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GoogleAccording to the city recorder, one day at a time.
One week after city manager Ed Craig stepped down following a city council vote of 4-2 that asked for his resignation, work continues at City Hall with Shelbyville employees at their jobs serving the public.
City recorder Betty Lamb explained if "something major comes up" at city hall, city council members will have to be contacted and a special meeting called "to let them handle it."
But as for day-to-day operations, department heads are taking care of the workers under their wings.
"We're going to go on just like we have," Lamb said. The department heads "know what they need to do."
In fact, department heads gathered for their weekly meeting on Tuesday and were told to "continue on with their departments like they have been doing," Lamb said, "and go by their budgets."
If any purchasing is to be done, those matters will have to be run through Lorrie Sadler in purchasing and city treasurer Gary Cantrell.
When Shelbyville had a manager, any spending over $2,500 required city council approval. Lamb said that the city "will definitely not be spending any money that isn't already budgeted and nothing that does not have council approval."
Minor purchases, such as a run to Walmart for office supplies, can be approved by Sadler or Cantrell, since the items are already budgeted, but anything else will have to go through the council.
Applications
Lamb said she hopes that at the November study session the council will take up the matter of accepting applications for a new city manager.
But Lamb said a new codes and planning director is critically needed, and she will be asking the council to take applications for that position as soon as possible.
Kip Green suddenly resigned that position on Sept. 26, only stating that he "will be accepting another opportunity."
Craig was supposed to take over Green's duties following his departure, however, the city manager's resignation last week has left the planning and codes department without direction.
"They're continuing to do their daily operations, which they're all very capable of doing," Lamb explained, and public works director Mark Clanton will be overseeing the day-to-day functions since he is familiar with the city's subdivision regulations.
Also, this month's meeting of the Shelbyville Planning Commission only has one action item on the October agenda, and that's to set the last gathering of the year.
Due to scheduling conflicts resulting from the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, approval will be needed to combine the November and December meetings into one on Dec. 3.
The only other item on the planning commission agenda is to approve the minutes of the September meeting.
Lamb said that she will also ask the council what to do about the city manager's position as well and suggest taking applications for that job too.
Several people have also inquired at city hall about the human resource position, but Lamb said that "is on the back burner" and it may be early 2010 before applications will be taken for that job.
Day by day
So far, however, none of the work that Craig would normally do has crossed Lamb's desk, "since nothing major has come up yet," she said.
But again, any item that serious would have to go to the council for approval.
Items to be added to the council's agenda for next month's meeting will be submitted by Lamb and Mayor Wallace Cartwright, but no new items have been added as of yet.
The minor details of running the city will be crossing Lamb's desk for the time being.
Lamb said that the city has been without a manager before, and with the exception of parks and recreation director Sylvia Pinson and Cantrell, all department heads have experienced those times.
The city recorder has also been interim city manager twice before, but when asked if she would be asked to do it again, Lamb said. "I certainly hope not."
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please
Why not put Wayne Williams back where he belongs.I think its the right thing to do,if he will have it after Craig problems.
Betty would make a fine City Manager. In my years of dealing with the City she has been the main-stay and really has been doing the work anyway. Ed's biggest problem was.....well Ed.
Without a city manager would be a big saving, really have many people does it take?
Wow, did that really just happen?
Someone at the T-G really just deleted comments from readers asking why these two resigned? Is that not a valid question?
I'll re-post so those of you that missed out don't miss out.
I'd sure like to know the reason was for them asking for his resignation. And Kip Green's "sudden"
resignation. Any T-G reporters looking into this?
-- Posted by Thom on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 7:06 PM
I would be careful mentioning Kip on here. I seen Moral Monkey ask that question 3 times yesterday
and they erased his post each time and then barred him from posting on here.
Or it could have been that Moral Monkey revealed he thought that Brett Favre that comments on here
is/was Kip?
Either way, it is a touchy and hush hush subject with John Carney.
These posts will probably be deleted by in the morning if they last that long.
