The City of Knoxville has hired David Massey as the new Neighborhood Coordinator, replacing Jason Woodle who is joining TVA. Massey will report to Community Development Director Madeline Rogero.

More details...

Right now at WBIR

UPDATE: Guess it's over? Is there an archive?

UPDATE: WSMV liveblog (by way of ACK).

UPDATE: Tom Humphrey: 2000+ layoffs (by way of Michael Silence).

As part of Mayor Bill Haslam's budget proposal, the city is proposing an overhaul of its employee compensation plan.

The proposed compensation plan is the result of recommendations by a consulting firm hired to study the city's current system. It is intended to bring salaries in line with "market rates" and minimize "salary compression" where new hires are making close to the same as more senior employees, particularly in the police and fire departments.

As you are probably aware, the Knox Charter Petition group will now take it to the streets. The group is launching an effort to get the 40,000 signatures needed (times two) after County Commission this week voted against sending the proposed amendments directly to the voters.

UPDATE: I asked Knox County Elections Administrator Greg Mackay "who pays the $80,000 cost of verifying the petitions, taxpayers or the petition organizers?" He said "taxpayers." So the County Commission just voted to charge taxpayers $80,000 to have their voice heard. That's a lot of lobster!

A coalition of Tennessee organizations calls on David Fowler to stop misleading the public on the SJR127 anti-abortion bill, and tells the Tennessee House to just say NO. Details at TennViews.

Knox Co. Mayor Mike Ragsdale's office has submitted their formal response to the p-card audit.

Selected local government meetings will now be streamed live by Community Television of Knoxville (CTV). CTV also announced that archives are now being made available for previously aired meetings. Meetings include City Council, County Commission, beer board, and more.

Here is CTV's website. Click the red "stream" button on the right to watch meetings in progress. Click the blue "archive" button to view past meetings and the schedule for upcoming events.

The Knoxville News Sentinel has more info.

The House Environment subcommittee voted against HB3348 that would ban mountaintop removal mining in Tennessee.

The Senate Environment, Conservation, and Tourism committee is scheduled to hear companion bill SB3822 a second time today.Today's KNS has an editorial on issue.

UPDATE: Sen. Tommy Kilby has blocked a vote on the bill in the Senate committee. Kilby is bullying committee members, and they don't like it. Notes taking during live video stream after the jump...

UPDATE: Tom Humphrey files this report on the House subcommittee vote. Voting against the bill were William Baird, R-Jacksboro; George Fraley, D-Winchester; Joe McCord, R-Maryville; Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains; and John Tidwell, D-New Johnsonville.

Newly appointed Commissioner Victoria DeFreese remarked in last week's Commission meeting that she had received "countless" e-mails, faxes, letters, and phone calls regarding the recent p-card audit.

Now, the Mayor's office has made a formal request to Commissioner DeFreese under the Tennessee Open Records Act requesting access to copies of all correspondence including letters, faxes, and emails she has received regarding the p-card audit, and also phone records and any logs or notes related to phone calls she has received about the audit.

Not sure why they would want to keep poking this hornet's nest with a stick. At any rate, I guess somebody will have to count them now. Wonder how many were from Paul Pinkston?

UPDATE: DeFreese responds, will hold a press conference at 3PM to discuss the request. According to the report, her position is that the correspondence is not public record. There's also something about "communication 'forged' by citizens." Probably not what she meant to say.

UPDATE: WBIR contacts an expert who says if the correspondence was received in transaction of public business then it is public record, adding "Ethically speaking, I don't know why (Commissioner DeFreese) would want to withhold it." Good question. Boxes and boxes of correspondence would certainly be embarrassing for the mayor. Why not just produce them?

UPDATE: From the KNS: "At any rate, DeFreese said she doesn't have any of the e-mails or other communications because she gets so many she doesn't keep them." Seriously? Game, set, match.

The Tennessee Senate Environment and Conservation Committee had a somewhat confrontational hearing Wednesday on the bill to ban mountaintop removal. Chair Tommy Kilby blocked a vote on the measure.

There was some good news, though. See the LEAF update after the jump. Also see this report at Facing South.

Elected officials late on nearly $10,000 in taxes

(Nearly half of that amount was owed by State Rep. Stacey Campfield. Some others had what sound like legitimate excuses.)

In case you missed it, here's the 60 Minutes report on Knoxville based Remote Area Medical and the recent free clinic they conducted in Knoxville.

See also this column in yesterday's Knoxville News Sentinel by Dr. Tom Kim who operates the Free Medical Clinic in Knoxville. And this article from last week that reports there are up to 80,000 uninsured in Knox County alone.

This is a national disgrace. Dr. Kim describes the scene at the RAM event as a "Third World emergency room." In Knoxville, Tennessee. In the United States of America.

Watch the 60 Minutes report. Read the articles. If you have an ounce of human compassion it will break your heart. If you care at all about social justice you will be outraged that we are allowing this to happen in America.

