Bobby also asks the question. “And who’s fault is that?”

In my opinion, it is not Rob Shearer.

It is not Randy Robertson.

It is the current City Commission.

Who else can be blamed for this?

What can you expect to happen when you have city commissioners that give back $950,000.00 to the county which was offered to the city for improvements to Curd Road so that our young folks could get to school safely.

What can you expect when the commissioners use this money intended for road improvements as a credit against a $2,000,000.00 purchase of the old elementary school property along with $1,050,000.00 of taxpayer money so they can give most of the land to the YMCA?

What can you expect when the commissioners decide to hire a developer to build a $2,000,000.00 state of the art animal shelter at taxpayer expense?

What can you expect when the city commission wastes so much time talking about parks and recreation and land deals when they should be expending all their energy and resources on the widening of North Mount Juliet Road and the Eastern Connector? Parks are great. They are a luxury. Roads are a necessity for public safety and transportation.

That wasted time has cost the taxpayers of Mount Juliet and Tennessee millions of dollars already in rapidly increasing road building costs due mainly to the oil (asphalt) price explosion.

We need to put our money where it does the most good. IT’S THE ROADS STUPID!!!

But like I say, what can you expect from this commission?

“…we have a city that has doubled its revenue in five years, doubled its debt in one year, and decreased its fund balance 50 percent in just one year.”

Thanks for putting it all into perspective Bobby.

It is safe to say that Mt. Juliet does not have a revenue problem.

In February of this year Mt. Juliet doubled its debt with a 10 million dollar bond issue.

This budget’s beginning fund balance is 1.5 million and the projected year-end balance goes down to 1 million.

In summary, we have a city that has doubled its revenue in five years, doubled its debt in one year, and decreased its fund balance 50 percent in just one year.

The City of Mt. Juliet has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. And who’s fault is that?

I do think he was a school principal prior to being elected to the County Commission. Those who voted for him should have known about that possible conflict of interest.

Elam did not work for a Mt. Juliet developer when she ran for Mayor. The voters never voted for Elam knowing of her conflict of interest.

But you make some good points Mr. Whitney.

To the best of my knowledge he did not repay to the taxpayers the salary he illegally drew for those 6 months.

Also, I question his ethics. As a County Commissioner he never did recuse himself from votes on pay raises for his primary job, that as an educator. I am not saying that educators do not deserve raises, I am saying that Marlowe should not have used his elected position to vote on issues that benefit himself financially in his un-elected position. That would be like Elam working for developers and her voting on issues related to those developers. Both cases they should have recused themselves from those votes.

Haven’t we had enough questionable ethics in this town???

Be careful of this guy.