presstalk 671-TALK
• I noticed that they have started planting bushes at the Campbell Station Road intersection with Interstate 40/75. Have the powers-to-be not noticed that there is a severe drought in East Tennessee? Unless an irrigation system was installed [which I doubt] the bushes will wither and die unless someone at the gas station hooks up a hose and sprinkler [which I doubt will happen]. Or maybe the Farragut Ladies Cotillion will come out in their Cadillacs with watering cans to help out. Come on people, where is your common sense? And to think these are the well-paid people in whom we trust our government.
• One of our aldermen last week wrote a letter to the editor of the farragutpress stating that she thought our Town needed to create a visitors bureau and employ a coordinator or director who can work with the Town’s business development partners as well as Visit Knoxville, the Knoxville Chamber and Innovation Valley to drive more people to stay at our hotels and visit our restaurants and businesses. She went on to say now would be a good time to enact a Hotel/Motel Tax to fund this initiative. It is entirely appropriate to utilize a Hotel/Motel Tax to fund an initiative designed to drive more business to hotels in Farragut, the alderman said. We do not need another paid Town position for this “bring business to Farragut” game. The Farragut Economic Development Commit-tee has not posted minutes on the Town’s website since June 1 of this year. This is the committee that recommended the extensive and senseless Town branding, “Live Closer. Go Further.” It also recommended a huge increase in the amount of money the Town pays to Farragut Business Alliance. There is now a proposal to rename this committee to the Economic Devel-opment Advisory Committee and transfer its responsibility to the Farragut Business Alliance and the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce. Who is driving this expensive continuation of this “Bring Business to Farragut” game? The Farragut Business Alliance is then supposed to work in concert with the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce, Retail Strategies, Visit Knoxville, the Knoxville Chamber and Innovation Valley. Our Town is out of control. This mish mash of bureaucracy designed to bring business to Farragut is an abject failure. We have seven groups working across purposes to bring business to Farragut. This has become asinine. It is a comedy that consumes our tax dollars. Worse, these business groups have their hands out for our Town to give them money. Their own members should fund them. It is not the job of Farragut to do this. We have two Town employees earning well over $100,000 each — the Town administrator and the Town assistant administrator. Why doesn’t one of them do this work? I hope at some point review is done of these two Town positions and see exactly what these two people do to earn so much salary. Why are we paying so much Town money to these business groups for such meager results? This is at a time when our elected Town leaders are discussing millions of dollars for park expansion despite reports that our roads need serious repairs that are more important. We desperately need leadership in the town of Farragut. What we get are big ideas with huge price tags with little responsibility and less accountability. This is not sustainable. This is the only government in Knox County that does not have recall of elected officials in its government charter. Perhaps, it is time to have that discussion.
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