10 Candidates Enter City Commissioner Race
Brentwood Life
From Staff ReportsTen candidates have qualified to run for four Brentwood City Commissioner seats. Incumbents Joe Reagan, Regina Smithson and Paul Webb are seeking re-election. Seven other candidates are Rod Freeman, Patsy George, Lydia Hampton, Rhea Little, Devin McClendon, Natalie Mertie and Miguel Palmer.
The four candidates that receive the highest number of votes in the May 5 election will gain a seat on the commission. The candidate who receives the fourth highest number of votes will serve a two-year term to cover the remainder of Bill Youree, the commissioner whodied last April.
The early voting period is April 15-April 30. On April 15 and 16 residents can vote at the Williamson County election commission office located at 1320 West Main St. in Franklin. Starting April 17, early voting will be conducted at two Brentwood locations, the Municipal Building at 5211 Maryland Way and the Brentwood Library at 8109 Concord Road. Voting hours will be from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and Saturday hours from 8 a.m.-noon. As of Feb. 26, there were 26,544 registered voters in Brentwood. The deadline to register to vote in the Brentwood City election is Monday, April 6.Brentwood Life presents each candidate to help residents make an informed decision when they vote in the May 5 election.
Rod Freeman
29 year Brentwood Resident
Q: Could you tell us about yourself?A: My family and I have lived at the same address in Brentwood since 1980. I have worked in Brentwood since 1975; first with Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company as their VP of Marketing and then with Fitness Systems, Inc., which I founded in1985. Our three childrenhave attended Brentwood public schools. Orignallyfrom Anderson, Ind., I was offered an Athletic Grant-in-Aid to attend Vanderbilt University and to play basketball. I currently am a member of the Brentwood Rotary Club where I serve as Club Secretary. I also serve on the Board of Directors of WhoUWith? Ministries and Fitness Systems Inc. Over the years, I have had the pleasure and privilege of serving on several civic and charitable boards and committees in the Brentwood and Nashville area.Q: Why have you decided to run for Brentwood Commissioner?
A: I was approached last fall by some fellow businessmen and encouraged to consider serving as a Brentwood City Commissioner. I feel strongly that my experiences as a business leader, manager and owner will serve me well in my role as a Brentwood City Commissioner. Because I have lived in Brentwood for over 30 years and participated in civic activities, charitable organizations, youth programs and business, I have much to offer as a servant to the city.I think it is important to be a good listener and ask appropriate questions before offering opinions and rendering decisions. My time as a husband, father, business and community leader and citizen will be valuable as I fulfill the responsibilities and challenges of a Brentwood City Commissioner. I look forward to “giving back” to Brentwood, and its citizens, my time and talents after so many years of “receiving” so much from the community and its leaders.
Contact Rod Freeman at rod@voterodfreeman.com, (615) 500-3020 or Committee to Elect Rod Freeman, P.O. Box 2882, Brentwood, TN 37024.
Patsy George
33 year Brentwood resident
Q: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: I started working in Brentwood in 1971 at Murray Ohio for eight years. I’ve been at the Brentwood post office for 20 years.
Q: Why have you decided to run for Brentwood Commissioner?
A: I absolutely love Brentwood and I want to do anything I can to help those who live in Brentwood. For those who ask why can’t we get stuff done, I want to help with those solutions. At the post office, people have asked me, ‘why don’t you run for commissioner?’ I thought I would. I want to keep Brentwood and everything like it is. As Brentwood changes, I want to keep the residents in mind and I would love to help make decisions in Brentwood.Contact Patsy George (615) 370-3666.
Lydia Hampton
24-year Brentwood resident
Q: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: I previously worked with my husband, at Hampton and Associates, an insurance adjusting firm that he owns. Currently, I’m semi-retired. I have three grandchildren and a fourth on the way. I spend my time volunteering at my church and for several local non-profit entities.
Q: Why have you decided to run for Brentwood Commissioner?A: I was previously one of those people who complained but didn’t take action. I became involved in community actions during a rezoning issue last year. I’ve decided to step out and be a voice for the people, rather than complain, so that’s why I’m running.
Contact Lydia Hampton at hamptonassociates@comcast.net or (615) 377-8110.
Rhea Little
1-year Brentwood resident, served Brentwood 30+ years through a three-generation businessQ: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: I’m married to my wonderful wife Marie and have two daughters that attend Williamson County schools. Attended Brentwood public schools, BBA-Cum Laude-Belmont University; Sunday School teacher 10+ years; served on Board of Directors Brentwood-Cool Springs Chamber of Commerce-Board Member of the Year for 2003; serving on Brentwood Rotary Board of Directors; Recipient of Glenn Huff Award as Small Business of the Year.
