Starkville Shooting

Really bad news. There was a shooting incident at the local McDonald's following a high school basketball game between Columbus/Starkville. One comment I heard was "you know we're a big city now when we start having shootings at the local McDonald's." Jokes like that aside, this is really a terrible incident and really should be a warning to all of us that Starkville is not immune to the serious types of violent crimes that can plague any city.

Full story here.

MSU/Starkville Recognized As Green Community

The community is mainly being recognized for efforts made through Starkville in Motion in regards to working to provide alternatives to transportation. Not mentioned in the article should also be Starkville's adoption of LEED standards for all future public buildings, starting with the new Starkville Electric Department building.

Full story here.
http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=4429

November 2008 Code Enforcement Report

Our code enforcement officer, Jeff, provides a report every month regarding the total number of code violations he has worked on. I thought I would start providing those numbers for anyone who is interested:

• VEHICLES REMOVED OR UPDATED-6
• OFF SITE SIGNS-2
• BANNERS W/OUT PERMITS-3
• SIGNS REMOVED FROM R.O.W-131
• BANNER PERMITS SOLD-10
• PERMANENT SIGN PERMITS SOLD-3
• TRASH VIOLATIONS-4
• BUSINESS OPERATING W/OUT PERMIT-1
• TRAILER PARK REINSPECTIONS-13
• 
  
• TOTALS- 173

I imagine the large number of signs moved from right of way are probably related to clearing up the mess left after the elections this year. It's always discouraging to see how many signs are placed everywhere, littering the sides of the streets and often left long after the election is over.

100th Post, 2009 Elections

This is my 100th post since starting this blog. While not as many posts as I would have liked, I have enjoyed the opportunity to spread some information about what's going on with the city with various readers.

On another note, some people are already talking about the 2009 municipal elections. In fact, some people have been talking about it since 2006. While qualifying papers aren't due until the beginning of the new year, the forms are now available online via the Secretary of State's office and are posted on the city website.

2009 Municipal Election Forms

As If I Had to Remind You...

Go vote!

Campus Shooting Incident

There was an unfortunate incident at 4am on November 1st, 2008, involving an attempted abduction of an 18 year old girl. The good news is she got away; however, she and her friend both heard a gunshot as they were fleeing the scene.

Here is an official MSU press release regarding the incident:

http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=4404

WCBI Rumor

Normally I try to avoid dealing in rumors; however, I wanted to share one I had heard. Basically it was that WCBI is considering opening a satellite office in Starkville, similar to what the Commercial Dispatch does for their paper. That could be really interesting and makes me wonder if competition for coverage of the Starkville market is heating up between WCBI and WTVA.

Anyone heard anything?

Roadway Improvements

Posted on the city's website is a copy of the planned roadway improvements for the '08-'09. If you're curious whether your street is listed please feel free to review the document.

http://www.cityofstarkville.org/cosdocs/FY_08-09_Roadway_Maintenance_Projects-_Priority_1.pdf

Starkville in Motion Meeting Overview (9/8/08)

Devon opens
Mentions "Darius Goes West" movie.
Treasurer Report: Just under $2000 in account.
Membership Report: 48 paid members. 300 on email list.

Introduction of Day One students who will work with SiM. 3 present, 4 more who were unable to attend.

Robbie Ward announced the upcoming Johnny Cash festival. Looking for volunteers. pardonjohnnycash.com has a link for volunteers.

I gave a presentation on beautification regarding the 182 corridor based upon a similar presentation given to the Beautification Committee. Currently the city has approved regular street sweeping of 182, which was one of the nine recommendations. Other ideas discussed included plantings and entryway markers. I will be working with Ben Griffith and others towards establishing a working ordinance to begin to require sidewalks in new developments and Ben is trying to write a unified building ordinance that would incorporate a lot of the recommendations from the Comprehensive Plan that the city approved.

Question about mass comprehension plan and zoning ordinance. 182 sidewalk and bike lane. As that area redevelops people are talking about wanting to have buildings moved forward (this only makes any sense if the building is demolished). Two separate sidewalk ordinances were suggested. One residential and one commercial. People want a timeline/deadline on when the new ordinance will be in place. At least 30 days from the draft because it needs two hearings. Ideally I would like to have it in place before the end of the year.

Patrik Nordin recommended a Sidewalk Beautification day and mentioned that Lynn Spruill is a good contact for having brush/garbage cleared from existing sidewalks. Jim Gafford recommended adding it as a rolling action item for the sidewalk committee.

Ron Cossman talked about Lynn Lane progress. Board of Aldermen looked at it on Tuesday, had a public hearing on Thursday. Public hearing including a one hour lecture on the conceptual plan for Lynn Lane project. Issue with right of way (ROW) on Locksley Way. City Engineer proposed compromise regarding reducing traffic lanes to allow for sufficient ROW. Will come back before the board at the first October meeting.

Kate Fabel is organizing a Wheel-A-Thon through 52 Moms and SiM. Sept. 27th is the date with Board of Alderman approval and we're have worked out the providing of city resources for the event. Entry cost will be $10 per person. Two roadblocks: $312 is the insurance cost. Partnership was unwilling to suppliment the cost. Secondly, permission must also be sought out from OCEDA. SiM will have a table at the event. Asked for a volunteer to have SiM t-shirts printed at University Screenprint. Kathy volunteered. 50 or more were the suggested number to order. Motion to provide $200 was made and unanimously passed. Devon Brenner and I volunteered to man the table for the event.

