Need a car, truck or van?

The town of Smyrna auctions off it's surplus property through govdeals.com. This is for worn out government vehicles, seized vehicles and misc. equipment.

Here is a screen shot of the first page of three showing what is currently up for bid. Click to enlarge.



If interested go to Govdeals.com and register to bid.

Rutherford County Magazine - Winter 2012 Edition

Preparing for an emergency

La Vergne has impressed me with there openness to discuss emergency planning. They have gone so far as to have an "Local Emergency Planning Committee", For those who suffered the Flood of 2010 here in Smyrna I was impressed with the response of our town, but am a hint disappointed that we do not have open discussions on the subject. I would love for Smyrna to offer classes such as La Vergne does.

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Status Update
By La Vergne, Tennessee
Today the LaVergne Senior Center is reviewing "Home Emergency Preparedness" and "Basic CPR" at 10:00am. These sessions will be followed by B-I-N-G-O at 12:00noon. If you're 60 or over, please stop by and join the fun!

I'm sure that Smyrna has well laid out plans for emergencies. The fast response during the 2010 flood shows that, but interacting with us residents on emergency planning would go a long way to helping people be ready on their own.

A new tax on the horizon?

This article goes a little into detail on something that has popped up on the agenda for the town meeting Tuesday night. Section 8-C New Business, on the town agenda tonight has this listed.

Consideration of a resolution to adopt a litigation tax pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated Section 67-4-601(b)(6)

Looks like Smyrna will have another new tax for us to pay. The way the code looks it seems to be another fee added to court costs. The turnip is feeling squeezed a hint more today. $25 here and $25 there...that starts to add up to some real money.

2011 Lighting Ceremony

Here is some information on the Smyrna Holiday Lighting Ceremony.

As a part of its tradition, on Tuesday, November 29th at 6pm at the Town Centre, the Town of Smyrna will celebrate the beginning of the holiday season with its annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony.

Guest of Honor
Straight from the North Pole, this year’s guest of honor is none other than Santa Claus!

Musical Guests
Christmas songs will be performed by the Smyrna High School Jazz Band.

Santa Claus and Refreshments
Before and after the event, kids will have a chance to visit with Santa. Free pictures with Santa will also be available. Come and enjoy the festivities as the Town of Smyrna helps to get your Christmas Season off to a great start! Free refreshments will also be served.

Have a happy holiday to everyone.

Making Smyrna better

Part of having a growing town is the growth of business. I recently found that Smyrna ranked tenth in Tennessee...and they gave suggestions on how we can be better.

Being business friendly has become a nearly universal motto for communities, with the economy on the ropes and competition for corporate recruitment constantly heating up.

So who tops the list in Tennessee? The Beacon Center of Tennessee, a free-market group previously known as the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, has its own annual rankings.

Their comment on Smyrna stated that...

Smyrna represents the eighth Middle Tennessee to finish in the top 10. Its strength lies in its strong job growth, lower than average business taxes, and low crime rate. If it improved its individual tax burdens, educational performance, and median income, it could rise even further in future rankings.

Business Tax Burden Ranking: 68.5; Economic Vitality Ranking: 61.0; Community Allure Ranking: 68.6; Overall Ranking: 65.5

The comment on the tax burden does not just include property taxes, but everything from drink taxes to hotel room taxes. This would be an ideal place to start. Education is part of the county so the efforts of the people of Smyrna there would be limited. Medium income, the third item they said could be improved on in harder to define. If they imply that it is to high then there really is little we can do. The property values in Smyrna lead to a family with a slightly higher income as the norm, so unless they ship in 'poor people' this would require expending fund (tax money) to create low cost housing. In many ways this could lead to unintended consequences...thus there is little that can be done on this one.

I'm happy Smyrna is ranked in the top ten...the efforts of the community have made it possible.

They call it recovery

People talk about how the money that the government is spending on recovery is not making an impact upon their daily going-ons. I figured this week I would share with you the recovery investments that have occurred in Smyrna so you can decide if they're worthy of respect or mockery.

The first item it to show you a map of where the money is being invested locally.



It lists just 5 that are Smyrna specific. I say specific as some might be county wide like an investment in education, or a larger work project, but these 5 look like they'll be just fine to give you an idea on how the projects are doing and what the money is being spent on.



