The Ashland City Town Council passed the town’s 2023-2024 budget, approved new water and sewer rates, and discussed the job description for the new city administrator position at its regular June 2023 meeting.
The town council unanimously approved the town’s 2023-24 budget, with the property tax rate of $0.58 per $100 of assessed value on all real and personal property, the same rate as the prior year.
New water and sewer rates were also unanimously approved for the upcoming fiscal year and took effect on July 1, 2023. According to Ashland City Finance Director Gayle Bowman, the new rates increased by 15 percent, including the normal annual 3 percent increase. A letter went out to all water service subscribers explaining the increase.
July 1 also saw the commencement of the new agreement with Servline, approved by the Town Council in May, to cover any leaks or overages incurred by customers instead of going to the Town Council to approve bill adjustments. The leak protection plans cost $5 per unit, according to Bowman.
“We had a master meter customer who had a leak and came before the council asking for an adjustment. We reached out to Servline to see if they now offer leak protection to residential master meter customers,” Bowman said.
Vice-Mayor and 2nd Ward Councilman Gerald Greer discussed solidifying the description of the newly created city administrator position. The town has been operating under the leadership of an elected part-time mayor and council, but the city administrator would be full-time and appointed by the town council. The council unanimously approved the creation of the position last month, along with changing the date of its town elections from the first Saturday of every odd-numbered year to the first Thursday of August of every even-numbered year, as part of a change to the town’s charter, which was first approved by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed by Gov. Bill Lee in April. By law, creating the position and changing the election dates required a change to the town charter.
The town council had previously considered both a part-time mayor/full-time city administrator model and making the mayor a full-time position. Greer said that, under advisement from the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service Municipal Management Consultant Gary Jaeckel, the town decided on the part-time mayor/full-time city administrator model because it gives the city council more control.
“If we get someone and we don’t like how they’re running things, as city administrator, it’s easier to get rid of that person than if we have a full-time mayor, and it takes much more if that person isn’t dealing well for the city. When it comes to education requirements, there are no requirements for a full-time mayor. There may be a high school diploma or GED requirement, but right now, there are no requirements. With a city administrator, we can make requirements, such as a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or master’s preferred, five to seven years experience, but that is what Ashland City needs. We need someone who can come in and make Ashland City government run efficiently,” Greer said.
Jaeckel said that while he has a bias towards the city administrator model, he does believe it is the best choice for Ashland City.
“Based on my experiences working in City Hall and with MTAS, I have been an advocate for cities to employ a qualified city administrator or manager to be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of a city. As a member of the International City/County Management Association and the Tennessee City Management Association, I have firmly believed that the work of a city to best serve all of the residents and businesses in a community to be a non-political career. The goal of a professional city manager is to lead an organization in providing the best possible service, including those services that residents want, to all of the people and businesses in a community and do so equally and in the most cost-effective manner,” Jaeckel said.
Ashland City previously had a full-time city administrator position, but the town council voted to remove the position from the charter in 2007, according to Jaeckel. However, the town council discussed at recent past meetings the need for more administration.
“There are a growing number of cities in Tennessee, and nationwide, that are employing city administrators and managers because of the increasing complexity of the regulations and laws that governmental agencies are required to follow in providing services to the community. With the changing technology many services being offered by cities is becoming more complex, difficult and increasingly regulated by laws and regulations imposed by the federal government and state agencies,” Jaeckel said.
The Ashland City Town Council meets the second Tuesday of each month.
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