Okay, so you missed the Board of Supervisors' Meeting on Friday. Do you want to know what happened? This is hilarious...
Remember how we found out there really isn't a Board of Directors for the R. C. Irwin Library? And if our Board of Supervisors wanted to appoint somebody to this Advisory Board of Trustees they would have to first create an Advisory Board of Trustees? And so far they haven't chosen to create an Advisory Board of Trustees for the R. C. Irwin Library? Well, this same group of people who used to call themselves the Board of Directors of the R. C. Irwin Library are now calling themselves the Advisory Board of Trustees for the R. C. Irwin Library. And you know what else? Billy Pegram, Paul Battle and Bobby Williams all sat there and didn't say a word. Of course, the person representing this Advisory Board of Trustees is Billy Pegram's daughter.
Oh, Cedric Burnett wasn't there and James Dunn came in after Catherine Nathan, the Director of the First Regional Library introduced Lynn Ryals as a member of the Advisory Board of the R. C. Irwin Library.
The financial request from Tunica County to the Regional Library for 2011-2012 is $294,720. Last year there was an attempt to start a satellite at the Robinsonville Elementary School and this was not included in the request this time because the library says there were only 410 people who used the satellite and they (the library) didn't think Tunica County would want to spend money again for this same service.
Mr. Dunn asked the County Administrator if Ms. Nathan had talked with him about the satellite and the County Administrator said no.
So, let's see. We gave the First Regional Library...I think it was about $35,000...extra dollars last year to operate the satellite at Robinsonville Elementary. And there was no conversation between the County Administrator and Ms. Nathan about this operation until they showed up to ask for more money for next year?
Maybe they could have had a conversation about...let's see...the Book Wagon may be a better choice for Tunica County? First Regional Library does have a Book Wagon. How come it wasn't offered to Tunica County? I think Ms. Nathan owes Tunica County an explanation.
And how come Billy Pegram, Paul Battle and Bobby Williams sat there and didn't ask one question? And we still don't have an African American on the R. C. Irwin Advisory Board of Trustees because the Tunica County Board of Supervisors hasn't created it yet.
Why do these people spend so much time and money playing these games instead of doing the right thing? There was a problem. The problem was identified. Fix it. Don't cover it up. It makes you look silly.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Important Board of Supervisors Meeting Coming Up
That's this Fri, 29 Jul at 9a. Think you can get off work and make the meeting? Oh, sorry. Wish the meeting was in the evening so you could come.
Well, I understand that one of the items on the agenda is a request by the Regional Library for funding for the upcoming year. Don't know what the request will be for but typically the funding has run between $300,000 and $350,000.
I do want the Supervisors to include the Library funding in the upcoming budget. I also want them to take control of our investment by creating and appointing an Advisory Board of Trustees for the R. C. Irwin Library. This would be the ideal.
This is the story...have written about this before...this subject needs repeating.
Last fall, I, and a few others on the Transparency Committee went to the Board of Supervisors with the intention of asking them to appoint an African American to the Board of Directors of our local library.
Boy, did we open a can of worms! First, the Board of Supervisors discovered they hadn't appointed a Board of Directors for the R. C. Irwin Library.
So, we did a little research and found that when our local library went into the Regional Library System, we could no longer have a Board of Directors. Under the Regional Library System there is a Board of Trustees. Each county appoints one person to the Board of Trustees and our Board of Supervisors had already done that. The Board of Trustees is on the Regional Level.
Now on the local level, our Board of Supervisors can choose to create an Advisory Board of Trustees. And the Board of Supervisors hasn't chosen to do this yet.
So what's the problem? There is a group of people in Tunica who think they are the Board of Directors of the R. C. Irwin Library and apparently they have been passing these memberships on this Board of Directors down through their family and friends.
When I realized this, I was shocked. I never in a million years thought people did things like this anymore. This kind of thing was done back in the day but not anymore.
At this point, I don't care if the Board of Supervisors chooses to create this Advisory Board of Trustees or not. I don't even care if they create an Advisory Board of Trustees and appoint the same people who think they are the Board of Directors of the R. C. Irwin Library now. Although, I would hope that under this scenario each Supervisor would be allowed to appoint one of his constituents to the Advisory Board of Trustees. But that's dreaming.
This is what I do care about. I care about the truth.
You see several months ago, there was a program at the library...a reception and meeting with the author of "The Fall of the House of Zeus". It was really a nice event. During the refreshment set-up there were some ladies talking about me in the hallway. You see, I was teaching my Needle Arts Class in the room right next to where they were standing and I could hear every word they were saying. The discussion was centered around why I thought an African American should be appointed to the "Board of Directors" of the library. One lady said: "Oh, she's just saying that because it's an election year."
No, I'm not. I'm saying it because it is the right thing to do. And that's the truth.
Well, I understand that one of the items on the agenda is a request by the Regional Library for funding for the upcoming year. Don't know what the request will be for but typically the funding has run between $300,000 and $350,000.
I do want the Supervisors to include the Library funding in the upcoming budget. I also want them to take control of our investment by creating and appointing an Advisory Board of Trustees for the R. C. Irwin Library. This would be the ideal.
This is the story...have written about this before...this subject needs repeating.