-- Posted by The Truth Seeker on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 9:00 PM
Response by John Carney:
This is not about me -- and, in fact, the posts you mentioned were brought to my attention by a
co-worker, who asked me to do something about them. We cannot allow people to make anonymous and
undocumented allegations in this forum. It is defamation, which is a violation of our Terms of
Service. Period. When and if something like that becomes public record, it becomes a topic for
conversation here. Until then, it is not. And posters who continue to post things they know that we
(not me -- we) consider to be in violation will have their accounts banned.
I have no connection whatsoever to the people involved, nor does anyone I know of in the newsroom.
City government is not my beat, and this is not my story. I'm only trying to enforce the Terms of
Service, to which you agreed when you signed up for an account.
I doubt they'll be deleted. Although it will be interesting to see whether or not the T-G has a
habit of deleting any posts regarding the reason for Kip Green and Ed Craig resigning as quickly and
quietly as they did. I think the paper owes it to the people of this town to find out the reason and
report on it. Otherwise, what's the point in having a newspaper?
-- Posted by Thom on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 9:19 PM
Response by John Carney:
What makes you think we haven't looked into it? But until we have something in writing or someone
willing to go on the record, there is no story, only a rumor. We have to protect ourselves (and the
people who comment here) from the kind of legal action that could result if we allow people to make
undocumented allegations.
John - If you have looked into it and there is no evidence (since an "investigation" may or may not
have taken place) why can't you simply say that you've looked into certain (unspecified) allegations
against Kip Green and/or Ed Craig and have found nothing to warrant further research? That should
put this to bed.
Additionally, if there actually was an investigation by any governmental agency then shouldn't there
be some record of this that is, under the Tennessee Public Records Act, available to the public upon
request?
-- Posted by Thom on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 10:00 PM
There, delete that one.
The Truth Seeker - I apologize, obviously you were hitting close to home about the reason for deleting comments.
wow, my post was deleted as well.
It seems that if we have a qualified Treasurer who can set and administer a budget, trustworthy Department Heads who can stay within their assigned budgets; an administrator to handle all the paperwork associated with each department, and a city council to approve major changes, why do we need a city manager? All these people are managers within their own right. Each department head is being paid a handsome salary to run their department, let them do their job! The administrator can bring any problems to the council for dispensation. I do see where a human resource person would be a necessity, because of the scope of work involved in personnel, benefits and labor issues. This person should not be just someone's cousin's Uncle Joe or Aunt Jane. I'm anxious to see if job descriptions and education requirements are posted and followed for all the positions that are vacant. Our town needs to be run by educated, qualified individuals. It seems the city manager would need a Business Administration/Accounting degree. The Resource person also needs a Business Degree with an emphasis in Human Resource work. NO DIRTY POLITICS and backdoor ushering in people because they know somebody. We've seen where all that has gotten us.
I nominate Lori Saddler for Human Resources. She worked in personnel at her previous job, and a fine job she did.
I posted a question at 12:06 and it was deleted before 1:10. All I did was ask a question. If the t-g isn't going to allow people to ask questions or make comments WHY DO YOU HAVE THIS FORMAT?
At this point in the game, we've repeated this rule over and over and over and made our position as clear as we know how to make it -- so continuing to mention specific people, even in question form, is no longer appropriate.
We will delete any message mentioning specific people in this context. If you continue to post messages which you know we consider in violation of our Terms of Service, we will terminate your user account.
"which is a violation of our Terms of
Service. " from His Majesty John Carney
Where would one find such "terms of service"?
All I see is "Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on t-g.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read. "
John,
I really don't see anything in the Terms of Service that deems deleting posts about asking questions regarding something as important as to someone's current status in a city government position.
It seems you did not have a problem with someone posting KNOWINGLY false information about my employment. And when I try to explain the happen stance, you delete my post. Yes, you stated it was a link but how am I supposed to do so without the proper proof? But, even after the answered email from you, you continued to leave the "comment" that violated the T-G.com's own Terms of Service.