The first project for this series is a Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant. One of the first items that jumped to my attention was the number of jobs reported... Zero (0), none, not a single one. Over $300,000 on this job and they report no jobs.

Well here is a few brief details for you and a link to the project webpage with more information.

This project located on SR-102 FROM I-24 to SR-266 will provide a smoother riding surface for motorists, thus decreasing wear and tear on their automobiles, and will also help extend the life of the roadway for the next several years.

Award Number 0102013
Funding Agency Department of Transportation
Total Award Amount $363,000
Project Location - City Smyrna
Award Date 01/08/2010
Project Location - State TN
Project Status More than 50% Completed
Project Location - Zip 371674408
Jobs Reported 0.00
Congressional District 06
Project Location - Country US

A road retopping project is a good way to invest money in my opinion. The normal wear and tear on roads and the cost of asphalt is really putting some municipalities in a bind. This looks like it has merit as an investment, but not sure how much recovery it will create. I see the term recovery of putting people to work with long-term jobs. It has merit but how much recovery is up to you to decide.

Stay tuned to tomorrow for the next exciting project in our nations recovery as told by our government.

Being prepared.

The Governor has declared September as National Preparedness month.
With that in mind, and the memory of the great flood last year you might want to go to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and see what you might do to prepare for possible problems in the future. Most are as common sense as having some extra canned food set back, some bottled water, medical records in one area if you need to grab and run. A lot of people in Smyrna had to leave and their houses were cut off for days, and poor LaVergne at one point had all roads to it cut off and closed. Being prepared does not cost much, but you can reap great rewards from just a little forethought today.

Return of the angry chicken

You have got to be plucking crazy to think backyard chickens are bad...or council members.



The angry chicken is not happy...be warned.

Low cost water?

Low cost water in Smyrna. Seems that the town is building a non-drinkable water system and is starting to sell it in certain areas.

Low-Cost Non-Potable Water Is Now Available In Smyrna
The Town is adding repurified water to its water supply offerings for its customers. Repurified water is water that has been treated for limited public use through the waste water plant. The repurified water is limited to non-potable or non-drinking water use by state regulations. The twice-treated water is treated with ultraviolet exposure and chlorination to achieve disinfection.

Potential Uses? Irrigation, landscape impoundments, wetlands wildlife habitats, streams, industrial cooling, toilet flushing, vehicle washing, crop irrigation, recreational impoundments, and some industrial uses.

Where Is This Available? The transmission mains will be located along Sam Ridley Parkway, Nissan Blvd., and Stonecrest Parkway. Distribution mains and services can be extended to existing irrigation customers and potential committed customers who are within 1000 feet of the transmission mains. MAP/PDF

You would of course need to have seperate lines laid out if you think this is a good thing for you. I copied and hosted the map here in case it is pulled from the town website

Low-Cost Non-Potable Water system - Smyrna

Comprehensive Plan Public Meeting - February 10, 2011

This looks like something a few of you might be interested in. When Smyrna did their comprehensive plan the turnout for non governmental people was rather lite.

A small edit here. For those who might wish to view this plan they have it posted online here. Enjoy.

3 or 5

My column next week mentions briefly that the town of Smyrna is proposing widening Weakley lane to 3 or 5 lanes. This would be from Sam Ridley to just were the residential area starts past the national guard armoury.

For those interested the town has put online in PDF form the two proposals, 3 and 5 and you can download and view them to see what you think. If you have an opinion please take a moment and give the council a call or drop them an email. They need to be informed of your thoughts in this process.

A column and a cause

I write a bi-weekly column for the local newspaper and I stick to subject matters of government for the most part. In the years I have written about the town government and council I have had I think two turned down and one of them I simply re-wrote from a different viewpoint. One that was not published was due to timing. It specifically mentioned a town council member by name that was running for re-election and a comment they made did not set to my liking.

On Facebook I came across something that made me decide to publish the column here with the council members name deleted so you can see what I was trying to say and what is an example of the problem as I see it.

I’ve had something rumbling around in the back of my head and it simply has not settled down. A statement made in the [redacted] Smyrna Town council meeting needs to be addressed. I was surprised and a bit disappointed to hear what [redacted] said that evening.

