Mayor Dan’s Weekly Blog

 Weekly letter Friday, June 12, 2009 - Friday, June 19, 2009

Greetings from the Mayor's office. I hope you are looking forward to the weekend for some fun and frolic in our lovely city. Be sure to watch yourself and family members for signs of heat exhaustion or other heat-related injuries. The weather people say we will have several more days of this hot weather, and it is not yet summer.

Friday morning was busy in the office catching up on correspondence and seeing citizens and employees about the business of the city.

Friday at noon I attended the Annual Flag Day Celebration at Athens State University sponsored by the Alumni office. They had an excellent presentation of our Flag's history by the Sons of the American Revolution. There were four of them dressed in colonial times clothing and uniforms. Dan Havely had the Community Band there to play several patriotic medleys. It was a most enjoyable program.

Friday afternoon several ladies at City Hall had a going away social for Janet Paris who has worked with us in the Human Resources Department .

Later in the afternoon, Kay and I went to Nashville with Mark and Phyllis Whitt to see their new apartment in a brand-new high-rise condominium near the West End area. We arrived around five o'clock and went to visit their decorator located in the Orbison Building. This building is owned by the widow of Roy Orbison. There is a big picture on the outside of the building which says," Put Roy on a stamp".

We later went to the apartment for a visit. They do not have furniture yet, and it will be a couple of weeks before things begin to arrive so they can furnish it. The view from the balconies of the apartment is breathtaking. You get a panoramic view of downtown and the west side of town. I think it is on the fourteenth floor of the building.

We went down the street to the Amerigo Italian Restaurant. Mark and Phyllis treated us to dinner for my birthday present. I had a Cesar salad, and Veal Panetti. It was a delicious dinner and we appreciated them treating us for my birthday. Phyllis also brought me a plate of homemade cookies shaped like the numbers of my age. She also brought our daughter Whitney the same type cookie because her birthday is two days after mine. Our afternoon with these dear friends was wonderful, and we got home around ten thirty.

Saturday morning Kay cooked breakfast for Daniel, Charles, and I. We had to have some time this morning to practice our songs for Delmore Days which began at 12:30 at Beasley Field at Athens State University. We had some concern the last couple of days because Daniel had to fly to Washington Friday morning for work, but he did get back late Friday night.

We went to Beasley field around 12:30. I visited with my cousins, Debbie Delmore, her sister, Norma Weimer, and their sister-in-law, Susan Delmore. Susan was married to Lionel Delmore, brother to Debbie and Norma. It was so good to see them. I hated that Billie Ann was not able to be here. She lives in the St. Louis area, and I think she has been under the weather and wasn't able to come down. I look forward to seeing her again.

We did our set of music beginning around 1:30. We did about thirteen Delmore songs, and one Gospel song written by my grandfather. We enjoyed singing so much and were glad to see my sister and her family there, and a lot of friends and cousins came by. I wish we could do this everyday and make a living at it.

We listened to a lot of good music and bands this afternoon and enjoyed all of it. Our family went to Pulaski late this afternoon to eat at the Hickory House and look around the town for a short while. Pulaski is Kay's home town and we try to go there often.

I went back to Beasley Field later in the evening to catch the end of the Delmore Day's music. I got to hear the Jake Lander's Band do some great music, and also got to hear Buddy Spiker and his group play.

Sunday morning Kay and I went to Sunday school and Church. I sang with the choir this morning. I have been away from practice several weeks and haven't sung with the choir for several Sundays. Brother Jenkins had a great sermon today. The topic was,"Who and What is God?".

We went to Charles' house for lunch today. He grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and also made a freezer of homemade ice cream. Daniel and his family did not get to come over today. He has to go back to Washington tomorrow for the remainder of the week.

I took a nap during the entire afternoon. Kay and I had a quiet night at home alone. I was wide awake until after midnight. I need to quit sleeping in the afternoon because it took me a while to go to sleep tonight.

Monday morning I had Doc Oliver, long-time Ardmore Police Chief, for my Monday Morning With The Mayor radio show. Doc is priceless. Butch Menefee, my co-host, and I laughed ourselves silly at some of the stories Doc told on himself. Doc is a legend around Ardmore and Giles County, Tennessee, and he is considering retiring at the end of the year. When he does announce his retirement, I am going to have him and Sheriff Mike Blakely on together. That ought to be a hoot.

I spent a good bit of time today getting some things done in the office, and the storm came in soon after I got home from work. This was surely a humdinger of a storm. I understand we had a lot of trees blown down out in the Ripley area, and power was out for a while. I don't know of any damage that occurred in the city.

Tuesday morning I went to Elkmont Rural Village to have discussions about the business of the Board of Directors. I had lunch at Sonny Gee's which is located at the Thatch exit on I-65. Our City attorney and Finance Director were with me today.