Last fall, I, and a few others on the Transparency Committee went to the Board of Supervisors with the intention of asking them to appoint an African American to the Board of Directors of our local library.
Boy, did we open a can of worms! First, the Board of Supervisors discovered they hadn't appointed a Board of Directors for the R. C. Irwin Library.
So, we did a little research and found that when our local library went into the Regional Library System, we could no longer have a Board of Directors. Under the Regional Library System there is a Board of Trustees. Each county appoints one person to the Board of Trustees and our Board of Supervisors had already done that. The Board of Trustees is on the Regional Level.
Now on the local level, our Board of Supervisors can choose to create an Advisory Board of Trustees. And the Board of Supervisors hasn't chosen to do this yet.
So what's the problem? There is a group of people in Tunica who think they are the Board of Directors of the R. C. Irwin Library and apparently they have been passing these memberships on this Board of Directors down through their family and friends.
When I realized this, I was shocked. I never in a million years thought people did things like this anymore. This kind of thing was done back in the day but not anymore.
At this point, I don't care if the Board of Supervisors chooses to create this Advisory Board of Trustees or not. I don't even care if they create an Advisory Board of Trustees and appoint the same people who think they are the Board of Directors of the R. C. Irwin Library now. Although, I would hope that under this scenario each Supervisor would be allowed to appoint one of his constituents to the Advisory Board of Trustees. But that's dreaming.
This is what I do care about. I care about the truth.
You see several months ago, there was a program at the library...a reception and meeting with the author of "The Fall of the House of Zeus". It was really a nice event. During the refreshment set-up there were some ladies talking about me in the hallway. You see, I was teaching my Needle Arts Class in the room right next to where they were standing and I could hear every word they were saying. The discussion was centered around why I thought an African American should be appointed to the "Board of Directors" of the library. One lady said: "Oh, she's just saying that because it's an election year."
No, I'm not. I'm saying it because it is the right thing to do. And that's the truth.
And here's another one
When we reviewed the list of Tunica County employees, we noticed that at least two people we could name had been left off the list. One of these employees had been left off two years in a row.
We reported our findings to the County Administrator and were told it was an oversite. We are still waiting for the public records to be corrected.
We reported our findings to the County Administrator and were told it was an oversite. We are still waiting for the public records to be corrected.
Another piece of information
Last summer Tunicans for Transparency in Government started looking into the the number of vehicles our county owned and we wanted to know which department had assignment of each vehicle.
It took us months get a workable list.
Did you know that the Road Department has 19 pick-up trucks assigned to it? And they have 22 employees. We came to this realization by putting together two different sources of information.
Do you think the Board of Supervisors realizes this or should we tell them?
It took us months get a workable list.
Did you know that the Road Department has 19 pick-up trucks assigned to it? And they have 22 employees. We came to this realization by putting together two different sources of information.
Do you think the Board of Supervisors realizes this or should we tell them?
Isn't this interesting
On 10 Jul 2011, in the manager's view of this blog, I found we had one reader from Germany. A couple of days later, I noticed we had three readers from Germany. Today, 25 Jul 2011, we have no readers from Germany. How'd that happen?
Executive Sessions and Transparency
Picking up on the Board of Supervisors' Meeting on 15 Jul 2011. Specifically, about the Executive Session.
To the best of my knowledge there are specific reasons why a Board of Supervisors would hold an Executive Session. One reason could be to discuss a particular employee. It really shouldn't be for the hiring of an employee as we've seen in the past. The public has a right to know who their government is employing; how much their government is paying each employee and the jobs their government is creating.
Another reason for a Board of Supervisors to go into Executive Session would be to discuss prospective business opportunities for our county. We surely wouldn't want initial discussions to be made public if the possibility exists for another county to get the jump on our opportunity.
So, why was it necessary for the Board of Supervisors to go into Executive Session to discuss GreenTech? For heavens' sake, there has already been ground breaking ceremonies held. There is heavy equipment on the site and it looks to me like they are under construction.
Was this "Memo of Understanding" such a delicate subject that they had to go into an Executive Session to discuss it? I think not. In my opinion, this particular Board of Supervisors has no intention of being transparent.
To the best of my knowledge there are specific reasons why a Board of Supervisors would hold an Executive Session. One reason could be to discuss a particular employee. It really shouldn't be for the hiring of an employee as we've seen in the past. The public has a right to know who their government is employing; how much their government is paying each employee and the jobs their government is creating.
Another reason for a Board of Supervisors to go into Executive Session would be to discuss prospective business opportunities for our county. We surely wouldn't want initial discussions to be made public if the possibility exists for another county to get the jump on our opportunity.
So, why was it necessary for the Board of Supervisors to go into Executive Session to discuss GreenTech? For heavens' sake, there has already been ground breaking ceremonies held. There is heavy equipment on the site and it looks to me like they are under construction.
Was this "Memo of Understanding" such a delicate subject that they had to go into an Executive Session to discuss it? I think not. In my opinion, this particular Board of Supervisors has no intention of being transparent.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Friday night in Tunica, MS
So, here we are watching the news and along comes an unmarked white truck and the driver is taking pictures. Cute house, eh? This is really too funny.
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