Lois was not present to speak to the Safe Routes to school coordinator position; however, Devon mentioned a promising candidate was interviewed.

Kathy mentioned that the Starkville Area Arts Council awarded grant towards the Starkville Arts Walking tour. Fall/Winter is the approximate time of year. I volunteered to work with Kathy regarding compliance with the city's public event policy.

Hamp Beatty volunteered his name to chair the sidewalk committee. Officers will be nominated by October and elected in November.

Ron Cossman brought up the proposed Southern entrance to MSU. Phase 1 would just be a 2-lane road. Phase 2 would have 4 lanes and bike lanes/sidewalk. SiM representatives at the public hearing requested to have sidewalks/bike lanes at the first phase.

Devon Brenner brought up that if you notice areas that have bikes being locked up to things other than bike racks to notify SiM and the University to bring attention to those areas.

Joe Fratesi made motion to give the board permission to spend up to but not over $100 for any one event. Unanimously approved.

Meeting adjourned.

Sidewalk Ordinance

For a while, people have mentioned to me a desire to see more sidewalks in town. Having visited other cities, I've noticed many cities with an extensive sidewalk infrastructure. Upon researching it a little more, and going back to the Comprehensive Plan the city adopted back in 2006, I've decided to look into pursuing an ordinance to begin requiring sidewalks as a part of new development. This is also a long-term goal of the building department, so enacting an ordinance now could give us a chance to test it out and make any appropriate changes when the building department is ready to release their overall new series of building ordinances. One complaint I can anticipate receiving is that it may create sidewalks that "lead nowhere" but given enough time they eventually will and it will make it easier on the city to fill in the gaps as a part of its own street program.

I plan to speak to this effect at tonight's Starkville in Motion meeting; however, I need a little more time to work on a complete draft ordinance.

Special Called Meeting Today at 1:30pm

In a bit of an emergency, a special called meeting was issued for today at 1:30. The reason is that the third party company provider of financing for our police and court software has been negligent in sending in the appropriate payments to our software provider and now the software has been shut off. Obviously this has to be rectified immediately. More as it develops.

Cowbells Featured in WCBI Article

So there has been a lot of talk lately about the opening of the new bar, Cowbells, which is in the county and has resort status, allowing it to serve alcohol on Sunday and stay open as late as they want. My current understanding is they'll be open until 4am.

Here's the article by Steve Rogers.

http://wcbi.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1220129244&archive=&start_from=&ucat=8&

Thoughts?

Board Meeting Tonight (9/2/08)

Tonight we have a number of interesting items on the agenda. There is a request for in-kind support (closing of streets, police presence) for the Johnny Cash festival. Robbie Ward has done an excellent job on that and should be commended. Also, Kate Fabel is presenting a similar request for a project the 52 Moms organization is hosting. Their event is called the Wheel-A-Thon and will involve a race around the research park for people using anything with wheels (but no motor) such as bikes, skates, unicycles, etc. Should be interesting and proceeds go to McKee Park.

There will be a presentation regarding the roadwork to go around the new Cotton Mills mall development. Their proposal does involve the boulevarding of Russell Street with the addition of bike lanes and improvements to Spring St.

There is a presentation from Kevin Stafford from Neel-Shaffer regarding the Lynn Lane bike path project. This project, which I've touch on before in this blog, will involve a bike path, seperate but parallel to the road, that will extend from Blackjack Rd/Sororiety Row to the Sportsplex on the other side of town. Long term, if we could find a similar path along the northern half of Starkville we could potentially form a bike path loop around the entire city.

There will be a second public hearing on the proposed budget. Action on adopting that budget most likely will not occur until around Sept. 15, the deadline.

I've made a request to have 182 regularlly swept. This is in accordance with the wishes of the Beautification Committee and one of the points in their 9 point plan.

Office Depot Part 2

I followed up with the investment firm working to bring Office Depot to the area. The good news is I was able to confirm they are still locating in the old Winn-Dixie shopping center. The bad news is they have pushed their opening date back to first quarter 2010. The reason for this was stated to me as being due to the national economy and a need to slow down growth.

It's discouraging, but at least they are still coming.

Office Depot/Sears

I have been asked before about the arrival of an Office Depot to the area. There has been one slated to arrive as the anchor store for the center where Corky's and Little Caesar's is currently located. Sears is also set to move in between the Office Depot and Little Caesar's and will remain the smaller hardware focused franchise (compared to the larger Sears located in Columbus). Office Depot is still supposed to arrive; however, due to national economic issues, they have slowed down their rate of growth and have their project here delayed until sometime this fall/winter. In the meantime they have floor plans submitted to our building department and have a hold on the property in question. To those still unsure, consider that if Office Depot weren't coming there would have already been a lease sign out there in an attempt to find a new tenant.

An Apology

I made the mistake of taking the fact that the new electric department website was up as a green light that the billpay feature was also active. As a result, a few people have been confused why they're unable to access their accounts online. While the website is up, it won't be until sometime in September until the billpay feature is active. I forgot the first rule of proper programming technique, always beta test first.

Starkville Mentioned in USA Today!

Please go to this link to read an USA Today story that mentions Starkville, MS.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2008-08-06-Buildgreen_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

It regards the adopt of LEED standards for our public buildings. Our new city engineering, Ed Kemp, deserves the bulk of the credit for presenting the concept to us. I was glad to see unanimious support amongst the board in holding ourselves to a higher standard of development.

Starkville in Motion Meeting Tonight!

