Maury County Insider

Ex-Alderman Wants Answers.

2008-09-16T13:20:00.001-05:00

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The Mayor of Spring Hill asserted that the Bond Petition was worded to incite. What incited me was this year’s budget.

I would also like to point out that at least three former mayors and at least that many former aldermen also signed and worked for the petition, so let’s not imply that the petition was pure, petty jealously. It was, in fact, 1,300 citizens that want and deserve answers to questions about the city’s finances.

Questions like: When the city must institute property taxes and rely on loans to meet its obligations? Why does the city sponsor a radio show for $12,000 a year, or propose to spend $120,000 on a new park or to increase travel allowances by over 300 percent? How can the board justify a $1-per-hour raise to all employees? Why are part-time employees (i.e. the Board of Mayor and Aldermen) receiving full-time benefits of fully paid health insurance for themselves and their families? Why does the city propose Christmas bonuses totaling over $13,000? Why has the board not reversed its vehicle take-home policy? And the list goes on ...

But in summary, why are we as a city spending like there is no tomorrow and we don’t have enough for today?

Bruce Scotten,
Spring Hill

Woman wages solo effort to save protected Rippavilla

2008-08-19T05:56:00.001-05:00

August 19, 2008
By JILL CECIL WIERSMA
Staff Writer

SPRING HILL — "No retail. No homes," Jan Binkley has been preaching alone in her free time from the side road near the entrance to historic Rippavilla Plantation.
Binkley hopes her one-woman protest will catch on and sway city leaders against an expected request to rezone the former plantation's roughly 500 acres for development that would include neighborhoods and businesses.

"I know I'm not alone as far as people who don't want any more development here," she said, while standing along Highway 31 late last week. "We have enough of all that already. I just feel like this is the best part of our town, and they're taking it away."
Late last month, General Motors announced that it has a buyer for the 513.75 acres that encompasses the Civil War-era property. Canadian corporation SLF Acquisitions LLC has entered into a contract for the land, and closing is expected by the end of the year.
The company has reportedly agreed to honor a commitment to preserve the 100 acres of the property that surrounds the plantation's restored 1860s home and out buildings. General Motors will continue to honor its promise to support the Rippavilla Plantation, Inc., a nonprofit foundation with $1 million during the next 10 years for the plantation's maintenance. It made the first payment this year.

But even with that promise, Binkley said she worries what will happen to city's character if development is nearby. She hopes people will contact city aldermen and members of the city Planning Commission before a rezoning request comes up in the future.
Mayor Danny Leverette has said he hopes the development will be sensitive to the land's historical value for its part in the Civil War.

The city worked with the Tennessee Historical Commission on a grant application late last year for $2 million to preserve the Battle of Spring Hill site, near the 500 acres, which is listed as one of the nation's most threatened Civil War battlefields.

Binkley has reserved a shelter at Evan's Park, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Aug. 23 to rally an opposition for a zone change. For more information, call 931-486-2628.

New Day, New Debt??

2008-08-10T22:51:00.004-05:00

Where is Dave Ramsey when you need him? Doesn't Spring Hill understand that borrowing money you don't have on collateral you don't have to buy things you don't yet need is just not good financial stewardship?

And who gets the bill? YOU DO. If you live in Spring Hill that is. But the trade off is that you'll get all these groovy new amenities, like, oh, wait. Nothing. Well, you'll get the road they already paid for (Miles Johnson Parkway, which had money set aside to pay for it that 'disappeared', so this means we are paying for it AGAIN). Plus Kedron road gets some patchwork.

You WILL also get to pay for millions of dollars for new loans for 2 roads on the Williamson County's side of Spring Hill. Why the need? Because a couple guys drove it (one from Tdot, one from the city, but neither an engineer) and said, "Oh Golly! We better repair it. And let's not wait until we have tax money in!" At a meeting lately, Miles Johnson referred to the guys who drove it "You and your buddies..." I personally suspect that's just about right.

Why not wait? Because there are some bids on the project, created when oil was at it's highest price (remember, asphalt is mostly oil products) and when the market was at it's less competitive. Those bids are about to expire, which means we will need new bids. We might get better bids. We might not, but it would be just as likely that we would. Either way, does it make sense to pay for it when we have no money and have to get loans to pay for it, which will take us years to pay off, with interest and initiation costs?

