What Shelby County is cooking up for Monday 10/27/2014

Monday at 3:00 is the next Shelby County Commission meeting at the Vasco A. Smith Bldg. Below is a link to the agenda...
http://bit.ly/1oHxtiy

The agenda is set...no add-on items to the already added on items so...all should be  quiet on the Western front..of 160 N Main...but you never know which is why the citizens of Shelby County should make it a priority to attend these meetings. Besides, exciting things happen down there...You might even catch a glimpse of  Darth Basar in action, or you could meet the Midsouth Sentinel...what could be more exciting than that? Just sayin...

Since the smackdown of Wednesdays committee meeting put the kabosh on the schemes of Darth Basar & all of the democrats except Chairman Ford, this should be an uneventful meeting. No red flags to speak of except for the grant money and borrowed money our government seems to live off of which keeps the wheels turning for now...but something that can't go on forever won't...and the time is ticking...

Just a bird's eye view of some of the spending to be approved Monday...

• Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation on behalf of the Division of Corrections for the provision of Clean Tennessee Energy Grant Program Initiatives County Money to be allocated 288,000.00 Federal through state GRANT funds 250,000.00 for a grand total of 538,580.00.(We are going to buy some LED light bulbs & some other stuff...woohoo!)

• U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services Admin for Children & Families on behalf of Dept of Corrections for Project MOST(Motivated Offenders Succeeding Tomorrow) GRANT's in the amount of 598,357.00.
• Tennessee Dept of Transportation, Governor's Highway Safety Office for traffic safety GRANTS in the amount of 320,000.00. There are 4 different resolutions dealing with this but they all pertain to increasing traffic enforcement, conduct sobriety checkpoints, saturations, and compliance checks(you know, those unconstitutional checkpoints where the randomly pull people over and can sometimes have no refusal blood tests? I'm all for making the streets safer but you don't do this by tearing the constitution to shreds. You want to lower DUI's? Make the penalties stronger. I know some one who recently had their 1st DUI...she had a 1000.00 fine and got to serve time in jail on the weekend so as not to interfere with their job. We are too accommodating to the criminal. These grants are to pay for the bureaucracy that holds these check points. I'd rather spend this money on something that actually changes behaviors. That way, we don't have a never-ending cycle of needing more policeman to police the public. Make the penalty fit the crime. Government needs to justify it's existence and also it's growth. This won't change until people engage in their local governments...but I digress...

As far as the other grants being spent...they are noble causes but the bureaucracy that has to be created to implement these programs eats up MOST of the costs and the public never gets a clear picture as to whether or not these programs actually work. Return on Investment...businesses have to justify their existence and if the returns on investment are lacking...they don't continue just because the money might be there. Government is in the business of doing things it was never meant to do.

These next 2 ordinances are a step in the right direction for getting the government out of the way of the private sector...

• 21.ORDINANCE - FIRST READING - An ordinance to amend the Shelby County Code of Ordinances, Chapter 14, Article V, Sections 14-135 to 14-144, by removing language from the existing ordinance requiring private employers wishing to do business with the County to provide a living wage as such requirements are now prohibited by State Law.
• 22.ORDINANCE – FIRST READING - An ordinance to amend the Shelby County Code of Ordinances, Chapter 2, Art. IV, Section 2-230, entitled, prevailing wages and benefits, to comply with State Statutes by removing requirements on those bidding on or receiving major public works projects, or their subcontractors, that they pay a local prevailing wage or a specific amount for fringe benefits or requiring them to provide health benefits.
  
  It's self-explanatory why this would be good for the county. While requiring those doing business with the county have higher minimum wage and providing benefits sounds good on paper, the practical applications of it costs the taxpayer more money so that we do not get the best bang for our buck. This is America, if you do not like what your employer pays by the hour or provides in the way of benefits, guess what, you can voluntarily go look for another business who will pay what you want or you can start your own business. This is how the free market works. It's not free by the way, which is why the market isn't doing so well.
  
  These two items passed in committee and I am hopeful that they will pass on Monday. Chairman Ford voted for these two items, as did all of the Republican commissioners who were there. Please write them and thank them for their votes and encourage them to vote the same on Monday and give them your thoughts about anything else on the agenda.

          901-222-1000 or email them here...http://www.shelbycountytn.gov/index.aspx?NID=1209