City Manager’s Report - April 1, 2010
Bulk drop-off There will be a bulk-item drop off container at City Hall from April 9th through April 19th. Lakewood residents will have a week and two weekends to use this for spring-cleaning. The 40-foot container will be here Friday April 9th in the parking lot adjacent to City Hall.
Water Bills are changing – rates staying the same
The City has not updated the water department computer software in almost 20 years. We have received great service from our old Unix system but need to update to a Windows operating system. The new bills will look a little different but nothing else has changed – same rates and due date. You can still pay your water bill by mail, phone, or at City Hall.
2010 Water System Audit
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Division of Water Supply conducted a Sanitary Survey of the Lakewood Water Department February 11, 2010. Lakewood earned a score of ninety-seven (97) – our highest score ever. This surpassed last year’s score of ninety-six (96), which was the city’s best score in ten years.
Lakewood Planning Commission approves Land Use Plan
It has taken over a year and dozens of meetings but the Lakewood Planning Commission approved the city’s first Land use Plan at the March 25th, 2010 meeting. The State requires Planning Commissions to produce a general plan. You can see that plan at the city website or here at Lakewood City Hall.
False information is being distributed in Lakewood
It came to my attention last week that there is a lot of blatantly false information being spread by either the group “Citizens To Reform Lakewood” or people who are working on behalf of them. There are too many falsehoods to mention all but three of the biggest whoppers are:
1) Metro cannot provide general services here because Lakewood is a City. ( Section 18.15 of the Metro Charter says that satellite cities must be provided general services)
2) Metro cannot raise property taxes because their rate is frozen by the State. (every Tennessee municipality has the right to set its property tax rate) Lakewood has never had a property tax in all 51 years of existence. Metro Nashville has raised property taxes many times.
3) The City Manager received a 20,000-dollar raise. As much as I wish that was true it is, of course, absurd. I have attached the email I sent to Ms. McInturf and her apology for that mistake.
The reason I bring this up is because the City Commission may want to consider getting accurate
information out to the public relative to the Charter petition question. Non-residents are providing false information to Lakewood residents in hopes of doing away with the City Charter. There is no money budgeted to provide a “truth campaign” but given the tactics of the people involved in this petition drive – a “truth campaign” is definitely needed.