I spent time with several citizens and visitors in the office this afternoon. I also went home and did some personal items of business that was pressing.

Kay and I ate dinner at Applebee's tonight. We then went to Charles' house and spent the night with him because our air conditioning is out and a new unit will have to be installed tomorrow.

Wednesday morning we came home to get ready for work and when I left at 7:a.m.. the temperature inside our house was 85. It was unbearable.

The workmen came to the house today to install a new central unit, and we are so glad they could get here. I feel for those who don't have air conditioning. A lot of us old heads grew up without it, and I wonder how we were able to survive.

Ronnie Marks, Ben Wiley, and I went to Decatur today to look at some recreational projects their city has done over the past few years. We spent some time with the architects and engineers who did this work. They have taken some small, unattractive areas and turned them into beautiful areas for people to spend leisure time. We are looking at their methods for this and hope to do some of the same things.

I spent a lot of time today talking with citizens and city personnel about many different subjects.

I went to Mooresville this afternoon to Jerry McClain's house to visit with her and new residents of Belle Minor. Sam Frazier and members of his family have purchased Woodside in Belle Minor. He is an attorney in Birmingham, and will be here on weekends until he decides to make a permanent move to Woodside. His son, daughter, and son-in-law were with him. This is a nice family and they will be an asset to our community.

Kay and I went to Cracker Barrel tonight for dinner. We saw Furney and Barbara Wood, Jackie and Helen Greenhaw. Lynn Christopher (maiden name) and her first cousin, Christy Patton Higgins were there for dinner.

We stopped by Lowe's to look at bathroom fixtures for Charles' house. He is in the process of doing some improvements to the inside of his home.

Thursday morning I went to Guntersville to attend a TARCOG meeting. Councilman Jimmy Gill and Finance Director Evan Thornton went with me. This was a good meeting, and Madison County Commissioner, Jerry Craig, brought his big cooking rig there and cooked chicken. His cooker is mounted on a big trailer, and it is made from an old boiler. It is a good cooker and it can provide for a crowd of hungry people.

Thursday night Kay and I attended the North Alabama Mayor's Association dinner in Madison. Our discussion tonight was about the Appalachian Regional Commission. I had Ed Mitchell, a transportation consultant to address the meeting. We are working with Senator Shelby's office to secure funding for the Corridor V highway which will run through North Alabama. It actually will be an upgrade to existing roadways to bring them up to Interstate standards. It will come out of Mississippi near Red Bay, and generally follow Highway 72 and exit Alabama at Bridgeport. The highway will run from Memphis to Chattanooga, and if it can be built, it will be of great economic benefit to North Alabama. I appointed a committee of mayors to begin working with the State Department of Transportation and Senator Shelby's office staff on this project.

Friday morning I met with our Finance Director and Chairman of the County Commission, David Seibert, to discuss items of business affecting the City and County.

The City Council will meet Monday, June 22 at 4:30 for a regular meeting and the following items of business will be attended to:

CONSENT CALENDAR

A. Resolution to re-appoint Chris Paysinger to the Historic Preservation Commission.

B. Resolution to re-appoint Scott Smith to the Historic Preservation Commission.

C. Resolution to re-appoint Jerry Bradford to the Historic Preservation Commission.

D. Resolution to re-appoint Wayne Kuykendall to the Historic Preservation Commission.

E. Resolution to re-appoint Cherry Anne Ward to the Historic Preservation Commission.

F. Resolution to appoint Milton Looney to the Historic Preservation Commission.

G. Resolution to appoint Susan Evans as a Consultant to the Historic Preservation Commission.

H. Resolution to appoint Jerry Barksdale to the Historic Preservation Commission.

I. Resolution to approve travel expenses for the Gas Department.

J. Resolution to approve a cash advance for the Gas Department.

K. Resolution to approve travel expenses for the Electric Department. –

REGULAR CALENDAR

L. Resolution to approve FY 2010 Electric Department pending expenses.

M. Ordinance to approve the rezoning request for Bauer & Coffman for property located at the SW corner of Brownsferry and Hine Street . (Tabled from 6-8-09 introduced by Councilman Wales)

N. Resolution to purchase a Tractor for the Water Department.

O. Resolution to purchase a Lowboy Trailer for the Public Works Department.

P. Resolution to purchase a Backhoe Loader for the Public Works Department.

Q. Resolution to purchase a Hydraulic Excavator for the Public Works Department.

R. Resolution to purchase a Ditch Witch for the Gas Department.

S. Resolution to set a Public Hearing to hear comments on improvements to the Athens Sanitary Sewer.

I guess this is enough for this time.

Take care and I'll see you next time.

Mayor Dan