Radio Free Mt. Juliet

Mega-Church.

Randall Patrick "R.P." McMurphy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:21:20 +0000

God as a tourist attraction or sincere expression of faith? Your thoughts…

City Attorney Jason Holleman leaving?

Publius — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 03:48:21 +0000

That seems to be the implication of this story:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120115/NEWS01/301140075/Bill-Purcell-Jason-Holleman-Jim-White-open-public-policy-practice?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

2011 in review

Publius — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:25:08 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 30,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Path Forward… MJ Emergency Services

Randall Patrick "R.P." McMurphy — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:10:29 +0000

Let’s line up our targets. What is next? We have a tax…for what? Butch has given an excellent plan for investigating the county financially and from a liability angle. Sonny has given direction on what may be required of the county. The city shows up as a zone on the WEMA map, thanks to P.’s maptastic overlay. The county could do it but won’t…why? Etc, etc, etc. According to Steve Miller…”time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking…” Where do we go from here? How should our thoughts and efforts line up?

Mt.Juliet City Manager Randy Robertson leaving for Alabama

Publius — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:11:18 +0000

According to multiple news sources in Alabama, the city of Vestavia Hills (a suburb of Birmingham, pop. 34,000) has selected Randy Robertson to be its new city manager. “Robertson has accepted the job, said Vestavia Hills City Council President Mary Lee Rice.”

Robertson’s new contract reportedly calls for a salary of $168,000 and a car allowance of $500 a month. It appears he will start his new position on Jan 9, 2012.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Publius — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:48:43 +0000

Both Wilson County and Mt. Juliet have some useful maps posted on their websites. Unfortunately, they’re in the form of VERY large .pdf files (5MB+) that provide much more detail than one wants when trying to get the big picture.

RFMJ has taken the liberty of combing two simple pieces of information on one overview map of Wilson County. On the map below are the coverage areas for the ~~seven~~ eight WEMA stations/zones – taken directly from a .pdf map found on the WEMA website. Also superimposed on the map, within the boundaries of Zone Three (mostly) are the current city limits of Mt. Juliet (in red), taken from a map on the City’s web site.

Sometimes all you have to do is look at a map.

WEMA Zone3 & MJ

Wilson County’s Account of WEMA Services

Publius — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 23:43:53 +0000

Read the following document carefully. It was prepared by WEMA (run by the County) for the County. It calculates the costs of WEMA services provided to residents of Lebanon, Mt. Juliet, Watertown, and unincorporated Wilson County. It divides 100% of the WEMA budget amongst the geography based on the man-hours spent on calls. The calculated cost per hour is $584.44.

Note especially that WEMA provides (by their own accounting) $430,881.89 of Rescue services in Lebanon and only $243,425.09 of Rescue services in Mt. Juliet.

And yet the hue and cry is that Mt. Juliet must pay (either $300k or $700k, or $1.2 million) for WEMA services. And Lebanon will presumably continue to receive WEMA services for free.

Peruse the chart. Make your own spreadsheet. Note especially, that if you combine the three non-Ambulance categories, WEMA provides $468k in services to Lebanon and $338k to Mt. Juliet.

Mt. Juliet must pay. Lebanon must continue to get theirs for free.

If Mt. Juliet MUST according to the Wilson County Commission impose a property tax of $0.20 and turn it all over to the county, then shouldn’t Lebanon HAVE TO impose a property tax of $0.27 and turn it all over to the county?

WEMA spends 38.6% MORE on services provided to the city of Lebanon than it does on services provided to the city of Mt. Juliet.

But only Mt. Juliet must pay.

We dare you. Cut off WEMA services to Mt. Juliet. We DARE you! Pull your equipment out of Mt. Juliet. We double-dog DARE you. . . sue is!

Discovery would be delightful. With this spreadsheet now seeing the light of day, what other gems must there be still hidden and guarded in the county archives and financial records?

View this document on Scribd

The city once again had its lunch money taken from them

Publius — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:52:41 +0000

A report from our ace reporter, Citizen Butch:

“The city thought it was going to get 6 people in Station 3 by paying the county $411,000. WRONG!!!

If you read this resolution you will see that the EMA committee wants the county commission to vote to make Mt. Juliet pay for two of the four personnel that are currently manning Station 3! The county asked the city commission to come to the County Courthouse yesterday so that they could slap our commissioners in the face in person!”

Text of the Resolution sponsored by Reich & Hall below:

View this document on Scribd

County & City Commissioners to hold Joint Meeting

Publius — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:15:25 +0000

Word has reached RFMJ that the Wilson County Commission WEMA Committee and the Mt. Juliet City Commission will be holding a joint meeting on Tuesday, July 12th, at 7:00pm in the Wilson County Courthouse in Lebanon.

That would be tomorrow night.

Has anyone, anywhere seen a public notice about this meeting?

Mt. Juliet residents OK higher taxes for fire service

Publius — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:17:45 +0000

Thus sayeth the Tennessean:

Mt. Juliet residents voted Thursday in favor of higher taxes for expanded fire service.

When asked how the city should improve fire protection, 68 percent of the 497 residents at the town hall voted in favor of a 20-cent property tax increase for a new Wilson County Emergency Management Agency station in southern Mt. Juliet.