Hits and Misses of 2015

It is almost time for the ball to drop and the year to change, again. Wow. Where did the year go? It seems that every year speeds by a little faster than the one before. This year there were some real hits and misses, on a state, local and national level. Budget season was particularly rough this year in Jefferson County and the fall out is still falling out. 2015 also saw a strange shift in alliances on the County Commission and even on the School Board. For those of us that watch the action closely it was like walking in a fog, with the landscape looking entirely different and a little treacherous to travel. It also caused no small amount of drama in the meeting room, with elected official pitted against elected official.

So, because I really like lists, here is my list of hits and misses for 2015. I am sure that some will disagree with my choices but what is life without debate and diversity?

Let’s start with the misses.

For me the biggest miss this year was the ongoing contentious relationship between elected officials. It was contrary to conducting County business and just plain embarrassing. That being said, I am hopeful that it has at least moved from center stage to behind closed doors. Another huge miss this year was the sewage situation at Rush Strong School. There is really no excuse for the excessive dragging of feet that has gone on with this issue. Even as late as November it was still not deemed corrected. I am not sure just who is pulling the strings with the state on this one but it is shameful that our children and our river are still knee deep in ammonia and ecol i, yet there are no real answers to questions that should have been answered in September. Epic, epic fail. Though there was no property tax increase in 2015, we took on even more debt with employee raises that will cost more than $600,000 annually, we have had several lawsuits, some with merit and some that were more a shot in the dark, and now we are in the great mold debate. Sounds like money to me and considering our current debt, that is more than a little scary. As for the University of Tennessee and Carson-Newman University, both had big misses this year and they were, interestingly, the flip side of the same coin. Has academia always been so intolerant and unreasonable? Perhaps the State of Tennessee could just start setting my tax dollars on fire or flushing them down the toilet rather than sending them to places that perpetrate ignorance in the name of higher thought.

But, there were some real hits in 2015. The County Commission knocked it out of the ball park when they came up with a plan to do some needed renovations to White Pine School without taking on any more debt. It may seem a relatively simple plan to use funds that were available to finance a project but in the terms of government, it was revolutionary and genius. Kudos and finger snaps to the County Commission and the School Board for taking the road never traveled. Despite strong budget cuts last year, there were more than $2 million dollars in funds that were rolled back into fund balance. 2015 brought no increase in property tax and that was important to many residents. As for me, I am not sure that we did not need a small increase to off set the need for a larger increase in 2016 but, hey, whatever. I understand that some Commissioners made a promise to let the property tax stand if the citizens would not protest a wheel tax increase and they stayed true to their word. No matter if I agree with the logic behind the promise or not, they get gold stars doing what politicians rarely ever do. They made a promise and kept it. Should they have made the promise? Well, that is another debate entirely and a matter of opinion. Kudos to Dandridge for looking into the possibility of fiber optic internet and to those that have been the driving force behind the recent movement . It may be an up hill battle but we will never climb the mountain if we don’t put one foot in front of the other. And last, but certainly not least, the greatest hit of 2015 has to be the community response when tragedy struck White Pine in the form of the death of a child allegedly at the hand of another child. Educators, the Sheriff’s Department, a hoard of First Responders, Churches and the community as a whole came together to pull a school of grieving students and a group of grieving family members and neighbors up from the depths of confusion and despair. Many of those offering solace were, themselves, coping with the stress of loss. It is a testament to the fiber of Jefferson County and the strength, love and compassion of her residents that they answered the call and met the needs in such a time of crisis.

2016 looks to be interesting. I don’t know if anything locally can challenge the spectacle that Trump and Clinton will likely present for public consumption. Although, I am sure that there is some reality show that will try. Maybe this will be the year that we clean up the, um mm, sewage and get on with the business at hand. Or maybe it will just be business as usual. My magic eight ball says “Reply hazy, try again.”