To my fellow citizens of Crossville. I want to first and foremost express how proud I am of our City for the overwhelming support shown Council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris. The failed recall petition has sent a message to anyone who viciously and without merit attacks our governing body should think twice.
It troubles me that the few who are attempting to disrupt our work for the citizens of the City found it necessary to maliciously attack me and falsely accuse me of actions which have never happened. No doubt their empty allegations toward me were to take the focus away from their inability to obtain very many signatures on the petition. It matters not. I will not lower myself to their standards and get into a petty name calling match and waste valuable time that I need to put in working with the other progressive-minded council members to keep Crossville headed in the right direction.
We have very positive things happening in our community. An unprecedented cooperation between the City and County governments, over seven-hundred jobs available for those who want to work, record sales tax collections in this fiscal year and many more wonderful projects planned for the great benefit to our residents. I will continue to serve as a conservative voice to help grow our City and ensure Crossville is a place where folks are proud to call their home.
After learning that the recall petition has been withdrawn to have myself and Council Member Harris removed from the Council, I believe the people have spoken - again. I was elected to the City Council to serve the people to the best of my ability and that is what I have tried to do. I believe in our City and its people. We have much work to do and I think we can do it if we join together for the common cause of progress for our town. It has not been easy with the problems the Council has been subjected to over the years, but that does not mean we can simply throw in the towel. I will continue to serve the people through all adversity to make certain our city grows and provides the best services to the taxpayers. I will not address the ones who wish to cause turmoil and disarray for the council. They have their reasons and causes but they are outweighed by the greater objective of tending to the business at hand - making Crossville the best place possible to live, work and play. I want to thank the voters who put me in this position and will continue to diligently serve your best interest.
A press release issued by Howard Burnette of Crossville, the man behind recent recall efforts, says he is no longer perusing the recalls against Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris.
The letter gives a number of reasons and outlines issues with city councilman Jesse Kerley including incidents previously reported on social media that he Danny Wyatt had confronted Burnette at the Crossville flea market a few weeks ago.
Burnette's letter says that he believe ending the the campaign "is in the best interest of the safety of me and my family." The timing of the letter is interesting considering the group had only four more days (June 24) to come up with the necessary 2225 signatures needed to put the recall on the ballot for November 8 election.
Burnette's letter alleges "threats and actions by council member Kerley." Burnette also wrote that he had witnessed what he called, "the assault on council member Souza" and described alleged vandalism incidents at the Mockingbird Drive home of J. R. Blankenship. None of the items brought up in the letter have resulted in any known charges.
We attempted to reach Burnette hoping to find out how many signatures the group had actually collected, but when he returned the call, he said he had told all his supporters to stop collecting signatures. Burnette said he did not know how many signatures they had. There has been much speculation that the group was still short of the necessary number of signatures.
Councilman Danny Wyatt, one targets of the recall efforts, commented on the end of the recall efforts, "There's no hard feelings. I'd like to thank Howard and his supporters, They exercised their first amendment rights and did what they thought was right. I'd especially like to thank the people of Crossville that supported me and didn't support the recall. I think we need to dust off and try to continue to make Crossville be the best place that its been for years."
Here is a video of Howard Burnette speaking before the Crossville city council at the April regular meeting stating that he wanted a completely new city council.
Are they political or are they not? That is the
question about the signs put up in support of the recall effort
against city council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris.
Do these qualify as political signs or not?
The city of Crossville's sign ordinance
has an exclusion that allows political signs while outlawing other
similar temporary signs that are not political. But even political
signs can not be put up as to block views and create hazards for
drivers.
Councilman Souza working on recall sign
Thursday evening before the city
council's meeting, city officials including city manager Steve Hill, city attorney Will Ridley and codes department director Jeff Kerley met with councilman Pete Souza who
has been seen putting up and working on some of the Crossville recall
group's signs. According to the discussion, it appears that the
current signs may not be political based on the opinion of Cumberland
County Administrator of Elections Jill Davis.
Councilman Souza said that if it was
clear that the signs did not qualify as political messages, he would
have them taken them down. Souza said that the city has removed
signs before that have been a hazard and usually those signs are
collected and the city tries to contact the person they belong to and
will hold them for a few days so they can be picked up.
City codes director Jeff Kerley said
that he felt the ordinance on signs needed to be fixed, adding that
it had many holes in it. He added that all signs need to be treated
the same way. Councilman Souza also agreed that for the enforcement
to be fair it had to treat all signs the same.