In the 60 Minutes report, Joanne Ford was hoping to get in to the clinic. When asked what she would do if she couldn't, she said "I don't know. I have a lot of friends and I have a lot of church support. I was very active in my church and I have a lot of friends in church. I just hate to ask. I've worked all my life. I hate to ask."

I hate to ask.

Well, I hate to ask, but if you think this is a disgrace please do a couple of things.

First, go over to Remote Area Medical's website and make a donation. Then write a check to Dr. Kim's Free Medical Clinic or the Interfaith Clinic or one of the other local organizations helping the needy and the working poor who are uninsured and can't afford basic health care.

Second, when politicians ask for your vote, ask if they are committed to fixing America's broken health care system so that every man, woman, and child in America has health insurance they can afford or that is provided for them if they can't.

Read up on HR676 and ask your Senators and Representative why this hasn't been brought up for a vote or at least debated. Ask them if they think it's a good idea, and if not why not. Ask them what their better idea is, and don't accept more empty rhetoric about "market based" solutions and tax credits for employer-provided insurance as the answer. Tell them to watch the 60 Minutes report and get back to you on how that's working out for the poor and the working class people of America.

The Knoxville News Sentinel had a bold headline on the front page of today's local section proclaiming "Electronic exchange of patient info close" with the sub heading "AT&T and Tenn. create system for accessing, sharing medical records." The opening paragraphs state:

AT&T Inc. is partnering with Tennessee to provide the country's first statewide system to electronically exchange patient medical information, the telecommunications company will announce today.

The system is designed to securely transmit detailed patient information between medical professionals.

It will allow doctors to access medical histories, prescribe medicines over the Internet and transfer images like X-rays, MRIs and CT scans.

The problem is that the system is not a medical records system and it does not manage patient histories or medical imaging as one might conclude from reading the article.

Instead, if you read closely it says that the system allows "exchange" and "access" and is designed to "securely transmit" information. That's all it does, as far as I can tell. But what do you expect from a cut and paste wire report rewrite of an AT&T press release?

It's like the cable guy coming in to your home or office and setting up a broadband modem and a VPN ("virtual private network") for you and then giving you an 800 number to call if you have a problem. That's what they're selling.

The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists is having a workshop for citizens and journalists on "Open Records – Open Meetings: How to get records & get into meetings," 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, in the Shiloh Room of the University Center. See the following press release for more details.

TVA adds 5% fee on top of rate hike

The combined impact of the two rate hikes could add as much as $12 to the average customer bill from distributors...

This latest increase is called a fuel cost adjustment, and it changes quarterly based on the costs of fuel.

The article says the rate hikes will help fund $2.5 billion for the Watts Bar nuclear plant expansion.

In related news, TVA is purchasing another gas-fired power plant at fire sale prices.

Buy those Forever stamps now! Not that a whole cent will break the bank. The post office has 5 billion Forever stamps in stock to meet the demand.

under the new law regulating the post office that took effect in late 2006, the agency is allowed to increase rates with 45-days notice as long as changes are within the rate of inflation for the previous 12 months.

From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

Worker issue fails on first try

Commissioner Paul Pinkston, however, said, "You're taking rights away, Commissioner Hammond. We're discriminating against these people. You're wanting to push things back to the dark ages when women and blacks could not vote."

Lumpy says it's unconstitutional. Apparently Lumpy and Grumpy are unfamiliar with the Hatch Act.

Anyway, what's the big deal about letting voters decide whether county employees should be allowed to hold elected office?

State Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) seeks to weaken the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's enforcement capability.

From the ACLU:

JANUARY 11, 2008, is the six-year anniversary of the first arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.

On January 11, we are calling on everyone opposed to torture and indefinite detention to WEAR ORANGE to symbolize their sadness and disgust with the national shame that is Guantánamo Bay.

To find out more, click the orange ad over there on the top right.

Cynthia Finch and staff have been given a choice of resigning from boards of community groups that receive HUD grants, or not overseeing HUD grants.

And from yesterday, the Knox County auditor's son has been hired by the Knox County Court Clerk's office. Auditor Richard Walls and County Court Clerk Cathy Quist say there is no conflict of interest because Walls is not currently auditing that office and besides they don't use p-cards, and anyway Walls will recuse himself from auditing that department if something comes up. County Commissioner Mike Hammond, who is on the ethics committee, says the hiring is not a violation of ethics policies.

OK, then.

Several new state laws go into effect next week, including the Johnia Berry act. More at TennViews...

A HUD review of Knox County Community Development Block Grant and other programs requested by Mayor Mike Ragsdale in August has been completed and a report of HUD's findings has been submitted to the mayor's office.

The report "commends the county for employing a knowledgeable staff and for a commitment to carrying out worthwhile activities," and also commended the County "for good programmatic monitoring of sub recipients."