Tonight (August 11th) at 6:30 at the Bost Extension Center Starkville in Motion will have it's monthly meeting. This meeting is important to both the residents of Ward 4 and the city at large because it will deal primarily with the Cotton Mills development. From the Starkville in Motion Facebook group:

The focus this week will be on educating ourselves about the Cotton Mill development and TIF bond projects in Starkville, with special guests Chris Campany and Taze Fulford, landscape architects and local activists.

Blog Updates

I took a few days off blogging to visit my grandfather in Jackson, TN, who is 88 and not in the best of health. My grandmother had passed away years ago and it's sad to see him in this state.

In better news, a shoutout to my friend and constituent Wesley McGrew (Weasel as we call him) for discovering a major software security flaw. Wesley is a PhD candidate at MSU. Link to article.

We had our regular board meeting last night. It started at 4:30 and didn't get out until around 9pm. We first listened to a presentation from our courts and city clerks departments (which I'll post about individually like I have been for other departments). Then at 5 we heard a budget overview from Alderman Cox, who touched on the enterprise funds, which are seperate from our general fund. These are the funds generated by self-sustaining entities such as water, sewer, sanitation, and electric.

Finally the regular meeting started at 5:30 and lasted until 9pm. We scheduled two public hearings to talk about the upcoming fiscal budget and possibility of a millage increase. They're scheduled for August 18th, and Sept. 2nd. More information and a more in-depth overview of the meeting will be provided tomorrow.

Information Technology Report

Following a series of departmental reports I'm sharing with you all, our IT director, Al Quinn, shared his report regarding what is the city's smallest department. IT consists of Al and an on-call employee Chad, who also works in the engineering department. Together, they keep the city running by fixing any and all technical issues. Ask any department head and they can tell you how important these two guys are to keeping everything working.

I work closely with Al in the technology committee that I asked the city to form. We've worked with and updated the software at the electric department, which by the way will start allowing people to pay their electric bill online in about a month through the website http://www.starkvilleelectric.com (the website isn't up just yet, should be within a month)

We also made a major update to the software used by the police and courts. This is important because the old software would sometimes crash every other day, stopping court entirely and resulting in people having to wait and time lost. The new software also works with the computer units we're retrofitting our police cars with. They allow them to pull up information on vehicles and also records the events during the officer's time in his car. Video recordings are valuable because there have been incidents where a person may claim an officer treated them bad, but with the video evidence that can be proved or laid to rest conclusively and without the time, trouble, and potential legal proceeds that previously plagued the department.

Click here for a copy of Al's presentation if you're interested and please feel free to email me if you'd like to learn more about our committee or have any suggestions.

Yesterday's Budget Meeting

I was discouraged by a few things regarding yesterday's budget meeting. First off, there was no press notification. I published it in my blog, but assumed any notification would be properly handled by our Chief Administrative Officer as usual. Having the entire board at a meeting without press notification is not only unethical but illegal. I'm meeting with Bryan Hawkings from the Starkville Daily News today to give him an update on what was discussed at the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to give a preliminary outline of the upcoming fiscal budget. The good news was that so far this year we had budgeted for a 3% increase in our sales tax revenue and we ended up with 3.9% which amounted to around $50,000 extra. The bad news is that our ad valorem taxes came up shorter than expected. Budget committee chairman Matt Cox stated he believed the housing issues affecting the nation could be affecting us locally. Regardless, so far we projected a shortcoming of roughly $200,000 for the next budget year without considering any outside contributions (Red Cross, Boy Scouts, etc) except for the ones we have a legal or emergency obligation to, which include the library, Heritage Museum (because we own the building), Humane Society, and ambulance services for our police/fire departments. Given this budget year isn't over, these numbers could change over the new 2 months; however, there is a chance the board may have to make some difficult decisions for the upcoming year.

I'll scan and provide some of the documents given in a follow up post.

Next Up: Sanitation Department

I wanted to share the progress each department has made and so today I wanted to touch on our sanitation department. Sharon Boyd is our department head, appointed during our first year of this board. Previously sanitation was under the public works department.

Sharon recently presented her goals for the upcoming year in a power point presentation to the board. Click here for a copy of the presentation.

The biggest change out of the department this year was the Solid Waste ordinance. This cleaned up some of the confusion with the previous ordinance as well as requiring that garbage be both bagged and in a can and got rid of the unsightly open corral's where people would collectively dump their garbage.

Although it was done earlier in our term, you may also recall the change of the city dumpsters to maroon with dog prints on it. That was Sharon's idea and one that I think made the dumpsters look a lot better and very little cost.

One purchase that the sanitation department is requesting is a new rideable device for collecting litter. Our street sweeper is limited to the street and therefore is unable to get around to where garbage is left after the many numerous events held around the city. Sharon was able to figure the cost of the device into her budget without requiring any sort of cost increases, which I think is admirable. This device would make it much easier to clean up after our big-name events.

It was previously called the MadVac 101; however, it's recently had a design change and is now called the LR50. Click here for a pdf showing the device. Also, you can go to http://picasaweb.google.com/apollmueller/LR50Final?authkey=keuS2xnt-ic if they would like to see additional pictures of the device.

In closing I would like to thank both Sharon and her department for the work they've done this year. They've done an outstanding job.

Preliminary Budget Meeting Scheduled

It's getting to be that time of year again where the board of aldermen are tasked with compiling the budget for the '08-'09 year. The budget is due in mid-September and goes into effect on October 1st. A preliminary meeting to discuss some of the aspects of this year's budget has been scheduled for the conference room of city hall at 8:30am on Monday, July 23rd.