While the matter of signs did not come
up during the city council agenda, during the meeting a pickup truck
was parked in the parking lot in front of city hall with another sign
in the back. The same truck was at last month's meeting with a
different sign and appears to be brought to city hall by J. R.
Blankenship who reportedly has put up the signs on Mockingbird Drive
that mention councilman Jesse Kerley.
Parking lot political sign
The signs around town were brought up
during a public comment at the end of the meeting. Citizen Bill
Harwell complained about the political signs as well as the signs on
Mockingbird Drive. Mr. Harwell started by reading some of the 101st
Psalm and followed up with a discussion of the signs.
Public comments by Bill Harwell
Harwell said that county election
coordinator had told him that it was not political season yet and the
signs did not qualify as political signs. He said the signs were in
violation of federal voting codes. He also felt the sings on
Mockingbird land should be brought down or at least brought to
someone's attention.
Crossville mayor James Mayberry asked
if Harwell's comments were in reference to the earlier meeting and
Harwell responded that they were. Mayberry said he was sure those
involved in the meeting would looking into this.
Letters promoting the recall of council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris are being mailed to registered Crossville city voters along with copies of the two petitions that need 2225 registered Crossville city voter's signatures by June 24 in order to get the recall question on the November ballot.
The letters are signed as "Crossville Citizens for Good Government, Howard Burnette, Jr. Treasurer and include a self addressed stamped envelope for them to be returned.
The letters include statements saying that Wyatt and Harris "took away Crossville citizen's rights to make public comments or ask questions until after the council has already voted on any issue or resolution."
The letter talks about scheduling called meeting during the day and on short notice and doing away with the monthly work sessions. The letter concludes by claiming that because the work sessions have been eliminated, that "the city's business gets discussed in secret conversations and in violation of the states open meeting laws."
The letter asks the recipient to sign the petitions and get their friends and neighbors to sign as well and return them in the envelope provided. An image of the full letter is below.
The recall proponents have not responded to questions concerning how many signatures they have collected so far. If petitions are turned in to the election commission they do become a public record.
The Crossville city council's budget
work session had a few moments of friction between some council
members but the real issue came after the meeting was over when
according to statements, one council member allegedly bumped another council
member as they were leaving city hall.
The incident involved council member
Pete Souza and Jesse Kerley. Kerley stated that Mr. Souza was
speaking angrily to Jerry Kerley, Kerley's father and Crossville director of water
resources. Councilman Kerley said he informed Mr. Souza to stop.
According to Councilman Kerley, Mr. Souza then bumped councilman Kerley with his shoulder
as he was going out the door.
Howard Burnette of the Crossville
Recall group was reportedly in the parking lot at the time of the
interaction and others are believed to have seen the incident as
well. The city hall's video camera's may have captured the incident
and Councilman Kerley reported the incident to Crossville Police
Chief Rod Shoap right after it happened.
Several times during the meeting
discussion Mr. Souza and Mr. Kerley traded glares with each other.
In addition, during the discussion of the downtown sidewalk project,
Mr. Kerley and Mayor James Mayberry had brief angry words over
Kerley's accusation of benefit to Mr. Mayberry from the sidewalks.
Animosity continues to surround the
council over Mr. Souza's involvement with the recall movement against
Council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris and the split votes
over firing the previous city manager.
During the budget work session, the
council cut all funding by 10 percent to the non-profits while adding
a number of project back into the budget that took the budget from
$557,041 in the red up to just over $1 million in the red. Funds to
cover the deficit will come from the city's rainy day fund that holds
over $10 million.
Please note that our news organization
has filed a DMCA take-down request against the Crossville Recall
group for copyright infringement in a video they posted on YouTube
with a link on their webpage. The video uses parts of two videos
that are property of Jim Young Reporter and our YouTube channel MaxHeadroom56.
Our videos were taken without
permission or any request to use them for political purposes. It is one thing to post a
link to our videos on our YouTube channel but to steal our work and
re-edit it is simply wrong.
When you sign an official election
petition, whether it is in support of a candidate getting their name
on the ballot or in support of the recall efforts currently going on
in the city of Crossville, those petitions and your name and address
information become public records once those petitions are turned in
to the election commission.
Many people may not realize that their
information can be seen by others when they sign these forms. These
documents become public records in order to keep the process open and
transparent.
The local election office explained
that anyone who inspects or gets copies of these documents must give
their name for a request to see them and that also becomes public
record as well.
An item on the agenda of the May Crossville city council meeting requested by councilman Jesse Kerley was to question Howard Burnette, the man that leads the group behind the recall efforts against council members Danny Wyatt and Pam Harris.