But someone at city hall believes we need to protect those bids at all costs--including costs to YOU. What are they protecting? Not your future tax dollars, that's for sure. If they take out the loans to finance these roads, you will get stuck with the tax bill, and it's bound to be more than the .60 on the $100 you're going to pay now.

Historically, this city has a terrible track record of using funds for the purpose they were intended. Where's our skate park? Why is Miles Johnson Parkway stalled? What happened to the funds we had for those projects? For that matter, what happened to the millions of dollars that attributed to the deficit? What happened to all the money 'borrowed' from the water department?

If you think 'our boys' on the hill need to pay a little attention to a few sound financial practices, go to www.tntaxrevolt.org and download the petition, sign it and send it in TODAY. Don't delay. They MUST be mailed by Tuesday.

Just the beginning...

2008-04-18T21:27:00.007-05:00

Well, here is the beginning of higher taxes in Spring Hill and the death of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights(Boy, that didn't last long after Mr. Williams passed). Now that gas is headed for $4.00 per gallon, food cost are inflating, the job market is down, and housing prices are up the city wants more of YOUR money.

GET READY...Spring Hill and Maury County BOTH want a piece of your check.

2008-04-17T05:40:00.002-05:00

County budget director fired
Some commissioners concerned about vote
By SAMANTHA BALLARD/Staff Writer

As officials gear up for budget season, the county is now without a finance director after budget committee members fired Christy Mash from office Tuesday.
Budget committee members voted 5-0 to fire Mash, who has served as county budget director since 2005, and award her 6 weeks pay. Commissioner Andy Jackson abstained from voting on both the amended payment and the resolution to fire.
Mash declined to comment about the vote.
“Where does this leave us with a budget director, with us being at the beginning of the budget cycle for the year?” Commissioner Judy Vick asked before the vote.
Chairman Tom Primm said the budget committee hoped to have a recommendation in place Monday for an interim budget director.
Budget Committee member Glen Hasse said he added the discussion of firing Mash to the agenda. Both Hasse and Mayor Jim Bailey said the budget committee had sole authority to fire Mash.
“I think this item would be better done behind closed doors between all the people involved, but our county attorney says we must do this out in the open, and that’s why we’re doing it,” Hasse said before the vote. “I believe change is needed.”
Commissioners voiced concern over the seemingly sudden decision by the budget committee to remove Mash effective Tuesday.
“If there were problems, should we not have been aware of these in advance?” Commissioner Gwynne Evans asked before the vote. “Something like this is a pretty major decision which affects a whole lot of things. If ya’ll have got information that we don’t have, that concerns me a bit.”
Commissioner Eugene Richardson asked the committee if Mash had been evaluated and was notified of any problems by commissioners.
“There have been checks done, to answer your question,” Primm replied. Primm added the decision to fire Mash was not “spur of the moment.”
“To terminate somebody, it had to be bad, no matter what you did,” Richardson said.
Primm asked Richardson to “not look into this anymore” and asked for any other comments from the commission.
Several commissioners whispered to each other, but few commented about the motion to fire.
“That scares me,” Evans said. “That somebody can be terminated just because of a change for no reason. We can walk in here tomorrow and fire every county employee at will.”
“I don’t think this committee is going to start firing people en masse,” Primm replied.
While no specific reasons were given by the budget committee or commissioners in attendance as to why Mash was fired, Budget Committee member Rick Miller said he was disappointed commissioners may believe no thought went into firing Mash.
“I’ve had several issues that have come up over several months, not to mention some things in the audit,” Miller said. “Firing is never an easy thing. Whatever happens, it does not mean she’s a bad person.”
The agenda listed a discussion of Mash’s duties and tenure under new business.
The Daily Herald requested an agenda Friday morning for the Tuesday meeting and was told it was not complete.
A Herald reporter called Primm Friday to inquire why the agenda was not complete. He declined comment before being questioned and hung up the phone.
Primm said after the Tuesday meeting the agenda wasn’t available for public inspection until late Monday.
“Well, you’ve got your copy now, don’t you?” Primm replied.
Jackson and Bailey declined comment after the meeting.

Samantha Ballard may be contacted at sballard@c-dh.net or (931) 388-6464 ext. 3054.

