BOMA Meeting 3-17-22

Last night was the monthly Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting for the city of White House. Here is the link for the agenda, reports, and ordinances that were discussed. This month’s meeting contained basic business for the city. Four of the ordinances passed were simply updating building codes from 2012 codes to 2018. The only resolution that was passed seemed to be a formality. The state legislature is looking at restoring a percentage of the state sales tax back to the cities in the state. The resolution allows the city to accept that money should the state decide to allocate it.

At the beginning of the meeting, there is communication from the board. The city administrator, Gerald Herman, was the only one to speak. The updates that were given from him are as follows:

• It will be the end of April before the community center is complete

• Move in should be in June hoping for the June BOMA meeting to be there

• The sewer upgrade is progressing (cost $21 million)

• Discussion of the Nashville Vital Study with 200k people expected in 5 years (Herman inflated the number in his speech)

  

  Screenshot from Study put out by Nashville Chamber of Commerce

Mr. Herman proceeded to tell the board and audience that all cities in middle TN are struggling with the growth. Middle TN is struggling with 41.9% of families already spending “more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgages.”

The question that needs to be asked of this board and Mr. Herman is this- Who do the elected officials work for? Do they work for the citizens that elected them, or the developers? Do they work for the people of White House, or the people that “might” move to White House? Given their track record of listening to the citizens of the city, I will let this example help you decide.

On September 17th of 2020 while everyone was asked to “shelter in place,” when people were still afraid to leave their homes, the BOMA decided that they did not want to hear from the citizens they claim to represent. Ordinance 20-23 came to the board for the first reading in September. In this ordinance, Alderman Corbitt asked that a line item be added to the order of business on the agenda. This item was (17) Public Comment (Only quarterly: January, April, July, October) This change would allow the citizens to have an open mic at the end of these meetings and question their elected officials. As it stands, the public is only allowed to speak on public hearing items. Public hearing items are second reading items. An ordinance or resolution generally sees the planning commission several times, then proceeds to BOMA. By the time it reaches public hearing, it has already passed at least three times. That final vote where citizens are allowed to speak is almost comical.

In September, Alderman Corbitt made a motion to vote. Farris Bibb- NO, John Decker-NO, Clif Hutson- NO, Mayor Arnold-NO, John Corbitt- Yes. Bibb then made a motion to strike #17 from the order of business and any mention of quarterly meetings from the section. Decker seconded that motion. The four men passed that with the only no from Corbitt. Let me make that clear, Bibb, Hutson, Decker, and Arnold do NOT want to hear from the public in meetings even quarterly.

It gets better. In the ordinance where they made these changes, the board is not allowed to ask for clarification, and the citizen may not debate board members. There is a time and place for heated debate, oftentimes that is not at a public meeting. However, in this city, there is no place for discussion whatsoever.

This was finalized in the October meeting with the same four men voting yes and the same lone Alderman voting no.

It seems that this board cannot follow their own rules. The rules are for you, the underclass, not the ruling class. Last month when the citizen who asked for the investigation into the mayor was allowed to speak, his 3 minutes were interrupted by the City Administrator, Mr. Herman. Mr. Herman engaged him in debate for his entire 3 minutes. According to the section, the citizen was not allowed to debate. Does that mean the board is also not allowed to debate? Was Mr. Herman allowed to use the 3 minutes to argue with the citizen? These are questions that need to be asked.

As far as the investigation into the former mayor, no word. It’s been a month, and no update at this meeting. It’s time to ask yourself and your neighbors, who does this board work for?