The report did, however, find actionable issues involving:

• Possible conflicts of interest relating to the CDBG program

• Problems with KCCD and Knox County PBA employees time sheets used to allocate administrative costs among programs

• Failure to include a "reversion of asset" related to a subrecipient agreement with the Tennessee Conference of Community Development

Other areas of concern included:

• Lack of progress in the HOME affordable housing program and "inconsistency of the PBA to provide consistent and experienced management of the Knox County Rehabilitation Program"

• Problems with subrecipient management procedures involving program and financial management monitoring

• Concerns regarding separation of duties and having proper checks and balances in place

A total of $33,454 in questioned funding was disallowed, and another $840,000 is under further review. HUD's summary letter of findings can be found here.

The mayor's office says they are taking steps to address these issues. The HUD report noted that Knox County officials did not appear to have "adequate knowledge of the CDBG and HOME conflict of interest requirement" and that they would review the county's response in relation to the disallowed funding.

The mayor's office has prepared the requested conflict of interest documentation, a copy of which can be found here.

Joe Sullivan at Metro Pulse has an interesting interview with Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam. Haslam rates his first term and talks about goals for his second. Seems like a fair and honest assessment. Haslam sure makes it hard not to like him.

An excerpt:

What are your primary goals for your second term?

One is we obviously have spent a lot of money and time and participation on the South Waterfront, and we need to go make that happen now. I think number two is, I really want to continue what we are doing downtown. I think we have real momentum there, so the easiest thing in the world is to build on that momentum, but we need to expand on it.

Read the rest here.

With the heightened local interest in open government and transparency, you might be interested in this report on a recent study of online state disclosure databases. Check it out to see how Tennessee scores.

In case you missed it, Knox County Commission recently approved the first reading of a charter amendment providing for recall of elected officials. If approved on a second reading, Knox County voters will get to vote on it in August.

In the news of the weird department, Commissioners Lumpy Lambert and Mark Harmon co-sponsored the amendment. Today's Knoxville News Sentinel has a good editorial on it.

At the same meeting, County Commission approved changes to the county's nepotism policy which prohibit elected officials from using their influence to get county jobs or promotions for relatives. The changes also clarify which family members are subject to the nepotism rules.

In other news, County Commission will consider a ban on county employees serving on County Commission. The proposed charter amendment, introduced by Commissioner Mike Hammond, is currently being reviewed by the Ethics Committee and is expected to come before the full commission for a vote in January. If approved, the amendment would also be on the August ballot. KNS has the details here.

It's nice to see some leadership from County Commission toward positive change in Knox County government.

Knox County Mayor Ragsdale's office responds to the latest KNS series on P-Card spending:

Improvements for Purchasing Card Program

Beginning Sunday, November 11, 2007, the Knoxville News Sentinel will run a series of articles examining spending in county government. A number of these articles will focus on the Executive Branch.

The Mayor’s Office knows there is no more important responsibility in protecting the public’s trust than to be careful, responsible and conservative custodians of the people’s money. The entire staff of the Mayor’s Office is committed to making certain that every tax dollar managed by the Executive Branch is spent as efficiently as possible, and exclusively for the benefit of the citizens who contributed those funds.

Knoxville City Council passed the resolution opposing any changes to the state's Sunshine Law. Rachel notes in comments that all Council members voted for the resolution and signed on as sponsors.

It's my view that the only change needed to the Open Meetings Act is a clear definition of "deliberate" for those who don't seem to get it.

And maybe stiffer penalties for violations, but there won't be any violations if there aren't any secret deliberations.

My dictionary says the definition of deliberate in this context is:

4. to weigh in the mind; consider: to deliberate a question.
6. to consult or confer formally: The jury deliberated for three hours.

To me, this means that the following is deliberation:

"I think this zoning request should be denied because it will increase traffic in the neighborhood. You should vote against it too. What does Jack think? Can we get him to go along?"

The following is not deliberation:

"This rezoning will increase traffic in the neighborhood. How's the coffee?"

What do y'all think?

Knoxville City Council will consider a couple of interesting resolutions tomorrow.

One would oppose weakening the state "sunshine law". It would be interesting to find out where City Council members stand on the issue. The Knoxville News Sentinel has the details.

I was surprised to learn that the Tennessee Municipal League and the Tennessee County Services Association support weakening the law. The only thing the law needs is a clear definition of "deliberate" in small words for the benefit of Lumpy and Scooby. City Council hasn't seemed to have any problems understanding it and abiding by it.

The second resolution would request the City of Farragut to put up their fair share of sales tax funding for Knox County Schools. Betty Bean has the details at the Halls Shopper. Farragut administrator Dan Olson's justification for not kicking in more funding is pretty funny.

Both resolutions are being introduced by Knoxville City Council member Rob Frost.

According to the latest reports, Redflex has collected $1,950,378 and paid the City of Knoxville $739,376 and kept $1,211,022.

Report by intersection attached.