Some people that haven't been around as long as I have will not see this article the way I do. This article is the beginning for a push for a new tax increase in Maury County. If you don't think I'm right just wait cause it is coming. If you don't want a tax increase start contacting your commissioners NOW!

Here Comes Property Taxes!!!

2008-04-16T17:38:00.003-05:00

Well, it is clear that our city government since Leverette has been in office has no concept of fiscal responsiblity (his running of our government reminds me of our poorly ran federal government). That being said it looks as if the BOMA will try to go around their own legislation and try for a property tax increase without a vote of the citizens / taxpayers of the community. If you are against paying more money to a wasteful government please call your alderman and the mayor and let them know how you feel. You can also email them through the Spring Hill governmental website.

For more on this development keep your eyes here or www.tntaxrevolt.org.

Leverette Still Playing Politics with Children's Education

2008-03-12T16:32:00.005-05:00

Mayor questions logic of school location

By SKYLER SWISHER/Staff Writer

On the eve of a ground-breaking ceremony for a new middle school, the mayor of Spring Hill made a last-ditch effort to persuade officials to change direction.
Mayor Danny Leverette told Maury County commissioners building a middle school on Cleburne Road would open up the last frontier of Spring Hill for development and run afoul with the town’s growth plan (doesn't he mean his growth plan not the town's...ask the people suing the city if the growth plan is their plan or his plan) .

“We are not trying to tell anybody what to do here,” the mayor said. “We are trying to make certain that what does occur makes sense when it comes to our community.”
Leverette urged commissioners to adopt a resolution opposing the school board’s decision to build the school on Cleburne Road (County Commissioners please don't vote against the School Board).

“It’s letting the citizens know you are going to be good stewards of their money,” he said of the resolution ( What resolution does Leverette plan on passing to let us know he will be a good steward of our money...giving out more bonuses at city hall like the money is his). The mayor said he would like to see school officials build the facility on a 35-acre site on Jim Warren Road near Marvin Wright Elementary School. Developers want to sell the property for $2.3 million, the mayor said.

At a recent meeting, the school board voted against purchasing that property.
The mayor’s comments renewed a debate between county, school and Spring Hill officials over the facility’s location that has gone on for months. Some county commissioners have also expressed concerns about the site.

At one point, the school board authorized suing the county commission if commissioners did not provide money to begin work to ready the Cleburne Road property for a school
The commission has authorized $1.2 million for site preparation, and that money could not be recouped if another property were selected for the school, Maury County School Board Chairman Shaw Daniels said.

A ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Daniels said the mayor is playing “Spring Hill politics.” (a.k.a. Trying to make money for a development that is being represented by Spring Hill lawyer, Huntly Gordon, which is tied to Taylor Golden and Golden is tied to Leverette's new home...maybe???) Hmmmm...sounds fishy to me.
“There were indications that some of the promises being made were not going to be fulfilled in time or at all,” Daniels said. “There just appeared too many politics were being played with the Jim Warren site.”

Leverette said he attended Tuesday’s Budget Committee meeting to assure commissioners the majority of Spring Hill officials are opposed to building a school on Cleburne Road.
Although officials welcome a new school, the west side of the city only has 700 approved lots, but the east side has more than 7,000, Leverette told commissioners. Behind the scenes deals could be the reason there are so many approved lots on the east side. I mean why else approve those lots with a 40% down turn in new construction?

“It (a school) generates growth in an area, but right now, the west side of Spring Hill is a low-growth area,” he said. “We are fighting growth on three fronts right now. Why open a fourth front?” The Cleburne Road site was donated to the school system, but the county highway superintendent estimated it would cost $3-5 million to make road improvements needed to service the school.

Spring Hill officials are in the process of laying a sewer line to the site. A school on Jim Warren Road would be serviced by two three-lane thoroughfares, Leverette said. Commissioner Glen Hasse said building on Cleburne Road would actually cost more money than constructing a school on Jim Warren Road, but Daniels disagreed with Hasse’s assessment.

Leverette said he will make every attempt to attend Wednesday’s ground-breaking ceremony even though he disagrees with the school system’s chosen location. I live in Spring Hill and I know we definitely need the Middle School I just wish they would place it on property just inside of Columbia city limits and see if Leverette likes that better.
“We support schools in Spring Hill,” he said. Yea, you can really tell he supports schools. If he supported schools like he supports making a subdivision on Rock Ivy land they would already have the school kids in the building taking tests.

