Sustainable Shelby County meeting-Doug Farr speaking

I received the following notice, which may be of interest to Lakeland residents. I understand anyone interested is invited and encouraged to attend.

Of special interest to Lakeland residents, Doug Farr is the owner of Farr and Associates, the company that is working with the City of Lakeland in developing new Land Development Regulations for Lakeland.

July 8 – 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. – Memphis Botanic Garden

You are invited to join Mayor Wharton in launching the Sustainable Shelby agenda, our community’s first comprehensive agenda that is equal parts sustainability, smart growth, green building, and more. This agenda was produced from committees and public polling that converged to create detailed recommendations for a sustainable future.

This Sustainable Shelby call to action meeting will announce the agenda for the future and next steps to accomplish them. Special remarks will be made by Doug Farr, author of Sustainable Urbanism, the seminal book that set the context for our local agenda.

Please invite your friends and colleagues to be part of this history-making meeting.

Qualtiy of Life in Lakeland and Shelby County

I recently attended a meeting in Memphis where most of the persons attending were from other areas of Tennessee (“middle” and “east” Tennessee). I was surprised and somewhat angered by some of the anti-Shelby County metro area comments, some valid, some just malicious comments that come from ignorance.

I assume my reaction was as member of the Shelby County Metro Area “family”-members can criticize all they want, but we get upset when an outsider criticizes us, especially unjustly! Perhaps some of my reaction was also that the persons criticizing were from areas with similar problems and I had a “take care of your own problems before criticizing us” reaction.

This same week, I was pleased to see that, unlike some areas, the Shelby County Metro Area works hard to improve what are perceived as weak areas. I have always been pleased by the attitude of area residents to criticize but also try to fix the problems!

I was unaware until this week of efforts by two Shelby County Metro Area organizations to substantially improve the metro area:

-The Workforce Investment Network program (WIN), under the direction of new Executive Director Jim Russell, is becoming a significant positive asset for new and existing businesses. The most prevalent criticism of the Memphis Metro Area I have heard from new businesses and industry is the lack of a trained work force.

I learned that WIN is making significant strides in providing training for area (this includes a county in addition to Shelby County) residents for all types of businesses.

Also, the office provides testing for the “Career Readiness Certificate”, a “certificate” that indicates the residents has passed a test certifying they have reached certain standards in Applied Math, Reading for Information and Locating Information. There are three levels, of the Career Readiness Certificate, Bronze, Silver and Gold. It is my understanding the test can be correlated with training to upgrade the weak areas.

This provides a standard for businesses to use in hiring new employees and also provides a credential for persons seeking jobs to provide as proof of their qualifications.

I was pleased to hear about the progress of this program. This program will help both residents (by providing training and improved chances of a job) and businesses by provided a qualified work force.

Shelby County Mayor Wharton has been a major force in encouraging and developing the improvement of these services.

By the way, I wanted to mention how friendly and helpful the personnel at the WIN program office are. In addition to the main offices in downtown Memphis, there are also five satellite offices in the Shelby County/Fayette County area.

More information is available at http://www.memphiscareercenter.com/, or by calling 901-545-2240.

-The ArtsMemphis program is a major effort to improve and improve support of the “arts” in the Memphis area. Memphis arts and activities are important to Lakeland residents since it directly impacts our quality of life.

I was surprised to learn of the impact of the arts in Memphis-it not only is quality of life it also is good business to support the arts! Also, it directly benefits Lakeland residents by providing our residents who want to advance in the arts with local opportunities that aren’t found in many areas.

I was impressed enough that I decided to personally support ArtsMemphis as I feel it is a major asset to Lakeland, and, as a Lakeland resident, I appreciate the extensive availability of the arts in this area.

You can learn more about ArtsMemphis at http://www.artsmemphis.org/. This site contains information about all area arts. (I was especially interested in the “Peanut Butter and Jam Festival” at the Germantown Arts Centre, until I found it was for children ages 3-8! Still a great idea, just I won't be attending for myself unless my 5 and 8 year old Granddaughters come to visit!)

I have to admire Shelby County, Lakeland (and nearby county) residents-instead of spending time putting down and criticizing other Tennessee areas, we are working to improve our quality of life. There are many more such efforts, and I am mentioning these two because they are large scale efforts that I was not really aware of until this week. The http://www.artsmemphis.org/ is especially informative on what is going on in the Shelby County area.

www.Lakelandtn.gov-easy way to sign up for Lakeland Phone Directory!

I went to www.Lakelandtn.gov and signed up for the Lakeland Phone Directory in less than a minute! Not only that, but I have until July 11 to change my information.