Q: Why have you decided to run for Brentwood Commissioner?A: The call to serve my home community and my love for Brentwood based on a life of service to Brentwood and solidified by a family legacy of serving Brentwood in different capacities for 200 plus years. Brentwood is comprised of hardworking individuals who, through perseverance, ingenuity and wisdom, have allowed their families to live in one of our nation’s most desirable communities. Brentwood’s leaders must understand the community of the past, the conditions of the present and possess a strong vision for the possibilities of the future to ensure Brentwood’s future is one of seeking opportunity, securing success and having a quality of life we all desire. Through my life’s experiences, education, civic, business and volunteer service to this community, I am uniquely qualified to help lead Brentwood into the future as a member of the Brentwood City Commission.
Contact Rhea Little: (615) 776-1267 or (615) 373-5868, http://www.rhealittle.com/ or rhea@rhealittle.com
Devin McClendon
35-year Brentwood residentQ: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: I’m a lifelong Brentwood resident and I attended Brentwood public schools. I’ve been very active in the community as a member of Leadership BrentwoodAlumni Association 2009 and a member of Brentwood 2020 Committee. Most recently I was president of the MTSU National Alumni Association. I’m married with two children and I’m very involved with my church. Professionally, I’m a commercial real estate broker and am involved in real estate transactions throughout Middle Tennessee.
Q: Why have you decided to run for Brentwood Commissioner?A: I am running for Brentwood City Commissioner because I have a passion for our city that I want to share with others. I have the knowledge that comes with living in Brentwood for 35 years and having a diverse background in business and commercial real estate. Most importantly, I believe it is our duty to share our experiences to make our hometown a better place to make friends, raise a family and spend time with grandchildren.
Contact Devin McClendon at votemcclendon.com, devin.mcclendon@gmail.com and (615) 400-5336.
Natalie Mertie
17-year Brentwood resident
Q: Could you tell us about yourself?A: I moved here in 1992 when my husband was transferred from Akron,Ohio. I transferred my Ohio real estate license almost immediately and I’ve been working with Zeitlin Realtors all this time. I am a single person living in Brentwood Country Club. My loves include my son and his wife, gardening, the Titans, Ohio State football and my friends.
Q: Why have you decided to run for Brentwood Commissioner?A: Brentwood has been a wonderful place for me to live and work. This city is just the right size to be safe, interesting, friendly and nurturing. So now I feel it is my turn to give back to the community. Fresh approaches to this wonderful way of living cannot be a bad thing–it’s time for some innovative thinking on how Brentwood can continue to thrive.
Contact Natalie Mertie: (615) 370-9709, (615) 330-7724 or mertien@realtracs.com.Miguel Palmer
18-month Brentwood Resident
Q: Could you tell us aboutyourself?A: I am semi-retired. For most of my life, I worked as a criminalist in the Miami Dade Police Department crime lab. I have a Masters in Chemistry and a Masters in Business and Crime lab analysis. Currently I’m a forensic consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Q: Why have you decided to run for city commissioner?
A: What I would offer is a new perspective, a new set of eyes and a new voice on the commission. To bring whatever knowledge and skills from my work and my life to help the city improve the things that need improving.
Contact Miguel Palmer: mp5palmers@gmail.com or (615) 309-5577.
Joe Reagan
35-year Brentwood resident
Q: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: I was first elected to the Brentwood City Commission in 1993. I was employed by The Kroger Co. for 42 years and retired in 1992.
Q: Why have you decided to run for re-election as a Brentwood City Commissioner?A: I believe I have played a major role in Brentwood‘s extraordinary progress and am pleased that it has been accomplished without theneed for increased taxes. During my tenure we have created a park system unequaled in Tennessee and a library that is recognized as one the finest in the state and that continues to expand to meet our community needs. Brentwood police and fire personnel are the best trained and equipped of any city. It is estimated that over 80% of U.S. cities have financial troubles. It is good knowing the City of Brentwood is financially strong in these uncertain times. The city has a AAA bond rating and has over $20 million in reserves and has not raised property taxes for almost 20 years.
Contact Joe Reagan at reaganj@brentwood-tn.org or 370-3730.
Regina Smithson
27-year Brentwood residentQ: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: My husband works for Primerica Financial Services and my daughter and I own Silver Plum Handbags.John, my husband, will be celebrating our 43rd anniversary in June. We have three married children and eight grandchildren. Our grand-children are in the public schools here. We are all very involved and I love the fact that we are all so close and can be a part of this wonderful town.
Q: Why have you decided to run for re-election for Brentwood City Commissioner?
