Wow! It’s hard to believe another year has passed by already. And
it has been a busy one for the city! Today I’d like to do a rundown of
some of the top things the city has accomplished this past year.
To start off, the City Council voted to decrease property taxes by 2
cents this past year. After the budgets were completed for the
2015/2016 budget year, City Council decided that some of the additional
revenues not budged for operations should be returned to the property
owners in the form of a tax cut. The rationale was that this would also
help out homeowners pay for an increase in water rates which also
happened during the same budget cycle.
This past year has
also been a good year for the city’s finances as well. As our community
continues to slowly move out of the recession, financial revenue
projections are surpassed. Other financial moves were made this year to
help improve the city’s financial state. Some Electric Ratepayer Debt
was refinanced this year in order to take advantage of low bond rates.
This refinancing saved Elizabethton Electric ratepayers over $799,000 in
interest payments over the life of the bonds.
Also, the city
applied for multiple different grants this year and were awarded three!
These grants totaled over $417,000. While many of these require the city
match money, many of the projects the grants will be used for are
projects that the city would need to complete at some point in the
future. Rather than city taxpayers paying for the entire amount the
state will be paying for a portion of these projects.
This year
the city also updated and adopted new building code regulations,
property maintenance regulations, and disability accessibility code
regulations. These regulations ensure that buildings are constructed as
they were designed to be and that they were constructed safely for the
resident or occupant of the building. These regulations also help the
city enforce a minimum standard of external appearance of buildings
within the city. The disability accessibility regulations ensure that
facilities constructed in Elizabethton will be accessible to all
citizens regardless of disability.
This past year also brought
the completion of two major projects. The first was the completion of
the Eastside Waterloss project. This project was targeting the dramatic
water loss that we saw in many of Eastside’s old water lines. This was a
large project which utilized various funding mechanisms including
grants. I’m sure many of our citizens in Eastside were glad to see this
project completed! The completion of the Tweetsie Trail was also another
major win for the City and our citizens. You can now ride from Snap-On
to Old Navy in Johnson City along a variety of paths and trails.
Some
other projects this year included the completion of the new Citizen’s
Bank Stadium, the beginning of the EHS Band Room, the implementation of
new library software, and a variety of other projects. As we look to the
new year, what progress would you like to see your city make? Let’s
talk about it!
Monday, December 28, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Public Participation is Required in a Democracy
In the short time I have been working full-time in Elizabethton
there has been one outstanding thing I have noticed -- public
participation. There seems to be a lack of participation from citizens
and property owners when it comes to government officials asking for an
hour or less of their time a year.
This nation was founded on a principle that the people and the citizens who live in this county govern themselves. This theme is echoed from the Federal level of government all the way down to the Local city/county level of government. The people of Elizabethton and the people of Carter County govern themselves.
Within the past 5 years, the Elizabethton Planning Department has been involved in numerous public input session. The first was the involvement of our Elizabethton’s Vision project. During this project we visited each of the elementary schools, the senior center, the Elizabethton High School, and the recreation center during the evening and mornings asking citizens to give us feedback on what they wanted to see Elizabethton look like in 20 years. Additionally, public input opportunities were also available on the city’s website. There was great participation among city boards and representatives, but little participation from citizens despite extensive public advertising.
More recently, the Elizabethton Regional Planning Commission asked citizens to participate in drafting new sign regulations. Input was sought via a public comment session one evening and an online questionnaire and comment section. Again, there was little public input from citizens about what types of signs they wanted in their community and little input from local businesses letting us know what their needs were.
During the 2012 presidential election, an election that typically draws the most number of people to the voting booths, somewhere between 3,600 and 4,700 city citizens voted for a city councilperson in this election. To give you an idea of how many people that is, 11,235 people in Elizabethton are eligible voters and 7,879 are registered voters. At best, less than 42 percent of the eligible voters (people over 18 years old) and 60 percent of people who are registered in Elizabethton couldn’t give an hour to participate in their local government -- the form of government which has the most impact on your daily lives.
A woman once asked Benjamin Franklin shortly after the 1787 Constitutional Convention closed whether the convention had chosen a Republic or a Monarchy for this newly birthed country. His reply was, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” We are all frustrated by the “big money influences” corrupting government, but if we are not willing to participate in our local government by giving feedback and voting, then we have signed over the right to govern ourselves to others who are willing and wanting to do so.
As we go into a new year, think about ways you can participate in your local government even if it’s just for an hour or two a year. Tell the City Council or County Commission your thoughts on issues before them, participate in a public input session, or simply show up to vote for the best candidate. Let’s govern ourselves and try to keep our little Republic here in Carter County. Let’s talk about it!
This nation was founded on a principle that the people and the citizens who live in this county govern themselves. This theme is echoed from the Federal level of government all the way down to the Local city/county level of government. The people of Elizabethton and the people of Carter County govern themselves.
