presstalk 865-671-TALK (8255)

• I understand the Town is to receive $7 million in pandemic relief money. Seeing that the Town is well-funded and probably doesn’t need the money, what can they do with it? My suggestion is to divide it among the 22,000 Town residents. That would come to approximately $3,100 each. Let us best use it to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.

Sadly, the (Mayor of Farragut) has now taken aim at what he calls a secret “Shadow Government,” which he identified as a small group of vocal residents dissatisfied with the recent actions taken by Board of Mayor and Aldermen. On Thanksgiving, the mayor made this complaint on social media.

(The mayor) continues to complain that this group even refuses interaction with the Town and its workshops. For clarity, citizen comments were always at the beginning of Town meetings until the mayor moved it to the end of Town meetings. Since then, very few people want to wait through the entire meeting to be able to speak to the Mayor and Aldermen or Planning Commission. If the mayor wants to hear Farragut residents, he should move Citizen’s Forum back to the beginning of Town meetings where it belongs.

The mayor complained people did not attend the last Town workshop, but when asked if he would put the workshop material on the Town website he claimed it would take some time because the Town was so busy. (He) needs to stop criticizing the voice of Farragut residents.