Kerley said there was information he had read on the site that he questioned but had since been changed. Also, Howard Burnette was not present at the meeting so Kerley made brief comments and the council meeting moved on until the end of the meeting and the time of public comment.
One man got up to speak on behalf of the recall website and gave an explanation of the website and at one point it appeared he might be removed from the meeting by police. The man refused to identify him self but had spoken previously at another council meeting and is car salesman Jeff Dahlberg.
Dahlberg tried to tell the council that Howard Burnette had nothing to do with the website crossvillerecall.org but at the bottom of that site's home page it states that the page is "copyright 2016 by Crossville Citizens for Good Government" The paperwork filed with the local election office shows that the only name on those filings lists Howard Burnette as the groups treasurer.
Another notice indicates that artwork is copyrighted by Advantamax with a link to that businesse's website that says it is still under construction. Checking sources, it appears that Advantamax was once registered as a corporation with the state of Tennessee at an address in Goodlestville but has been administratively dissolved since 2002 for failing to file paperwork.
Like my page on Facebook. Homemade signs became a big part
of Crossville politics four years ago when councilman Pete Souza
first ran for a council seat. The signs, stenciled on large pieces
of plywood made complaints and accusations and were put up in
numerous locations.
Less homemade looking signs have begun
springing up around town as part of the recall efforts against
council members Danny Wyatt and Pam Haris. At the city council's May
regular meeting, a homemade sign on the back of a pickup truck
created a stir and complaints from at least one citizen who attended
the meeting.
The sign, attached to a truck driven by
J. R. Blankenship and parked in front of city hall during the meeting. Blankenship has stirred the council in the past and who was
accused of distributing unsigned fliers in the downtown area several weeks
ago. Blankenship was in city court earlier in the week and fined for
the fliers. It is believed he has appealed the fine to a higher
court.
In March of this year Blankenship spoke
in public comments claiming he had proof of "council members violation
of fiduciary duties,” that he had “polled 25 law professors”
and added that he would make the information public after he heard
from them. So far he has released no information on his claimed
accusations.
Blankenship had the sign lying in the
bed of his truck when he arrived and he flipped it up near the start
of the council meeting. The sign accused Mr. Kerley of being a liar
and included lines from an email from Mr. Kerley and one from police
chief Rod Shoap. The question was whether Mr. Blankenship lived at
his mother's house or not. Kerley's email said his mother said that
he did not and chief Shoap's said she had not made that statement to
officers.
At least one citizen in attendance at
the meeting stood up and complained about the sign. Long time local
resident Vancieneta Wisdom said, “I was very disappointment to see
a large sign out front. I think it speaks volumes about the person
who parked the sign there and it speaks volumes about our city.”
Wisdom asked that the council consider an ordinance banning political
signs on city property. She apologized to Mr. Kerley who was named
on the sign and then thanked all the council members for serving
adding, “You do a good job and I'm proud of each of you. I think it
takes a lot of nerve to sit up there.” Scattered applause came as
Mrs. Wisdom finished.
This blog has received a copy of a
photo that appears to show council member Pete Souza's truck and him
working on one of the Crossville recall signs near the community
complex.
Such temporary political signs are allowed under the city's sign ordinance but there are some restrictions on placement including:
(C) Signs listed above will be located off the street or highway right-of-way.
(D) Signs listed above shall not obstruct, or otherwise physically interfere with the effectiveness of an official traffic sign, signal or device and cannot obstruct or physically interfere with a driver's view of approaching or intersecting traffic.
The Facebook page of the Crossville Recall movement has sponsored a message on Facebook today that states the following: "Tonight after a long day of work, while a large number of families are attending church three members of city council will be taking advantage of your worship time by engaging in a shady "special called meeting" for the purpose of eliminating from the budget: city side walks, community projects and the Horizon Initiative, a program to bring many higher wage jobs to Crossville and Cumberland County." The meeting scheduled for tonight is a work session for discussion of the upcoming fiscal year budget for 2016-17. No official votes can be taken at a work session though the council can be polled about their opinion but any decisions will have to be approved a future council meeting. Councilman Jesse Kerley posted a comment under the groups post saying: "This is a good example of how this group twist the truth. There is no special called meeting only a work session budget meeting. We are only discussing water and sewer today. What lies. Hopefully these guys will be at the alter tonight. IX: Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Notice of the work session was sent out just before 9 am on Tuesday morning, well within the required 24 hours notice to make the work session legal. The work session was notice was posted on this blog within 5 minutes of receiving the meeting notice. The meeting is set for 5 PM tonight and is open to the public. It will be held in room 317, the conference room at city hall.