Park Amenities

Back at the Mississippi Municipal League conference down in Biloxi, MS, I met a representative of Playworld Systems. They were demoing their line of products for parks. Of particular interest to me were two amenities they sell: equipment for skateparks and exercise stations that can be placed along walking paths.

I think the exercise stations could be a great addition to our parks. One idea would be to have a walking path around the Sportsplex and provide the stations for parents to use while their children are playing at the fields.



The other product line, concerning skateparks, could be of help in getting one off the ground in the area. There have been some who would like to see a skatepark. I remember that some people were going to try to start one in Caledonia, but I'm not sure if they were successful or not. They also recommend some communities do it in phases so it's not such a financial burden to purchase all of that equipment at once. Here is a link to a pdf of one of the skateparks they did. The outline shows how the skatepark was assembled in three phases.



My next step is to facilitate a meeting between the park commission and a representative from their company to see if there is interest in pursuing either of these ideas and whether they would be feasible in light of the park's budget.

Building Department Presentation

Below is the power point presentation by Ben Griffith, our city planner. In it, he reviews how our building department is structured, the amount of work they've done (467 trash violations alone), and where they would like to go from here, such as bringing our building standards up to the latest specs. It's worth a look through, especially if you have questions about how that department is set up.

Building Department Goals '08

Cotton Mills Marketplace Video

So apparently Comvest Properties has come out with a video showcasing the proposed Cotton Mills Marketplace development. As you may recall, this is the outdoor mall development that's been talked about.

Click here to see the video and let me know what you think. I'd be interested to hear your comments on this one.

Tech Committee Update

Our committee met last week to discuss 4 matters.

1. Update on 311

We have been waiting for a while now on the actual implementation of the 311 system, a non-emergency number to allow people in the city and county a way to phone in problems that aren't life threatening. Right now the additional panels needed are being installed in the local 911 office and so we hope to have that up and running soon.

2. City Clerk Software

We're still in a situation where the city clerk's software is outdated and often causes more harm than good. The best software solution we heard from was a bit pricey (actually they all were, I guess that goes with the territory of custom software). Since the software package that looked the most promising included modules for handling building permits, we may look at a lease agreement with payments to come from both city clerk and building departments.

3. Bandwidth

We were previously looking at using Telepak to handle our internet needs at city hall. Telepak leases bandwidth from the fiber optic cable built by MEGAPOP. However, it was brought to our attention that Metrocast also leases from the MEGAPOP fiber optic backbone, so we are getting figures in from them and are going to be with the best option as far as price is concerned at our next meeting.

4. Website

Continued maintaince of our city website is needed. Given how busy our IT guy, Al, already is with every other technical issue in all of the city departments, we may need to explore the possiblity of hiring a second IT person to mediate some of the issues. This is something we're going to explore more closely as we approach budget time for the next fiscal year, which for us starts October 1st.

Thoughts on the Economic Development Luncheon

I had mixed feelings concerning the luncheon we had regarding economic development in the M-Club building on campus. The University was gracious enough to host the event with several people from the community in attendance. My biggest personal complaint would have to be that it seemed too much like it was patting ourselves on the back. The comments were almost glowing without addressing the pitfalls we still need to overcome. Numerous awards were given out for no real reason. Another criticism arose from Steve Rogers who writes a column for WCBI in Columbus. [link to story, scroll halfway down] His opinion was, given that one of the recurring statements made was our need to embrace regionalism, we didn't have anyone from the region at the event (Clay, Lowndes Counties for example)

On a positive note, I do believe the event was a great refresher course for the county in trying to keep us all on the same page on what needs to be done. Five very renowned speakers gave brief talks about what we should do. To recap some:

Gray Swoope (Executive Director - Mississippi Development Authority) brought up 5 points:
1. Define what determines success
2. Give professionals the tools they need and don't keep changing our agenda for them
3. MSU will continue to play an even greater role in economic development
4. Strategic planning is a must, but useless if its not implemented
5. Teamwork is vital

Phil Paradice (Regional Director, Atlanta - Economic Development Administration) mentioned that investors don't want to go to areas that don't have clear, concise strategic plans and introduced Bobby Dennis who is the EDA representative for the area.

Del Boyette (President - Boyette Levy, Inc.) advised that we keep in mind that Starkville is different from much of the rest of the state largely due to the University and that therefore our opportunities will be different. He went on to say that the state of Mississippi itself loses if MSU/Starkville don't get along because many of the higher tech industries that come to this state will likely want to come here. He also said we should adapt our strategy with the times and economy and that we should focus on the TAP study recommendations. *more on that below

John Bradly (Senior Vice President - TVA Economic Development) suggested we establish a series of benchmarks to mark progress towards our goals.

Blake Wilson (Executive Director - Mississippi Economic Council) also gave a talk towards the end; however, by that time the event had gone overtime and I had to leave early.

At our table was a document outlining the recommendations of the TaP (Targeted and Prepared) study. This was done in conjunction with TVA. When the study is brought up, it's often stated that we were selected out of 47 communities for this. While on the surface that sounds great, in actuality the reason a community is selected for this type of study is because they aren't performing up to their potential, which is something I believe we should be mindful of. The study outlined several recommendations, which I'm including in a PDF format for reading and download. [TaP Recommendations] (And here is another document from a previous event with some notes) [Previous Econ Development Handout]

I like what an economic development group in Tupelo did. They had a series of goals they wanted to achieve, so they printed them out on a large poster size document, framed it, and put it on their wall so they were reminded each and everyday of what they were working towards. I think they even marked off the ones they accomplished. Gray Swoope said it best himself when he said that the best plan in the world won't do any good without implementation, which, given we now have a recommended plan from the TaP study, should have been the theme of the event.

