board to decide how to weigh those thoughts.

The three search firms to be considered are Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, Ltd. of Illinois, ProAct Search of Wisconsin and Ray & Associates of Iowa. School board interviews of the firms are open to the general public, and begin this morning at 8:30 a.m. at the MNPS central office, 2601 Bransford Ave. The board is slated to discuss and make a decision about which firm to hire at 8 a.m. Saturday, also at MNPS central offices.

Public Works, Planning to lay off staff

Metro Public Works expects to lay off 30 to 40 employees to absorb a proposed 8 to 9 percent budget cut, the department's director confirmed Thursday. Director Billy Lynch said Public Works officials had started meeting with employees who might lose their jobs and offering them help in finding new work. Mayor Karl Dean's budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, includes about 200 layoffs of city employees. The Metro Planning De partment told two of its approximately 45 workers Wednesday that they would be laid off, spokesman Craig Owensby said. Public Works has 437 employees. Lynch said he didn't think losing 7 to 9 percent of his work force would affect the services the department provides. "I do not think people will be able to visually see the reduction because of the way we're going to organize our trucks and equipment. Our main focus is customer service." — MICHAEL CASS mcass@tennessean.com

Predators' lease proposal questioned

'Seems like a blank check,' Metro councilman saysBy MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer Tennessean) • April 9, 2008 A handful of Metro Council members asked tough questions about proposed arena lease changes for the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, a week before their final vote on the deal. Council members asked how they could sell multimillion-dollar annual subsidies of the pro hockey team to middle-class and poor constituents; why the cap on arena operating losses that the city would pay is set at the 2006 level, which is more than $2 million higher than this year's projections; and whether other cities are on the hook for such losses when a sports franchise also serves as the facility manager. (A 2003 audit by KPMG LLC said Metro's arrangement is unusual.) "It just seems like a blank check," Councilman Phil Claiborne of Donelson said after the council's Budget and Finance Committee met with city attorneys and finance officials. The Predators' new, mostly local owners say they need a new, more generous deal at the Sommet Center — which the team's sister company operates for the city — to have a chance of succeeding financially and keeping the team here. The proposal negotiated by Mayor Karl Dean's administration would increase payments and incentives to the Predators while also protecting the city's investment more effectively, supporters say. At-large Councilman Charlie Tygard said Nashville is "considerably different" than it was before major-league sports teams arrived in the late 1990s."I don't want to go back to those previous days, quite frankly," Tygard said. The full council is expected to vote on the lease when it meets next Tuesday.