It’s the Week Before Commission and All Through The House…

Hello, everyone,

It’s the week before commission, which always means a huge number of committee meetings for all of us. In the past I’ve encouraged you to come to commission meetings themselves, because you will learn so much just from being in the room. Well, the same thing goes for the sub-committees. It is at this level that much of the debate occurs (or is supposed to, at least). If you come to these meetings, you'll often find that the full commission meetings make a little more sense.

Here's a run down of meetings for this week, all of which are held in the Commission Room at the courthouse unless otherwise noted. Click on each to go to an agenda or a copy of the public notice for that particular meeting.

Monday, 8/6, 5:30 p.m. Budget Committee. Yes that was yesterday, but you might want to look at the agenda anyway. In particular, watch the budget transfers and the increase/decrease items throughout the year.

Tuesday, 8/7, 12 noon: Education Committee. This combination of school board members and a few commissioners meets at the Central Office this month. We will often meet at various schools during the school year.

Tuesday, 8/7, 5:00 p.m.: Information Technology (IT) Meeting, Commission Room. I can't find a notice or an agenda for this meeting on line.

Tuesday, 8/7, 6 p.m.: Public Services Committee.

Tuesday, 8/7, 6:30 p.m.: Special Called Meeting of the Commission, PBA and School Board. I requested this meeting at commission last month in hopes of resolving, once and for all, the ongoing conflict between the PBA and the County Mayor's office.

Tuesday, 8/7, 7:00 p.m.: Intergovernmental Committee. Note in particular that some important committee appointments will be discussed at this meeting.

Thursday, 8/9, 5:30 p.m.: Animal Control Committee. This committee is part of our ongoing work towards developing what will eventually be an All Access animal shelter for Blount Co.

Thursday, 8/9, 6:30-8:30 p.m.: Citizen Input into Planning Process. This is the 2nd of 3 meetings John Lamb is holding to hear your input into the long range planning process for Blount Co. I encourage you to go, and add your comments to those of your neighbors. This link will take you to a page where the meeting is listed, along with literally tons of information about growth and planning in Blount Co. This page alone is worth spending some time to explore.

Now, while I'm at it, let's look at next week.

Wednesday, 8/15, 8:30 a.m.: Economic Development Board, Chamber.

Thursday, 8/16, 7 p.m.: Commission Meeting. The agendas (there are always several versions before we get there) will start showing up on line by Friday.

Hope to see you at some of these.

****Two quick additional notes: ****

1. You'll see that I've added RSS feed here for a great new blog in Blount County called http://www.blountviews.com/. In addition to joining me here, I strongly encourage you to check out and participate in the ongoing conversation there about all kinds of things around our county.

2. I don't have a CELL PHONE right now! Mine's out of commission (yikes!). So, for the next couple of days, if you need to reach me, please leave a message on my office phone by dialing 681-2869, ext. 1, or send me an email. Technology- love it when it works, but.... :)

Until next time,
~Wendy