Economic Development Conference / Next Infrastructure Meeting

Today at 11am we had a meeting conducted by the University in conjuction with the Partnership. All of the aldermen, supervisors, committee of 100 members, and several university representatives were invited. We had a good overall turnout and listened to five very informative speakers. I'll have a recap of the meeting in a post tonight or tomorrow along with some of my notes from the event.

In other news, the Infrastructure Committee is having another meeting at City Hall on Monday, July 14th, at 4pm. I guess they didn't wrap up everything on their agenda in time for the meeting next week and want to get those issues resolved.

Committee Meetings this Week

There are three committee meetings scheduled for this week at City Hall. They are:

7/8 - Infrastructure Committee
4pm, City Hall
They're going to be discussing revising the false alarm ordinance after complaints from a number of entities around town. This needs to be done, while the idea of trying to cut back on false alarms is a good one, the particular implementation has resulted in businesses feeling unjustly targeted. A good example is the animal shelter, which got sited for false alarms even when people snuck on their property to drop off animals after-hours. The intrusion set off the alarm and the shelter's defense was that it was a legitimate use of the alarm and they shouldn't be penalized for it.

7/9 - Recycling Committee
4pm, City Hall

7/10 - Technology Committee
3:30pm, City Hall
This is my committee and we'll be discussing the issue of adding bandwidth at city hall (to accommodate increased usage in part through our new police vehicle computer system) and the software used in the city clerk's office. A lot of people don't know that the clerks use 3 different pieces of software, one of which is so old it's on one of the old monochrome monitors. Conslidating the three into one will save time and give them greater flexibility when generating reports and other matters of the city.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Independence Day weekend! I have spent the time with my family in Columbus. The previous week has been a difficult one, my car broke, my phone broke, and I became sick and unable to attend our Board of Alderman meeting on Tuesday. Since then I've been feeling better, replaced the car battery which was dead, and have a temporary phone so hopefully I can catch back up on the activities of the past week. Of particular interest to me is the Beautification Committee's interest in the revitalization of 182. I have heard from enough people who saw 182 as their first sight upon driving into Starkville and that is not the kind of impression we should leave with people new to the city. I plan to follow up with a more detailed series of suggestions to implement the recommendations of the Beautification Committee.

TIF Bonds

There is another development coming before the board seeking TIF bond assistance at our next meeting. Separate from the proposed mall/multi-use project by Russell/Spring St, this development will be towards improving and adding on to the shopping center on Hwy 12 where Hudson's Dirt Cheap is located as well as developing the empty lot next to it where the old Coke building used to be. Included in the development is new retail and grocery. I don't have any plans to post just yet; however, as soon as I do I'll share them.

With this talk about TIF bonds for 2 projects now I think I'll do a write up on just what the TIF bond process is. In the meantime there is a wikipedia entry about the concept.

Wikipedia TIF Link

Resolution Regarding the MSU Presidental Selection Process

A JOINT RESOLUTION BY AND BETWEEN THE OKTIBBEHA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, FORMALLY REQUESTING THAT THE MISSISSIPPI BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING MAKE THE MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTAL SEARCH PROCESS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

WHEREAS, the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors, Mayor of the City of Starkville, and Board of Aldermen of the City of Starkville, believe it is in the best interest of the public to have an open search process for selecting the next President of Mississippi State University; and

WHEREAS, the best way to insure a healthy, productive, and long-lasting Presidency at Mississippi State University is to encourage and facilitate as much public support as possible; and

WHEREAS, the selection of Mississippi State University’s next President will have an immeasurable impact on the lives of each and every fair citizen of our respective jurisdictions, whether they are the University’s students, faculty, staff, or other members of our community not directly affiliated with the University; and

WHEREAS, the selection of Mississippi State University’s next President will have a significant and lasting economic impact on our region as a whole, will shape the futures of people across the Great State of Mississippi, and will affect the University’s reputation nationally;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE OKTIBBEHA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, that the aforementioned legislative bodies, representing the public interest of Oktibbeha County and the City of Starkville, Mississippi, hereby formally petition the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning to conduct a more open and inclusive search process in the selection of the next President of Mississippi State University.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED BY THE OKTIBBEHA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, that the aforementioned legislative bodies also hereby formally petition the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning to, and at the very least, make the final list of candidates to be considered during the search process known to the public before the next President of Mississippi State University is selected.

Upon the motion of Supervisor _______________, duly seconded by Supervisor _______________, that the Resolution be adopted, a roll call vote was taken which resulted as follows:

Supervisor Carl Clardy Voted:

Supervisor Marvell Howard Voted:

Supervisor Daniel Jackson Voted:

Supervisor Orlando Trainer Voted:

Supervisor John Young Voted:

Upon the motion of Alderman _______________, duly seconded by Alderman _______________, that the Resolution be adopted, a roll call vote was taken which resulted as follows:

Alderman Richard Corey Voted:

Alderman Matt Cox Voted:

Alderman Sumner Davis Voted:

Alderman Rodney Lincoln Voted:

Alderman P.C. McLaurin, Jr. Voted:

Alderman Roy A. Perkins Voted:

Alderman Janette Self Voted:

Adopted this the __________ day of _______________, A.D., 2008, at the Regular Meeting of the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors and this the __________ day of _______________, A.D., 2008, at the Regular Meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Starkville, Mississippi.