A: In these economic times I watch the state and the federal government spending money like it grows on trees. It doesn’t. I take a lot of pride in the fact that while serving on the commission for 18 years not one time have we raised property taxes. I have always been and will continue to be very aware that these dollars we spend in Brentwood are tax dollars that have been sacrificed from my family, friends, neighbors and all citizens. I have not and will not be reckless with your tax dollars but will continue to vote on the programs and infrastructure we have in place to keep Brentwood the beautiful place it is today. I love serving the citizens of Brentwood and hope they will view my service worthy to vote for me again.
Contact Regina Smithson at regina.smithson@gmail.com, or (615) 512-2779, or (615) 377-0115.Paul Webb
26-year Brentwood residentQ: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: My wife Pat, son Austin and I moved to Brentwood in 1983. We have three boys now who all attended Brentwood schools. I am a native Tennessean, born and raised in Crossville. I am a CPA serving as the administrator at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Public service has always been important to me. I am currently serving as treasurer of Brentwood Civitan, member of the Brentwood Morning Rotary Club and I was in the Brentwood Leadership Class – 2008. As a city commissioner I have served on the Library Board, Planning Commission and Park Board.
Q: Why have you decided to run for re-election for Brentwood Commissioner?
A: I am in my first term and I am running for re-election because I care about Brentwood and want to continue my service to the community. I would like to expand our bikeways and parks. I support maintaining our one acre residential density. I am a strong supporter of our excellent police and fire departments. Our tax dollars have been used wisely in Brentwood enabling us to make our city a better place to live without increasing our property tax. With a sound financial management plan in place, we can weather the current economic hardships without adversely impacting the city and its residents.
Contact Pual Webb at paul@votepaulwebb.com, (615) 815-8985 orvotepaulwebb.com
10 Candidates Battle for Brentwood City Commissioner
March 13, 2009 by Truman Bean
Filed under Politics
Preliminary Brentwood Budget Reports Buck State & National Gloom
February 5, 2009 by Truman Bean
Filed under Taxes
Preliminary Brentwood Budget Reports Buck State & National Gloom
Preliminary reports have substantial shortfalls in income from state taxes, sales taxes and new building starts, BUT due to conservative budgeting, it looks like a reasonable budget with……
- No raise in taxes for a record 19th year in a row.
- No cutting personnel Props to our City Commissioners and City Manager.
- No decreasing services to our citizens.
- Hold AAA Ratings from both Moody’s and Standard & Poors
Brentwood Environmental Committee; Noble effort or Davos on the Little Harpeth
February 4, 2009 by Truman Bean
Filed under Politics
This committee needs to be watched and tracked very closely. The planning and promotion of good stewardship of God’s creation is a responsibility that we all have a part and should participate.
My fear is that Commissioner Noble has more extreme ideas for this group, making it Davos on the Little Harpeth. A tool and platform for the extreme global warmers to further entrench their worship of the creation, using local governments as forums to solidify their gains made at the national and international levels.
Balance, civility, candid discussion, and an ultimate limited focus of goals will be key.
Energy, recycling is focus of new panel
City’s environmental committee will include commissioner, citizens
By Harriet Vaughan
THE TENNESSEANBRENTWOOD — A soon-to-be formed committee will be charged with protecting the city’s environment and developing innovative ways to make the city more energy efficient.
City commissioners last month unanimously approved formation of an environmental quality coordinating committee.Sitting on the committee will be a city commissioner, a representative from each city committee and board and 12 interested persons from the community (see box for application information). Commissioners will make appointments to the committee at their Feb. 23 meeting.
Commissioner Alex Noble, the impetus behind the new committee, is a self-professed environmentalist and an engineer by trade. He says what he proposed is not a new phenomenon but a major step that Brentwood needs to take in protecting its environment and helping save the city money down the road.
“I’m concerned about the environment and financial security. Energy is one of the biggest issues here. Our energy activities in this country have negatively affected our economy, negatively affected our national security and negatively affected our environment,” said Noble. “I thought Brentwood, being a well-educated affluent and progressive community, should be on board. I believe there is substantial support in the community.”
Noble wants an audit of city buildings to determine how efficient they operate. He then wants the committee to look at ways to improve building efficiency based on the audit’s report. He also wants to bump up the city’s joint recycling effort with Williamson County. Noble is also an advocate for alternative energy, particularly photovoltaic cells, devices that convert solar energy into cells.
These are just some of the ideas that will be presented to the forthcoming committee.
Once the members of the committee are appointed, its work will begin. The group will have one year to develop findings and recommendations, which will then be presented to the city commission for review and a vote. At the same meeting, commissioners will also decide whether the environmental committee will become permanent.City has made environmental progress
A number of environmentally friendly efforts have been in place in Brentwood for several years.A $2 million project to interconnect all of the city’s traffic lights via fiber optics was completed several years ago, helping to decrease traffic jams and reduce vehicle emissions.