Sign up now-www.Lakelandtn.gov, click on the Phone Directory signup information at the top of the right hand column and you're in the Lakeland Phone Book!

We appreciate the excellent work of Webmaster Leah Bryant in setting this up.

Natural Resources Board Members Appointed

The Lakeland Board of Commissioners recently appointed the first members of the Lakeland Natural Resources Board. The Natural Resources Board (NRB) will make recommendations on development of Natural Resources Policies, including review of the Tree Ordinance and other Natural Resource matters. The regular meeting date of the Natural Resources Board will be established at the organizational meeting.

Members appointed by the Board of Commissioners include:

Commissioner Randy Nicholson (BOC liaison)

Billie Fae Horton

Jerry James

Jeff Konieczny

Mark Mangone

Peter Marsh

Tony Neri

Tony Neri resigned from the Park Board to accept the appointment to the Natural Resources Board. The Board of Commissioners appointed Bennie Cobb to the vacancy on the Park and Recreation Board.

Number Please!

Get your number in the LAKELAND PHONE BOOK! Letters to all Lakeland residents will be mailed on or about Friday, June 27, 2008 and should be received early next week. The envelope will have (in red letters) the following on the return address:

NUMBER PLEASE

LAKELAND PHONE DIRECTORY

Please IMMEDIATELY (before you forget) complete the information you want in the Lakeland Phone Directory and mail it back in the self-addressed stamped envelope!

Lakeland residents may also complete the form at www.Lakelandtn.gov and e-mail it in.

Be a part of the Lakeland Phone Book and return the questionnaire with the information you wish to have in the Lakeland Phone Book or compete the on-line questionnaire!

LAKELAND PHONE BOOK COMING-RETURN SURVEY TO BE LISTED!

The Lakeland Phonebook is coming!

Within the next 10 days, all Lakeland residents will be receiving a survey for listing your name and phone number in the Lakeland Phone Book!

The book will list your primary phone number, which may be a cell phone etc. if desired. Any resident may also opt out of having a phone listing.Names and numbers will be used only for this project and not sold or distributed. The Phone Book will be copyrighted.

Forms will also be available at http://www.lakelandtn.gov/ and may be e-mailed, faxed or personally delivered to City Hall. (We will distribute a notice when this form is available on the website.)

The Lakeland Civic Club is selling advertisements for the LAKELAND PHONE BOOK and are contributing a lot of volunteer hours to this effort! Please support the Lakeland Civic Club by purchasing an advertisement!

The Lakeland Phone Book will be distributed to each residence in Lakeland and every Lakeland business and advertisers.

Watch for the survey in the mail or the notice that the form is available at the web site!

Lakeland Volunteers-Thanks!

Over the past several weeks, I have noticed the many hours of study and meetings Lakeland residents volunteer in working for a better Lakeland.

Residents put in countless hours as members of the Park and Recreation Board, Design Review Commission, Municipal Planning Commission, and Economic Development Commission. In addition, residents volunteer for short term projects such as the current Land Development Committee which involves a LOT of time and study.

The Board of Commissioners recently separated the Park and Recreation Board and Natural Resources Board and established the Natural Resources Board as a separate Board.

I was pleased to note the quality and experience of Lakeland residents who volunteered for the Lakeland Natural Resources Board and the possible openings on the Lakeland Park and Recreation Board.

The Mayor and Commissioners and I appreciate the efforts and dedication of our volunteers who commit their personal time and efforts to serving on the volunteer Boards and Commissions and Committees. We literally couldn't do it without you!

Thanks to all the residents who commit their personal time to improving our Community!

HOA/Neighborhood Association Sign Resolution

The proposed Resolution to the Board of Commissioners is to provide for signs to be posted for HOA/Neighborhood Association meetings is:

A RESOLUTION TO PERMIT TEMPORARY NOTIFICATION SIGNS FOR HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION MEETINGS AND EVENTS

WHEREAS, the City of Lakeland recognizes that Home Owners Associations (HOA) are valuable community assets that promote positive resident activity within neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, it is common for HOAs to conduct regular meetings and events; and

WHEREAS, notifying residents of meetings and events can be costly, time consuming, and ineffective if proper notification methods are not utilized or permitted; and

WHEREAS, the Lakeland Sign Ordinance allows temporary notification signs for non-profit organizations, but the allowable sign locations are limited to the property on which the event would be held and not interpreted to allow sign placement at the entrances to subdivisions where the signs would be most visible; and

WHEREAS, allowing temporary signage for HOAs at the entrances to subdivisions would be an effective and appropriate method of notification and would not adversely affect the general safety, health, and welfare of the citizens of Lakeland.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF LAKELAND THAT:

Standards regarding the placement of temporary HOA meeting notification signs are hereby adopted as follows:

1. One (1) sign shall be allowed at each subdivision entrance.

2. The sign shall be located within common open space (COS) or associated with the permanent subdivision entrance signage. If no COS exists at an entrance or there is no permanent subdivision signage, the temporary sign may be located on private property near the entrance with the owner’s permission.