___________________________ ____________________________

John Young, Board President Monica Banks, Chancery Clerk

Oktibbeha County, Mississippi Oktibbeha County, Mississippi

(SEAL)

______________________________ ______________________________

Robert D. Camp, Mayor Markeeta A. Outlaw, Clerk

City of Starkville, Mississippi City of Starkville, Mississippi

(SEAL)

MSU Presidental Selection Process Part 3

Most people who know me personally know that I'm not in favor of the Institute of Higher Learning's new process of keeping even the final candidates for MSU president secret until one was decided. This new process was started for the first time 2 1/2 years ago when previous MSU president Charles Lee left. Previously the final candidates were taken to campus and the community as a whole had a real chance to meet the people who may be one of our future leaders. Starkville is what it is today largely because of the university and I believe it to be undeniable that the person selected for that position has a huge influence on the future growth and development of the entire area.

I remember voicing this concern to the Commissioner of the IHL, Dr. Tom Meredith. I was met with rather sharp words in response. It was a reminder to me of a warning a friend once gave. My friend advised that I always take a friend with me into meetings, so that there will always be another person there to bear witness to what is said.

I also remember going to the location of the IHL meetings where the final candidates were being interviewed. I remember sitting outside while they had sheets hung up so no one could see inside the hall leading to the room of the meetings. I remember someone telling me some candidates were being brought up the fire escape so no one would see them. And I remember thinking the entire ordeal was ridiculous. So I sat outside those meetings for two days as a symbolic gesture of how the public in general was being shut out. A one man silent protest is not exactly the most exciting thing in the world.

When Fogelsong was selected and taken to campus to meeting with groups, I mentioned to him that my problem (at the time) wasn't with him, but with the selection process. By the time he was taken to campus everyone knew the deal was done and I doubt any complaints from the groups that met him would have made a difference. Plus it's difficult to get to know someone in such a short time.

When the city interviews candidates for a job, they're always public. And I think we have some fine employees so I fail to see how making the final candidates secret somehow diminishes the quality of applicants.

My next post will be a resolution I've drafted that I plan to present to the board of supervisors and the board of aldermen. Hopefully both groups will pass the resolution and we can make a real lasting statement.

Presidental Search Process - Take 2

So here we are again in the process of seeking a president for MSU. Below is a press release from the Institutes for Higher Learning, IHL, detailing their plans to have the search committee visit campus and compile a list of desired job qualifications from various MSU groups. Below that is also a link to the IHL website where people from the general public can submit their own ideas. I noticed the recurring use of the word transparency in their press releases. I imagine they're still reeling from some of the negative attention gained last time by having a totally secretive search process. Indeed, continually using the word transparent to describe that process is a bit reminiscent of 1984 doublespeak.


BOARD SEARCH COMMITTEE TO MEET WITH MISSISSIPPI STATE CONSTITUENCY
GROUPS

Jackson, MS-The Board Search Committee for the next president of
Mississippi
State University, chaired by Trustee Scott Ross, along with
Commissioner of
Higher Education Dr. Thomas C. Meredith, will meet with various
Mississippi
State constituency groups on Monday, April 28, 2008, beginning at 7:45
a.m. in
the Hunter Henry Center on the Mississippi State campus, 1 Hunter Henry
Boulevard, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, to hear what qualities the
Mississippi State community is looking for in their next university
president.
These qualities will be used to draft the profile and job description
for the
position of president at Mississippi State University. Members of the
Mississippi State Board Search Committee include Committee Chair and
Trustee
Scott Ross of West Point; Trustee Ed Blakeslee of Gulfport; Trustee
Aubrey
Patterson of Tupelo; Trustee Robin Robinson of Laurel; and Trustee C.
D. Smith
of Meridian. All meetings are open to the media. The schedule, subject
to
change, is below:

7:45-8:45 a.m.: Breakfast and listening session with Vice Presidents
and
Athletic Director; Shackouls Room, Hunter Henry Center

9:00-9:45 a.m.: Listening session Deans and Associate Deans; Parker
Ballroom;
Hunter Henry Center

9:45-10:30 a.m.: Listening session with Faculty Senate Advisory Group;
Parker
Ballroom; Hunter Henry Center

10:30-11:15 a.m.: Listening session with Academic and Non-Academic
Department
Heads; Parker Ballroom; Hunter Henry Center

11:15 a.m.-noon: Listening session with General Faculty; Parker
Ballroom;
Hunter Henry Center

12:15-1:10 p.m.: Lunch and listening session with the Bulldog Club
Board of
Directors; Correro Room, Hunter Henry Center

1:15-1:45 p.m.: Listening session with Professional and Support Staff
Advisory
Council and Staff Members; Parker Ballroom; Hunter Henry Center

1:45-2:30 p.m.: Listening session with the Division of Agriculture;
Parker
Ballroom; Hunter Henry Center

2:30-3:15 p.m.: Listening session with MSU Alumni Association Board of
Directors; Parker Ballroom; Hunter Henry Center

3:15-4:00 p.m.: Listening session with MSU Alumni, Community Leaders,
and
General Public; Parker Ballroom; Hunter Henry Center

4:00-4:30 p.m.: Listening session with MSU Foundation Board of
Directors;
Shackouls Room; Hunter Henry Center

4:30-5:00 p.m.: Listening session with Undergraduate and Graduate
Student
Leaders and General Student Body; Parker Ballroom; Hunter Henry Center

*All sessions in Parker Ballroom will be webcast; link to be provided
on
Mississippi State main web page closer to April 28.
**Interactive video links and locations will be provided to
MSU-Meridian, MSU-
Extension, and MSU-MAFES employees on the Mississippi State main web
page
closer to April 28.