More than 25,000 tree seedlings have been distributed over the years as part of the call for residents to plant trees in celebration of Arbor Day.
Brentwood has spent more than $8 million over the past eight years to improve water supply and distribution systems. Last March, an ordinance was passed to protect waterways and streams in new developments. A buffer between waterways and new developments is to be set up.
Noble says these are all steps in the right direction, but that more needs to be done.
“The things are good. Nothing’s wrong with that,” he said.
“There’s nothing mentioned that’s not a positive thing. We just haven’t hardly scratched the surface.”
Additional Facts
To apply for a seat on Brentwood’s future environmental quality coordinating committee, contact Linda Lynch, Brentwood’s communications director, at lynchl@brentwood-tn.org or 371-0060
Brentwood is wise to go slowly on regional transit co-op
January 29, 2009 by Truman Bean
Filed under Politics
I compliment Crossley and company for being cynically cautious on this potential money pit that Brentwood and other cities should be wary.
Mass transit talk in Brentwood elicits words of caution
Harriet Vaughan
THE TENNESSEANBRENTWOOD — City commissioners want more information before signing on to a movement to create a public transit plan for Nashville and surrounding cities.
Commissioners unanimously voted earlier this week to remove from their agenda a Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization resolution asking local governments to help create — and possibly fund — a public transportation plan for the Middle Tennessee region.
“It’s important to know what our role will be, and right now, that’s not clear,” said commissioner Betsy Crossley.Franklin leaders already have agreed to support the plan, but other city’s leaders have voiced concerns. Before approving the resolution Jan. 6, members of Lebanon’s City Council worried the city would have to help fund the project during a tough fiscal year.
But Alex Noble, a city commissioner and the Brentwood representative on the Metropolitan Planning Organization board, said adoption would mean only that Brentwood would be included in talks about regional transit plans.
“It would not have committed us to anything except we help in searching for funding dedicated to mass transit, which is in our future,” Noble said. “I was hoping that Brentwood would be a part of that.”
The resolution calls for a regional subcommittee of the MPO executive board to pursue legislation during the next General Assembly legislative session in regards to funding.
Crossley said the funding part of the plan was what worried her.“I think the city will be on board, but we need more information as to how money will be used and the expectations of Brentwood,” she said. “Without knowing . . . how much money they will ask from us, we couldn’t move forward.”
Noble said city commissioners will talk with members of the MPO and legislature to get questions answered before bringing it back up for a vote. He hopes Brentwood will sign on in time.
“One of these days there will be some kind of mass transit line coming down here,” he said. “(If we take) our name off of that, we’ve taken our name out of the conversation.”
Brentwood trending towards transparency
January 19, 2009 by Truman Bean
Filed under Politics
Brentwood streamlines open records fees
Changes result after state alters schedule of charges
By Harriet Vaughan
THE TENNESSEANBRENTWOOD — Brentwood citizens will have an easier time getting their hands on open city records with a new change in city procedure.
The city is changing its fees on copies of open records as a result of Tennessee’s Office of Open Records Counsel’s new schedule of reasonable charges, which went into effect Oct. 1.
The schedule is designed to give city governments a guideline of what to charge for copies of records. If cities charge more than the amount suggested in the schedule, they must justify each charge to the counsel.
Ann Butterworth, director of the Office of Open Records Counsel, said the state established the schedule to make government more transparent.
“There was a concern that there were charges that were excessive and became a hindrance in allowing people access to records,” she said.
But Brentwood city attorney Roger Horner said the new fee scale also will streamline the city’s processes.
“It did get us an opportunity to make sure that we were being uniform as a city and that every department charges the same price for city records,” he said.
Previously, different departments within the city charged different fees for record copies.
Copies of records on standard-size paper cost 15 cents per page for black and white copies and 50 cents per page for color copies. For complete requests totaling less than $1, the fee will be waived.
The cost for copies of larger documents such as maps, plats and other formats is $2 per square foot.
“It’s a reasonable fee schedule. We certainly have folks that are interested in getting documents, and we want to be fair in how we provide those,” said Joe Lassus, planning and codes director for Brentwood.
In some cases, there will be no charge at all for records. Brentwood Police Captain Jeff Hughes says copies of offense reports and accident reports, formerly $5 and $10 respectively, are now free.
“When the fee structure came out, Chief Watson said it would be more cumbersome on us to try and make change on such a small fee than to provide the copies at no cost to the public,” said Hughes.
The department is also considering making the documents available online in the coming months.
According to the new guidelines, municipalities can charge additional fees if it takes a city worker longer than an hour to make copies. The hourly fee charged will be the same as the employee’s hourly wage.
The schedule does not apply to corporate or vital records such as birth, death and marriage certificates. There is already an established fee for those documents.