Skyler Swisher may be contacted at sswisher@c-dh.net or (931) 388-6464 ext. 3023.
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I just hope the citizens of Spring Hill are smart enough to read between the lines. It really doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what is going on. Where is the TBI when you need them?

Spring Hill in the Red!!!

2007-12-03T05:40:00.000-06:00

Spring Hill will cash out CDs to help pay bills
By JILL CECIL WIERSMA
Staff WriterPublished: Wednesday, 11/28/07

SPRING HILL — The city is cashing out nearly $900,000 in CDs to help pay its bills.At a special-called meeting Monday, the board voted 8-1 to use the money that had been rolled into CDs years ago from the city’s money market account.

Though board members were reluctant to touch the cash, they generally agreed it was set aside for just such a rainy day. Alderman Charles Raines cast the lone opposing vote.

The money is need to help the city pay bills due for ongoing work on the Miles Johnson Parkway expansion and to provide some breathing room until the revenue stream picks up, as city officials hope it will. The city needed to pay roughly $361,000 this week while it only had about $356,000 in the bank. At one point, the city’s fund balance dipped as low as $5,000, aldermen learned Monday. Amid continued budget scrutiny, city officials have asked an agency to conduct a survey of the city’s water and sewer operations.Alderman Bruce Hull, who is chairman of the city’s new finance committee, said it appears the city’s general fund had been supporting those operations.“It’s bleeding to the tune of about $150,000 a month,” Hull said. “You don’t want to operate water and sewer in the red. They should break even.”

The city is on a waiting list for the Municipal Technical Advisory Service to conduct a survey to make sure user rates are what they need to be. It’s possible the city may recommend a rate increase. The last water and sewer rate increase was in 1995, Hull said. “Costs have gone up quite a bit since then,” he said.

Interesting how Spring Hill has changed in such a short time. It use to be lead by business-minded people and now it is lead by spoiled, I-want-it-all people. Not to even mention the behind the scenes deals that the Mayor and his real estate buddies are making. I moved to Spring Hill because it was ran differently than other surrounding cities, but now it is just the same as all the other corrupt towns that surround it. Sad...

Like Father, Like Son?

2007-06-18T02:47:00.000-05:00

Below I have posted a interesting fact for the Spring Hill community to be aware of. It seems the Spring Hill City Judge, local attorney, and representative for unknown principals of school land deal, Huntly Gordon has some ties with a disbarred attorney. His tie to this attorney is that he is his father. Notice in the post the reason for his father being disbarred dealt with misappropriated funds to equal around $1,472,000. THATS 1.4 million dollars being mishandled! I wonder if Huntly learned anything from his father?

Edward F. Gordon, a Brentwood attorney, was disbarred by the Supreme Court on April 24, 1991. He was suspended from the practice of law on March 9, 1990, by Agreed Order. A Petition for Discipline was filed against Gordon on May 30, 1990, and Judgment by Default was entered by a Hearing Committee on February 12, 1991. The Judgment found that Gordon had misappropriated funds totaling approximately $900,000 from a Tennessee partnership while acting as attorney and managing partner; he misappropriated approximately $230,000 from another partnership and forged the signature of a partner to obtain the funds; and he misrepresented applying money totaling approximately $322,000 to retire an indebtedness when he actually misappropriated the sum. In a third case the Judgment found Gordon had misappropriated trust funds of approximately $250,000 from an individual client.

Source: http://www.putnampit.com/databases/tbpr/disbarments.html

Education Group or Front?

2007-06-18T02:37:00.000-05:00

Group to give funds to Spring Hill schools
By D. FRANK SMITH/Staff Writer
Columbia Daily Herald