The Division Street church of Christ is moving ahead with its plan of moving the "Tipperary" one room school house to a town property to preserve it. [redacted] commented that the town was of the mind that the church was just in the informational phase. It seems the church is moving forward with fundraising to move the building and now the town is in the position of not having budgeted the money to deal with their end of this historical preservation project.

It was during Council member [redacted] addressing the issue that [redacted] said “a lot of the people that have called me didn’t feel like that the parks were a place to put it, a lot of them indicated that they felt like that the building, as a whole, not just the back portion of it, held historical significance sitting just exactly where it is and the way it is, and it’s not..it’s not for us as the town of Smyrna the council or whatever to tell anybody what they can do with their property or whatever…”

I’m happy that a private organization is attempting the use private money to save part of the history of Smyrna I was rather bothered by the last part where the innocuous comment that the town does not tell people what to do with their property flies in the face of reality.

During the recodification of 2007 the town seemed to be an a regulatory ‘buzz’ passing new laws left and right telling us what to do with our properties. They told us what to do when they added bush height limits near windows, and parking vehicles on certain material. They really enjoyed the governmental ‘high’ of running tow trucks off of people’s property and making people moves their own school buses behind their houses.

Of course controlling items ON a property is much different then controlling the property itself. There was the case of a landowner near Front Street who was not allowed to rezone her property to allow a lawyer’s office to move in, thus quashing her sale of the property. They have made so many rules telling us what to do with our properties that one member of the council found himself in violation of some of the sign ordinances and property ordinances during the package liquor campaign.

Maybe some council members feel that they do not tell us to do with our properties. Maybe they say that to their selves as a way to feel better about all the ordinances that they have passed to make Smyrna into Brentwood-lite, but do not expect me to sit and agree with you. You cannot control the minutia of our lifes and then claim not too…that doesn’t pass the sniff test.

Now understand that I'm not talking piles of trash, or a person who decides to open a junkyard in their backyard...but items like this from Facebook by county commissioner Rhonda Petty Allen.

I disagree with the Town regarding their interpretation of a zoning ordinance that prevents the return of our weekly produce vendor to The Market. Respected unnamed Town Officials agree with me that there is a flaw in this ordinance. If you would like to see produce return to downtown, please make your feelings known to the Town Planner or any Council Member. Hopefully, this will expedite amending the ordinance.

Everything has to be put into neat controllable columns for the town so in my view the town DOES have a desire by act to control our property.

My humble rant for the day.

If they said it is it true?

The "National Motorists Association's National Speed Trap Exchange" released their list of 'speed trap cities for the Labor Day holiday. Damn nice of them in my view. The Tennessean put the whole list in a nice slide show and for Tennessee the winners are.....drum roll

Nashville (Worst Overall)
Smyrna (Worst under 100k)

Honest.



I might try to do a rebuttal as my column for next week in the Smyrna AM. Like the romour of our high property taxes that was just that...rumors. I might try to disproove this claim also.

Chicken Wednesdays - ChickenCribs

One of the issues with chickens is the coop. I am in favor of nice mobile coops but am totally hammer/saw unskilled. Luckily this one company has fixed that for the most part.

As urban agriculture takes off, the number of city-dwellers raising their own chickens is also on the upswing. Building and maintaining the coop often presents a significant obstacle to chicken rearing, but ChickenCribs solve this by handily gathering all the necessary materials for a small, space-efficient chicken living space in an easy-to-assemble kit.

Think Ikea for chickens. Is that cool or what?

The article said "As urban agriculture takes off"...except in Smyrna that is.

What are you doing this weekend?

If you were lucky and only got damp I'm happy for you, but there are many in Smyrna that ended up in dire straights. The town of Smyrna has organized a program to put people together to help volunteers help those here locally.

Marc Adkins posted on Facebook

If you'd like to volunteer to assist a Smyrna neighbor with storm/flood damages..log onto www.townofsmyrna.org and click on the "volunteer" icon. You can register to help someone according to your schedule and ability.

I made the link go directly to the volunteer form that you fill out.

This sounds like a great way to spend some time this weekend. Fill it out early Friday to give them time to find a place where you can best be used.

Help the town help you

Town employees cannot be everywhere so they are asking you to take the time to report any visible damage to roads and infrastructure systems so they can get to them quicker to help you.

