The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland Tennessee (TN) and Bradley County Tennessee (Tn).





Of Bradley County Tn.


OCTOBER  2007

                            The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland and Bradley County Tn.

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Openness in local government
Bradley County Commission meeting and retreat held in Gatlinburg

By Pete Edwards

Polls have shown that citizens trust in federal, state, and local government is at its

lowest in decades.

An ethics committee and a study committee to review Tennessee's open government laws were formed to respond to recent corruption charges in the Tennessee Waltz sting, and accusations claiming the Open Meetings Act, better known as the Sunshine Law, was being routinely ignored by state and local governments .

In Knoxville, a lawsuit filed by the News Sentinel and nine citizens, accused the Knox County Commission of violating the Sunshine Law by holding a closed meeting to decide who should replace term limited officeholders.

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In Columbia, the city council violated the open meetings law in a session in which the city manager was fired, and county commissioners used e-mail to privately decide on their recommendations about an animal shelter, without a public meeting.

In Bradley County, members of the Bradley County Commission attended a two day Fall retreat in Gatlinburg on September 28 and 29th, that was not advertised as required by the open meetings law. The retreat was scheduled for Gatlinburg but the exact location was withheld. None of the County mayor's staff would identify the location to The People News until a violation of the law was suggested. Neither

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Mayor D. Gary Davis, or his assistant Amy Moore, were available. The location was finally given only after protest by this editor.

The main focus of the retreat was to instruct  commissioners in performance excellence practices using the Baldridge Criteria as a model but commissioners also voted unanimously to relocate their scheduled September 24 public work session to Gatlinburg without proper public notification. There was no itinerary or agenda released prior to the meeting, so the content of the meeting was not publicized beforehand. Tennessee Code Annotated 8-44-103 states that adequate public notice shall be given for all scheduled and special called meetings.

The Gatlinburg retreat was held at the Park Vista Hotel and Convention Center with Davis arriving September 27 and commissioners arriving at 9 am. on the following morning of the 28th. The People News was told commissioners would also meet at 9 am. Saturday the 29th, but although told there was no itinerary, some commissioners met at 8 am. for a scheduled breakfast. This meeting was also not publicized.

The instruction in performance excellence practices called the Tennessee Performance Excellence Program (TPEP) was conducted by Sunstone Leadership of Chattanooga and lasted 6 to 7 hours over two days. The idea of the program as

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In an effort to improve the efficiency of government services, would you support restricting public access to meetings, or holding them in locations away from public view?
(see story this page)

it is related to Bradley County government, is to improve efficiency and cooperation between officials. Teamwork was a major theme with role and game playing encouraged to reinforce what was being learned. The TPEP is based on the work and set criteria of Malcolm Baldridge towards management practices. According to the Sunstone website: www.sunstoneleadership.org/_wsn/page3.html the criteria encompasses seven interrelated, common sense cycles of learning, they are; leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement analysis and knowledge management, work force focus, process management,  and business results.

After the seminar and work session, each of the commissioners present were asked the value of the program and having the retreat in Gatlinburg.

Brian Smith said,  "I liked it, it gave us a chance to get away and not be distracted. I think this class will bring us together more as a team, help with teamwork."

Mel Griffith said, "I didn't learn much at all from it and would rather have had the retreat in Bradley County instead of Gatlinburg."

Louie Alford said, "It has its pros and cons, it's good that we were away, we had a lot more time together, I think it will be beneficial."

Jeff Yarber said, "I'm willing to try anything, if Gary wanted to try it and thought it would help build teamwork.  As I said, we definitely have a division in the commission, and if he thinks we could do well by it, I'm willing to try it."

Lisa Stanbery said, "It's a big commitment, I think part of the idea is that it's a psychological commitment as well as a physical commitment, because it's a different thought process."

Ed Elkins said, "The retreat being held in Gatlinburg was a good idea because attendance by commissioners was not usually good at previous retreats."

Howard Thompson said, "I'd rather have the retreat where we usually have it in Bradley County. I also feel all the county commission meetings should be held in the court house."

Chairman Michael Plumley said, "I appreciate the opportunity to have a change of environment. It's a benefit when you have a change, there are less distractions."

Roy Smith said, "I didn't mind coming to Gatlinburg if it stopped the bickering among the commission it was worth giving it a try."

The five commissioners not at the retreat were Mark Hall, Ben Atchley, Bill Ledford, Jim Smith and Connie Wilson.

Davis was asked, "do you feel it is a good idea for the Performance of Excellence Program to replace the [citizen's] voice in government?"

He said, "no, it has nothing to do with that. It's a way to help us work more efficiently and accomplish a lot more... to be better. It's a way of bettering us. It has nothing to do with the voice of government. It's a process I think we need to go through to make ourselves better. It's like going to the beauty shop. You don't have to go to the beauty shop, you're still going to be the same woman you are without it,  but it's a process some women would want to do to look better. It's not a good comparison because it's not about looks."

At time of going to press the cost of the retreat was not available. Davis said the money would come from the commission line item of the general budget.
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Totals for this survey will be tabulated at the end of October 2007.
Click here for results after October

The People News
PO Box 3921
Cleveland TN. 37320
(423) 559-2150  Fax 559-1044

Pete Edwards, Editor - Publisher
Copyright 2007 (All rights reserved)

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