SPRING HILL — Members of a foundation created to benefit the 11 schools in the city said they already have plans to utilize a portion of its $800,000 coffer.
The Spring Hill Education Foundation held its first organizational meeting Tuesday and is in the process of formulating the rules that govern how it can utilize the funds donated by residents and developers for local schools.
The board elected P.J. Mezera the foundation’s chairman, Matthew White as its secretary and Mayor Danny Leverette as its final member of the board.
White is also the chairman of the city’s Economic Development Commission.
The foundation has already received verbal commitments totaling $800,000 from Maury County developers Cyril Evers and Taylor Golden (It seems that Golden may have a link to Mayor Leverette besides this education group. Golden also owns land in the same area Huntly Gordon's principals at Arrowhead own land around. I wonder if giving money to a education fund would be cheaper than laying the infrastructure in this area?) .
Evers said the money is contingent on the foundation receiving nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service. White said that process takes more than three months, but could be finalized by September.
“We want to help right out of the gate,” he said.
Another, more expensive use of the funds, could be to purchase property for schools.
Spring Hill-based attorney Huntly Gordon told the Maury County School Board he represents owners of a property on Port Royal Road that could be used for a school in the city.
He urged them to utilize the foundation’s funds to purchase the $1.2-million property.
The principals of the Knoxville-based company Gordon represents, Arrowhead Land Co., are unknown.
Spring Hill Codes Director Ferrell White said this is the only instance he can recall where the city was dealing with a landowner they didn’t know the identity of (Maybe we need a law passed that says all principals in dealings with the Spring Hill City Government must be know. I mean that way we reduce the chances of conflicts of interest happening.) .
In their defense, Gordon told school board members the principals wanted to remain out of the public eye.

D. Frank Smith may be contacted at dfsmith@c-dh.net or (931) 388-6464 ext. 3021.

Editorial from The Informer Community Newspaper

2007-06-17T13:33:00.001-05:00

The Insider staff found this editorial in the Informer and thought that it was worth republishing here on this site because it raises some interesting questions.

Questions ???

If you haven’t caught the latest development in the building of the Spring Hill Middle School it is truly the strangest turn yet! As reported by the Daily Herald in their May 2, 2007 paper, local attorney and City Judge Huntly Gordon made a proposal to the Maury County School Board on behalf of a client named Arrowhead Land Company. The proposal dealt with a piece of land he was hoping to present to the school board for consideration for the location of the new middle school.
Here comes the twist…Mr. Gordon told the Maury County School Board he does not own the land, but cannot say who does own it. He simply stated that he represents the Arrowhead Land Company. I wanted to know how much I could really trust this statement, but Mr. Gordon could not be reached for comment. As for Arrowhead Land Company, it must be a very recently established limited liability corporation (L.L.C.) because it doesn’t even show up on the Tennessee Government business search site. Also, Mr. Gordon told the school board that they would have to come up with $1.2 million to purchase the land. The suggestion from Mr. Gordon was to consult the newly formed Spring Hill Education Foundation since it had been recently established and endowed with $800,000 from Cyril Evers and Taylor Golden, which both are local real estate developers. If the board were able to receive the $800,000 then they would just have to make up a $400,000 shortfall for the purchase.
I decided to dig a little further. First, I found that Taylor Golden, a $400,000 contributor to the Spring Hill Education Foundation was also linked to this story in another way. He owns 25 acres valued at $700,000 at 3537 Jim Warren Road, according to tax records. I would also point out that Huntly Gordon is the registered agent for Rock Ivy Holding, L.L.C. which owns approximately 45 acres at 3512 Jim Warren Road valued at about $1.2 million. My search also enlightened me on the status of many other properties in this area. It seems that much of the land in this area has been purchased by several different L.L.C. each being linked to other area attorneys. I wonder if placing a school on the Arrowhead property would benefit Mr. Gordon and Golden by the infrastructure upgrades that would come with a new school locating in this area?
One of the worst developments, in my opinion, is that Spring Hill’s Mayor Danny Leverette is tied up in all this mess. The creation of the Spring Hill Education Foundation also created a three-member board that would oversee the donated monies…Mayor Leverette is a member of this new board. This makes me wonder since Mr. Gordon and Golden would both benefit from developments in this area just what is the benefit for Mayor Leverette. I hope it is simply improving Spring Hill for ALL citizens and not just a few. Time will tell as it always does.

Daniel Isley
Spring Hill, TN

Government needs a spotlight.

2007-05-13T09:34:00.000-05:00

Those of you that understand how governments work know that they work best for the people and by the people when everything is in the open. Lately, Spring Hill Government hasn't been working in the open like it should. Police tickets have been disappearing, land deals have been struck, and benefits have been extended without the public's knowledge. The goal of this newly created website and its authors is to shed some light on Maury Counties' governments and watch the roaches run for cover!