Within the past 5 years, the Elizabethton Planning Department has been involved in numerous public input session. The first was the involvement of our Elizabethton’s Vision project. During this project we visited each of the elementary schools, the senior center, the Elizabethton High School, and the recreation center during the evening and mornings asking citizens to give us feedback on what they wanted to see Elizabethton look like in 20 years. Additionally, public input opportunities were also available on the city’s website. There was great participation among city boards and representatives, but little participation from citizens despite extensive public advertising.
More recently, the Elizabethton Regional Planning Commission asked citizens to participate in drafting new sign regulations. Input was sought via a public comment session one evening and an online questionnaire and comment section. Again, there was little public input from citizens about what types of signs they wanted in their community and little input from local businesses letting us know what their needs were.
During the 2012 presidential election, an election that typically draws the most number of people to the voting booths, somewhere between 3,600 and 4,700 city citizens voted for a city councilperson in this election. To give you an idea of how many people that is, 11,235 people in Elizabethton are eligible voters and 7,879 are registered voters. At best, less than 42 percent of the eligible voters (people over 18 years old) and 60 percent of people who are registered in Elizabethton couldn’t give an hour to participate in their local government -- the form of government which has the most impact on your daily lives.
A woman once asked Benjamin Franklin shortly after the 1787 Constitutional Convention closed whether the convention had chosen a Republic or a Monarchy for this newly birthed country. His reply was, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” We are all frustrated by the “big money influences” corrupting government, but if we are not willing to participate in our local government by giving feedback and voting, then we have signed over the right to govern ourselves to others who are willing and wanting to do so.
As we go into a new year, think about ways you can participate in your local government even if it’s just for an hour or two a year. Tell the City Council or County Commission your thoughts on issues before them, participate in a public input session, or simply show up to vote for the best candidate. Let’s govern ourselves and try to keep our little Republic here in Carter County. Let’s talk about it!
Monday, December 14, 2015
Educating Our Workforce is a Must by 2020
Sticking with the theme of goals from the Elizabethton’s Vision
project, another goal was to have an educated and skilled workforce. In
my new role as economic development director for the city, I could not
agree more!
Having a well educated and skilled workforce make Elizabethton and Carter County much more attractive to a potential industry or businesses interested in locating here. Part of my job, especially when I’m working on activities for the Carter County Joint Economic and Community Development Board (Carter County Tomorrow), is somewhat similar to selling a used car. My job is to sell Elizabethton and Carter County to potential industries and businesses. If you’re trying to sell your car, you will tell a potential buyer about every little thing you’ve improved in the car. It may be a few new belts, a freshly installed fuel injector, or even simply a new air filter, but you’ll be sure to mention it!
Having an educated and skilled workforce allows me to tell prospective industries that we have the workforce they’re looking for. That we have the talent here locally that can help their business succeed and, in turn, help them succeed. An educated and skilled workforce can be almost as important as having a suitable site for a business to build on.
Looking to a future workforce, a Georgetown University study projects that by the year 2020, 3 out of every 5 jobs will require some type of post-high school education. This could be in the form of a Vocational Certificate from an institution like Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology or an Associate's Degree from a college like Northeast State Community College. To make it better 1½ of those 3 jobs (or 1½ out of every 5 jobs) will require a Bachelor’s Degree or higher from a college like Milligan College or East Tennessee State University.
The Carter County workforce has a little work to do. Currently, 2 of every 5 people have some type of post-high school education while 3 of every 5 people have a high school diploma or less. Another concern is that the highest paying and fastest growing jobs require an Associate’s Degree or higher.
The State of Tennessee has realized this and has last year implemented the Tennessee Promise program to encourage students to seek higher education levels with limited financial investment. The state has also implemented a program called Tennessee Reconnect which is targeted to get adults who have some college education back into the classroom to finish their degrees and to help adults gain new skills from our local TCAT facility. For more information on Tennessee Reconnect, visit www.TennesseeReconnect.gov or visit TCAT here in Elizabethton. What else can we be doing to prepare our workforce to meet future demands? Let’s talk about it!
Having a well educated and skilled workforce make Elizabethton and Carter County much more attractive to a potential industry or businesses interested in locating here. Part of my job, especially when I’m working on activities for the Carter County Joint Economic and Community Development Board (Carter County Tomorrow), is somewhat similar to selling a used car. My job is to sell Elizabethton and Carter County to potential industries and businesses. If you’re trying to sell your car, you will tell a potential buyer about every little thing you’ve improved in the car. It may be a few new belts, a freshly installed fuel injector, or even simply a new air filter, but you’ll be sure to mention it!
Having an educated and skilled workforce allows me to tell prospective industries that we have the workforce they’re looking for. That we have the talent here locally that can help their business succeed and, in turn, help them succeed. An educated and skilled workforce can be almost as important as having a suitable site for a business to build on.