3. The temporary sign shall be limited to nine (9) square feet in area.

4. The sign shall be limited to 48 inches in height.

5. The signs shall be professionally constructed.

6. The signs shall be erected no sooner than seven (7) days prior to the event.

7. The sign shall be removed no later than one (1) day following the conclusion of the event.

8. Temporary signs for non-profit special events shall not require the review and approval of the Design Review Commission.

9. Written permission from the City Manager or his designee shall be obtained prior to placement of the signs. No permit fee is required.

PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Commissioners of the City of Lakeland, Tennessee on this ___ day of ______________, 2008, the public welfare requiring it.

This Resolution will be considered by the Board of Commissioners at the Thursday, June 12 meeting. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

Signs for Notice of Neighborhood/Homeowner Association Meetings to be considered

Neighborhood/Homeowner Associations will be able to place signs at major entrances advising residents of Association meetings under a Resolution currently under consideration by the Board of Commissioners.

The Mayor and Commissioners realize that neighborhoods are the basic building block of Lakeland and strong active neighborhoods are essential to our community and communication is a key to a strong association.

The Board of Commissioners is considering a Resolution at the meeting on Thursday, June 12, 2008 to provide for Neighborhood Associations and Homeowner Associations to post notices of meetings at each main entry to a neighborhood. The notices could be posted for short periods before the meeting.

The current proposal is that a simple, no charge permit could be approved by staff for one professionally made sign not exceeding 9 square feet (the size of a typical real estate sign) to be posted at each approved major entry way into a subdivision for several days before a meeting. The purpose of the sign would be to provide notice of the meeting to residents.

The concept was discussed at the Board of Commissioners Work Session and will be considered for possible adoption at the Thursday, June 12, 2008 Regular Meeting. As soon as the draft Resolution is prepared and sent to the Board of Commissioners, the Resolution will be available for public review. Residents are welcome to attend the meeting at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, June 12, 2008 at Lakeland City Hall.

Fireworks illegal in Lakeland without permit

Lakeland residents and organizations are reminded that any use of fireworks in Lakeland is illegal without a permit.

Specifically the Ordinance provides:

(Note: All display of fireworks is considered “public” fireworks, so any display requires a permit.)

7-205. Special fireworks displays. Special public fireworks displays may be held when a permit therefore has been issued by the State Fire Marshal and approval for the display has been granted by the city commission. A copy of the permit issued by the State Fire Marshal must be submitted to the city commission not less than fifteen (15) days in advance of the proposed fireworks displays. (1989 Code, § 7-205)

Municipal Code - 7-208. Public fireworks displays. Public fireworks displays will be permitted under the following conditions:

(1) Submission of an application giving the name of the organization and the responsible person to whom the permit will be issued.

(2) A draft site plan showing the location and lay-out of the area where the fireworks will be discharged will be required.

(3) Documented approval by the State Fire Marshall and other units of government as may be required by law.

(4) A certificate of insurance showing general liability coverage of at least $500,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate.

(5) A permit fee of five hundred dollars ($500.00) is required. (1989 Code, § 7-208, modified)

We encourage all residents and organizations to comply with these regulations for the safety and security of all Lakeland residents. Contact Lakeland City Hall at 867-2717 for information on obtaining a permit.

City Hall staff news

Staff changes in the past month have included:

-Emily Boswell was appointed to the position of Staff Engineer. She worked as a Construction Inspector for Lakeland for the past 4 years on an Intern/part-time basis while she completed her B.S. in Engineering.

-James (Bart) Stimpson was hired as Wastewater Technician to replace Matthew David, who resigned to take another position. He previously worked for Mid-South Septic and is familiar with the Lakeland Sewer System and the lift stations. He also operated the same type of equipment he will be operating for Lakeland.

-Theresa Meyer, Executive Assistant, earned her Certified Municipal Clerk designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. This indicates she has met specified education and experience requirements for the designation. She is one of 8 persons in Tennessee who recently received the designation.