You can't play both sides of the fence. I like a lot of your stories but sometimes you just don't make any sense when it comes to fairness.
As far as the other stuff you mentioned, about someone posting false information about your employment, you'll have to refresh my memory. I have no idea what you're talking about.
John Carney, Please explain to us, the users of this "service", why the posts were deleted at 10:23pm last night.
If it's not someone at the T-G deleting them to help a friend, then what was it?
I have e-mailed Kent asking this and have not yet received a response. All you keep saying is that you're deleting posts that violate the TOS.
I suppose maybe the folks at the Southeast Missourian could tell me which terms were violated by the posts that were deleted and I re-posted since you won't.
So, in your professional opinion, we're not allowed to ask questions in YOUR paper regarding the sudden and quiet resignations of two of the city's managers? Isn't that something that JOURNALISTS are supposed to be doing? I suppose Scoop really is dead.
It sounds as if the paper would rather be safe than sorry.
Maybe,if we'd been slightly better stewards of our presence here,there'd have been less concern that the wrong people would make rash statements that would distort and confuse rather than clarify.
Ill feelings (if not actionable harm) could be generated before any necessary investigation (and reporting on it) could be completed.
Premature speculation might even impede an examination of the facts.
Maybe,there is no deep,dark tale behind these instances.
I daresay the possibility of an intriguing "rest of the story" has led to increased scrutiny of the whole matter.
But,while inquiries about "Have you stopped beating your wife?" and allegations that "boys and girls will be matriculating together" can be interesting in humorous anecdotes,their real-life counterparts can do considerable damage.
If we're dealing with MOLE hills as the raw materials for our mountain-making,that's bad enough.
But,what if the journalists are trying to confirm the presence or absence of fire ants?
They might prefer to confine themselves to facts rather than have to deal with countless statements that have no link to reality.
Unfortunately,we have reached a point where the very effort to curb gossip has called attention to matters.
(The paper has,in effect,asked us NOT to imagine a pink giraffe on the courthouse steps.)
Maybe,we need to trust our civic leaders and our reporters for a bit.
It would become all too evident all too soon if they were trying to conceal pertinent truths or delay our inquiries until they had found the right "spin" for what information they were willing to release.
I don't think we need to be too concerned so long as there are people old enough to remember "Watergate" around.
A lapse in judgement that led to a breach of the law *could* have been disclosed and wound up as a four paragraph story that was forgotten in a week's time.
Instead,the concealment of the incident triggered a chain of events that did cumulative damage over months,years and decades.
I think our leaders know it's wiser to "tell the truth and shame the devil".
But,it's far too soon to say if the truth here is important enough and relevant enough to warrant our hoop-la.
Even then,we might examine our motives for stirring things up.
"Scoop",the intrepid reporter" is a popular archetype.
The folks like "Gladys Kravitz" of the series 'Bewitched' are not as much fun to be around.
Are the folks stirring things up going to be *disappointed* if there's no bad news underneathe what we know already?
This has been said in the paper already but it bears repeating.
Before you pass on any juicy factoids or speculation,ask these three questions about the gossip:
"Is it true?"
"Is it kind?"
"Is it necessary?"
So far,all I see John asking is that we make sure that what we post meets those three criteria.
Once the press achieves,at least,two of the three,I think there will be all the disclosure we require.
I nominate Lori Saddler for Human Resources. She worked in personnel at her previous job, and a fine job she did. by cherokee
OK, if we can't say anything "bad" about anyone or question anyone, how is the above not a violation of those precious TOS. Isn't it someones "opinion"? argh! Ya'll make me so mad with your "pick-and-choose positiveness".
Why not put Wayne Williams back where he belongs.I think its the right thing to do,if he will have it after Craig problems.
-- Posted by mytaxesaremine on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 9:52 AM
Just because a horse is a diffrent color, it make it no less a horse. Wayne too rubbed many business owneres the wrong way with selective enforcement. You need someone that will go after the big wheels as well as us little cogs from out on the farm