Looking to a future workforce, a Georgetown University study projects that by the year 2020, 3 out of every 5 jobs will require some type of post-high school education. This could be in the form of a Vocational Certificate from an institution like Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology or an Associate's Degree from a college like Northeast State Community College. To make it better 1½ of those 3 jobs (or 1½ out of every 5 jobs) will require a Bachelor’s Degree or higher from a college like Milligan College or East Tennessee State University.
The Carter County workforce has a little work to do. Currently, 2 of every 5 people have some type of post-high school education while 3 of every 5 people have a high school diploma or less. Another concern is that the highest paying and fastest growing jobs require an Associate’s Degree or higher.
The State of Tennessee has realized this and has last year implemented the Tennessee Promise program to encourage students to seek higher education levels with limited financial investment. The state has also implemented a program called Tennessee Reconnect which is targeted to get adults who have some college education back into the classroom to finish their degrees and to help adults gain new skills from our local TCAT facility. For more information on Tennessee Reconnect, visit www.TennesseeReconnect.gov or visit TCAT here in Elizabethton. What else can we be doing to prepare our workforce to meet future demands? Let’s talk about it!
Monday, December 7, 2015
Improving Buildings and Appearance in Elizabethton
About 3 years ago, city planning staff began conducting a visioning
plan for Elizabethton. What this would ultimately do, is identify where
the community would like to be in, say, 20 years and develop goals and
objectives to get the community to that future vision.
Some interesting, although maybe not surprising, goals came out of that project. One of those goals was to improve the building frontage and appearance throughout the city. If I remember correctly, this goal actually originated out of a session I did with a group of students at Elizabethton High School. It was voted by many adults as well and made it into one the top 10 goals.
So what are we doing to improve the appearance of buildings and properties throughout the city? Well, there are four main perspectives we are utilizing to help improve the aesthetics of our community. The first is our sign regulations. We are currently in the process of adopting new regulations which will require landscaped areas around new signs. They also require that a standard pole sign must be enclosed so that the exposed pole cannot be seen (and therefore will help prevent rusting).
As I’ve written about before, we are continuing to step up our property maintenance regulations. This past summer we adopted updates to our current regulations and hired a new property maintenance enforcement officer. From April to October, we also conduct property maintenance sweeps in which we canvas an entire neighborhood looking for property maintenance violations and alert those property owners about repairs that need to be made. Those alerts are followed up with additional notices and citations if the repairs are not made.
About 3 years ago we rewrote the regulations for junk and abandoned cars. Effective January 1, 2016, the last of these regulations go into effect requiring that businesses who take more than 7 days to fix or repair a damaged or junked vehicle, must store those vehicles in a building or behind a visual barrier so that the cars cannot be seen from the road.
Lastly, we are planning to rewrite the landscaping requirements for both parking lots and frontage areas along streets for businesses. While this is early, we will be looking to incentivize larger trees to be planted in both areas which will provide more greenery along the city’s busiest streets.
Having a attractive city help create civic pride and attracts others to our community. What other steps can we as a local government and private businesses do to improve the appearance throughout the city? Let’s talk about it!
Some interesting, although maybe not surprising, goals came out of that project. One of those goals was to improve the building frontage and appearance throughout the city. If I remember correctly, this goal actually originated out of a session I did with a group of students at Elizabethton High School. It was voted by many adults as well and made it into one the top 10 goals.
So what are we doing to improve the appearance of buildings and properties throughout the city? Well, there are four main perspectives we are utilizing to help improve the aesthetics of our community. The first is our sign regulations. We are currently in the process of adopting new regulations which will require landscaped areas around new signs. They also require that a standard pole sign must be enclosed so that the exposed pole cannot be seen (and therefore will help prevent rusting).
As I’ve written about before, we are continuing to step up our property maintenance regulations. This past summer we adopted updates to our current regulations and hired a new property maintenance enforcement officer. From April to October, we also conduct property maintenance sweeps in which we canvas an entire neighborhood looking for property maintenance violations and alert those property owners about repairs that need to be made. Those alerts are followed up with additional notices and citations if the repairs are not made.
About 3 years ago we rewrote the regulations for junk and abandoned cars. Effective January 1, 2016, the last of these regulations go into effect requiring that businesses who take more than 7 days to fix or repair a damaged or junked vehicle, must store those vehicles in a building or behind a visual barrier so that the cars cannot be seen from the road.
Lastly, we are planning to rewrite the landscaping requirements for both parking lots and frontage areas along streets for businesses. While this is early, we will be looking to incentivize larger trees to be planted in both areas which will provide more greenery along the city’s busiest streets.
Having a attractive city help create civic pride and attracts others to our community. What other steps can we as a local government and private businesses do to improve the appearance throughout the city? Let’s talk about it!
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