Members of the general public interested in submitting their ideas on
the
qualities of the next president of Mississippi State may do so by
visiting
http://www.mississippi.edu/ieo. The Board of Trustees of State
Institutions of
Higher Learning's institutional executive officer search process allows
Mississippi to be on the consideration list of the highest caliber
professionals in higher education. The process is open, transparent and
representative-based, and works in accordance with today's recruitment
standards for high-level institutions of higher learning. For more
information
on the Board's institutional executive officer search process,
including a
timeline of events, visit http://www.mississippi.edu/ieo/.

1% Food/Bev/Hotel Tax

Readers of this blog may be confused to see that, after raising some concerns in my mind in the previous post that I voted, along with the board, to petition the legislature to allow the 1% tax to come up for an election. The board voted 6-0, with Alderman Perkins leaving before the discussion for no provided reason, to proceed with bringing the issue up. There's the potential for some rather significant development to come out of the project, which could make a serious impact on the city's budget and therefore allow more money to be put towards streets and other issues. I think that since it's up for a public election anyway, after time goes by and the proposal is brought before the public it would be worthwhile to see if the citizens of Starkville are willing to support such an endeavor. I, as a voter too, find myself asking the same questions.

Board Meeting Tonight

We have a number of items to discuss at tonight's board of alderman meeting. One item on the agenda is the municipal complex, which is long overdue for more discussion and, more importantly, action. Second is a item of increasing our hotel/food/bev tax by 1% to be earmarked towards a convention center. Now, I would really like to have a convention center, but this is the first move towards that I've heard and I'm not sure this is the step we should take. My biggest concern is that, as nice as having one would be, it seems like a secondary issue compared to the problems we are facing with our streets and drainage. I was knee deep in water a month ago when it rained and flood someone's house. If we were to go up on that tax at all, I'd personally rather see it earmarked towards streets or another critical area, and fund the convention center through some other means. Perhaps through some public/private partnership between the city/county/university and an investment firm. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm certainly willing to listen to any input from readers of the blog and people in attendance at tonight's meeting.

Economic Development

So yesterday we also had an economic development seminar. It was an educational experience, in that I did learn a few new things as I was taking notes. Also, I was glad to have finally met a few representatives from the Mississippi Development Authority. There's good and bad things going along with this. I think it would be beneficial to make a checklist of the items most stressed at the conference and work to get all of them accomplished.

If anyone is interested, I have a scanned copy of the documents given at the event. There were powerpoint slides that the various speakers used that I have not gotten a copy of yet.

Economic Development Handouts (link)

Campus Shooting

So there was a campus shooting last night around 9:30pm near Ruby Hall. The shots were supposedly fired into the air so no one was injured. Two people have been suspended pending a campus judicial hearing. The two were also on the football squad. The official university press release can be found here. The Commercial Dispatch also already has a story on it here.

The one question still left lingering in my mind is why wasn't campus crisis management contacted. Is there the possibility that special discretion was used because football players were involved?

Kudos to Camgian Microsystems, a low power minature circuit company who is locating their office in the Cotton District. It's a further demonstration of the interesting effect of multi-use development, a style highly emphasized by famed and recently deceased planner Jane Jacobs in her book, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities"

Commercial Dispatch Article

Doc Stepping Down?

Word all around is that Doc Fogelsong is stepping down as MSU President. So far this has not been officially confirmed; however, if the rumors are correct he should be issuing a press conference or release about this sometime today.

Clarion Ledger Story

Special Called Meeting 3/11/08

Most people that following the city meetings are aware that we meet on the first and third Tuesday of every month. However, we occasionally have need for special called meetings like the one being scheduled for next Tuesday. Here is a copy of the agenda. It looks to be an opportunity to clear up a few issues left lingering. These meetings are open to the public.

OFFICIAL AGENDA

THE MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN

OF THE

CITY OF STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI

SPECIAL CALL MEETING OF TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2008

3:00 P.M., CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL

101 EAST LAMPKIN STREET

I. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER

II. APPROVAL OF THE OFFICIAL AGENDA

III. DISCUSSION OF THE RATE INCREASE FOR STARKVILLE ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT AND TVA.

IV. DISCUSSION OF THE EXECUTION FOR THE PLACEMENT OF THE UTILITIES UNDER GROUND ALONG HOSPITAL DRIVE.

V. CONSIDERATION OF ADVERTISING FOR THE POSITIONS OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING OFFICER AND HEARING ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATOR.

VI. ADJOURN UNTIL MARCH 18, 2008 @ 5:30 AT 101 LAMPKIN STREET IN THE CITY HALL COURTROOM.

Public Money Part 1

The state of Alaska is working on a project that I applaud them for. I heard on NPR [story link] that they have set up a website that allows people to pull up where and how the state's money is being spent. Any expense at or over $1,000 is listed, although I think there are allowances for certain types of confidential which may, in my opinion, cause problems for such a project. It's referred to as Alaska's checkbook online, similar to how people can check their bank accounts online. 10 other states have similar websites. From what I can tell, Mississippi is not one of those 10 and it is something I feel strongly enough about that I may write a formal letter to our state treasurer, Tate Reeves, asking he consider this concept.

