Alternative news and discussion for Scottsboro, Jackson County Alabama and the Tennessee River Valley as I see it. Responsible comments to articles welcome. As always, "Watch for Snakes," particularly those wearing suits.
Earliest known photo of First Monday, original proof photo owned by Garry Morgan, prior Asheville Post Card Company.
First Monday April 1931, Scottsboro Defendants Trial, photograph and attribution owned by Garry Morgan (auction purchase), Fair Use for non-profit news and commentary.
First Monday Trade Days mid-1950s from Ford Times 1956 - Fair Use for non-profit news reporting and commentary.
Jackson County Courthouse south side, photo by G. Morgan
Monday's session of the Jackson county commission was a long one. I left after agenda item 11 to cover the important agenda at the city council meeting. There were 18 agenda items on Monday's commission meeting.
AGENDA
VIDEO Part 1 Agenda items 1 - 2
Jim Helm's proposal regarding the county park store, boats, gas etc. Agenda item 1.
The management of Scottsboro's property continues to be a problem. This is a boat similar to the one sold for $3000.00, a 1979 Marinette Cabin Cruiser. Fair Use photo for non-profit news reporting and commentary, unknown contributor. Blog article about the boat issue and Scottsboro property mismanagement. http://arklite.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-boat-and-mayor-of-scottsboro-deep.html
Why is this important? The City Council is responsible for property management and management of the budget and finances of the City of Scottsboro. This responsibility is codified in the laws of the State of Alabama. The mayor may have erred in any number of issues, including the inappropriate sale of Scottsboro City Property, such as the above boat, or for that matter the renovation of the ball field. However, the City Council is the responsible authority for property and money. You cannot delegate the legal responsibility for those areas the city council is responsible.
City Official's disclosed to me yesterday evening that the District Attorney found no criminality regarding the disposition and sale of Scottsboro's Cabin Cruiser although the law was not followed.
Scottsboro Ball fields, Scottsboro Recreation; photo from the City of Scottsboro dot com (Government Source) - Fair Use for non-profit news reporting and commentary.
Ball Field Failed Planning
Agenda Item 2 - Ball Field "renovation dollars" to cost tax payers $2.396 million, $1.3 million more that originally stated. The Bond issue was for $3 million dollars and included the ball field project, the swimming pool project, the Fire Station renovation and an addition to the Heritage center.
Poor planning and mismanagement by the City Council and the unnecessary demolition of the entire field structure and infrastructure is the root cause of the mismanagement.
The City Council is responsible for budget and property, there is no scapegoat for the City Council's responsibility in this failure. Early on in the planning phase of this project the City Council erred by placing responsibility on the previous mayor and a small committee to make decisions which were under the entire councils purview.
Discussions with an elected official on this matter reveals that there may have been an intentional effort to completely demolish the ballfield and its' infrastructure to raise costs of "renovation" of this project. However, at this point intent cannot be proven.
Many thanks to Mr. Wallingsford and Mr. Smith for having the courage to tell it like it is regarding this unfortunate problem regarding the mismanagement of our financial assets.
Essentially, the ball field project is not a renovation, it is a complete building of a ball field from ground up.
Next Mismanagement Item
Agenda Item 3 - Another unnecessary cost to the taxpayers of Scottsboro is the mismanagement of the Streetscape Renovation of the Downtown Square. The southside of the square will have traffic and parking diverted because of the 2 large park areas which have been inserted into the current square area at the southeast and southwest corners. It is estimated this unneeded work will cost tax payers approximately $200,000 in unnecessary renovation costs, possibly more