The flooding of May 1 – 2, 2010 was a 500 year event. The town received more than 10 inches of rain in approximately 30 hours. Our infrastructure system cannot be designed to handle such an event. If you know of damage to public facilities such as roads, drain pipes, headwalls, etc, please click here for a notification form and we will work to make needed repairs. Work will be prioritized as to critical health and safety needs and we will work diligently to make the needed repair as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience.

The town website is calling this last weekend a 500 year event. after the massive number of lingering snowfalls we had this last winter I'm starting to think I might want to update my emergency kit. My column two weeks ago was on how to basically prepare for tornadoes, but it looks like I picked the wrong disaster.

Avoid these road areas

Days later and the water still is flooding certain low areas. The town posted today at 11am that we should avoid these areas for the current time.

Sam Ridley Pkwy. between Threet Industrial and G St - Open, but use caution
8th Ave at bridge
9th Ave at bridge
Fitzhugh Dr from Sam Ridley Pkwy. to Swan Dr.
Maple Street

Florance road is now open. I was hoping to go see Nice Mill Dam while the water was hitting it during the height of the flooding, but will to be disappointed.

Same as last year people

One of the reasons I like blogging on the subject of the town government is not to point out issues I disagree with, or how I know better in my view, but to inform people on issues that effect them in their daily affairs. My ultimate dream is to get a few people to step forward and to volunteer to take more interest in the government by becoming part of the system to a small part.

One way that I have done that is by becoming a member of the Storm Water advisory Committee and it has been a learning experience.

This is the time of year that new members for boards, committees and commissions are set and in the February town workshop they have set to add to the March agenda the issue of appointees.

12.Consideration of appointments to the following Boards and Committees:
a. Appointment of one (1) member to the Packaged Liquor Board to serve four (4) year term ending 2014.
b. Appointment of two (2) members to the Board of Zoning Appeals to serve three (3) year terms ending 2013.
c. Appointment of two (2) members to the Citizens for Sister City Relations to serve three (3) year terms ending 2013.
d. Appointment of two (2) members to the Parks Advisory Board and one (1) non- voting member to serve two (2) year terms ending 2012.
e. Appointment of two (2) members to the Planning Commission to serve two (2) year terms ending 2012.
f. Appointment of two (2) members to Project Assistance to serve three (3) year terms ending 2013.
g. Appointment of two (2) members to the Board of Adjustment & Appeals to serve three (3) year terms ending 2013 and two (2) members to serve one (1) year terms ending 2011.
h. Appointment of one (1) member to the Beer Board to serve four (4) year term ending 2014.
i. Appointment of three (3) members to the Storm Water Advisory Committee to serve two (2) year terms ending 2012.
j. Mayor to appoint one (1) member to the Historic Zoning Commission to serve five (5) year term ending 2015.
k. Mayor to appoint one (1) member to the Smyrna Housing Authority to serve five (5) year term ending 2015.
l. Appointment of one (1) member to the Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport Authority to serve five (5) year term ending 2015.

If you feel you can put in some time each month please take a moment to look at the descriptions of the groups on this page and if you like fill out the application here(pdf). Becoming part of the system makes understanding it a lot easier.

Deadline for applications are March 3rd so do not delay.

Smyrna has been picked.....

As the economy has fallen into disarray we have all wondered if there will be jobs coming back to our area. Well my good friends of Smyrna, I have some wonderful news that was just released today in the Daily News Journal. The Expo center over on Hazelwood dr is going to be a federal call center.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the award of a 20-year lease for the Mid-South Consolidated Patient Account Center. The 60,250-square-foot call center will be located at 1412 Hazelwood Drive in Smyrna, home of the current Tennessee Expo Center and former home of WalMart

Renovating the building to VA specifications is expected to cost about $5 million and construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed by August 2010, according to a press release. The property is owned by BGS Limited, led by former mayor Bob Spivey.
The call center is part of a Department of Veterans Affairs initiative to improve billing and collection activities throughout its network of 153 medical centers and more than 1,400 clinics across the United States. It will provide traditional revenue functions for all Veterans Health Administration treatment locations within Veterans Integrated Service Networks 9, 16 and 17.

This is great news for there will be many jobs in the process of getting the building ready and then once it opens jobs will be created.

read more over on the DNJ.COM