On a local level, the city's yearly budget is always available both in city hall and on our website. Here is a pdf [link] of the 141 page city budget. Matt Cox, budget committee chairman, does a powerpoint presentation that gives a good brief overview. If I can find a copy of it I'll post that too in a follow up.

Souper Bowl

Meant to post on this earlier. We (Starkville Young Professionals) had a very successful event to help raise funds for the United Way. Special props go to Jeremiah Dumas, who introduced the idea and nurtured it through to the very end. I was able to serve on the committee that worked on the program and had a great time.

Over $2,600 was raised for the United Way. Likely this will become an annual event. There were 4 prizes awarded:

1st Place: Bin 612
2nd Place: Harvey's
3rd Place: Ole Venice
Best of Show: Dave's Darkhorse Tavern

As a point of pride, I'd like to point out that 3 of the 4 awards went to restaurants in Ward 4.

Here is an incomplete list of the soups available:

Bin 612
Roasted Sweet Potato Soup with Goat Cheese Mousse Topped w/ Fried Jalapenos

City Bagel
White Bean Chicken Chili

Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern
The Taverner

Front Door (Columbus, MS)
Tortilla Soup

Green Olive (Columbus, MS)
Italian Meat Trio Soup

Harveys
Crawfish Chowder

Oby’s
Turnip Green Soup

Old Venice
Spinach, Feta, Bacon, and Artichoke Soup

Sweet Peppers Deli
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Rock Bottom Bar and Grill
Venison and Wild Duck Gumbo Topped with Fried Okra

Shaherazad’s
Red Lentil Soup

Veranda
Purple Peruvian Potato and Pancetta

Wasson’s
Brunswick Stew

Special Called Meeting Today at 1:30pm

The mayor called a special called meeting for today at 1:30 for the purpose of recognizing Rodney Lincoln's election as Ward 2 alderman. I'm glad the mayor decided to do this now rather than later. Had he not, I would have asked the meeting be called regardless rather than put it off. Here's the official letter:

NOTICE OF SPECIAL CALL MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF STARKVILLE

In accordance with the provisions of section 21-3-21 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, Mayor Robert D. Camp, hereby gives Notice of a Special Call Meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Starkville, Mississippi, to meet this day, Tuesday January 29, 2008, at 1:30 p.m., in the Court Room of City Hall, 101 Lampkin Street, Starkville, Mississippi 39759. The specific subject(s) of the meeting is as follows:

ACCEPTANCE OF THE RESIGNATION OF THE GEORGE M. BRYAN AIRPORT MANAGER

RODNEY L. LINCOLN

APPOINTMENT OF THE ALDERMAN OF WARD TWO (2)

The above notice was executed by a Police Officer; the Mayor of the City of Starkville, Mississippi; method of notice was via hand delivery by a City Police Officer, via electronic transmission- email; with said notice displayed on the front door of City Hall.

Quality of Life in Starkville

Skip Descant with the Commercial Dispatch sent an interesting letter to several members of the community asking various questions about the status of Starkville. I thought the questions themselves were rather insightful and plan to not only answer his email but also post my answers here in my next post. But I want to take a moment to ask any readers out there what they think and how they might answer the email below? It seems a good time to reflect on the city and has inspired me to do an annual "state of the city" write up of my own.


Hello Everyone:
The Commercial Dispatch is putting together its annual magazine special section. This year's edition is planned around that often over-used cliche: "Quality of Life"
One of the stories I'm working on explores how effective is this region at planning for the future and how does it compare with other parts of the South and country as a quality place to live...
I'd like to explore some of the various initiatives and changes to public policy that have affected Starkville's quality of life, and also look to you regarding where the city ought to begin focusing attention. My hope is for this to be a fairly public discussion that starts to take a long and well-versed look at planning, development and what sort of community you would like to see this town evolve into.

But here's some of the thoughts and or issues I'd like to explore. (Feel free to toss your own in as well.)

Thinking fairly broadly, what do local towns need to do to plan adequately for the years ahead?

Is Starkville being proactive enough in its plans for the future? We’ve seen some
initiatives stop nearly dead in the tracks: the justice complex or historic
preservation districts. While other issues have moved along a little easier
– i.e. the new trash ordinance and an in-progress landscape ordinance.

But when thinking about outside perception and Starkville growing as a modern community, what changes to public policy should Starkville explore? For example, (and now I’ll really pass the political football,) should the city rethink its aversion to
Sunday beer sales? Should this be an issue for the next set of city elections? Or, what changes to planning and public policy should the citizens and elected officials be thinking about when it comes to moving Starkville forward? Does the city need additional money? Should there be an ad velorem tax increase? Where does resistance come from?

Switching gears somewhat, (but maybe just rephrasing the previous questions,) does Richard Florida’s argument in "Rise of the Creative Class" ring true even in this part of the country? Do folks look to community vibrancy, diversity or creativity as reasons for being in Starkville? (Phrased another way, what about Starkville compared to other places in Mississippi...)
How does Starkville’s community life work to attract or keep residents to this area?
Where does it fall short?

Do you believe many people continue to choose more expensive cities because of their variety of place-related amenities like entertainment or cultural experiences, or even people?
How would you say Starkville ranks against other communities its size in terms of having a variety of different neighborhoods and people, all bringing a variety of experiences?

These are just a few thoughts to kick around. Feel free to address any or all of them. Any responses are greatly appreciated. Don't feel like you have to write a thesis or something. I'm just looking for public discussion.

Thanks again,

Skip Descant
The Commercial Dispatch
Starkville Bureau