"Keep On Not Doing What You're Not Doing!"

Local reader sends us this message for the Mayor, Aldermen and Planning Commission..."Keep on not doing what you're not doing!" This is a feeling of total frustration from far too many residents and voters of Nolensville about our city leaders. Here's a brief list of concerns they have now and about the future of our city.
1. Runaway annexation policies of Mayor, Aldermen and Planners with seemingly no thought about added cost of services.

2. Open Door policy to any and all housing developers regardless of lot sizes, density and impact on local traffic. Mayor said recently that local developer
who waited a long time for Nolensville to annex his property could have gone to the county and gotten 8,000 sq. ft. lots and 2.8 units per acre density." What he failed to mention is our city leaders have already approved 6,000 sq. ft. lots or less in Bent Creek.

3. Competitive "horse-race" between Nolensville and Williamson County to acquire and approve new housing developments even though developers are openly playing one against the other. Example: Silver Stream development off Rocky Fork.

4. Opposition to any kind of Code of Ethics. Just like state legislature they keep sidestepping it. Local reader said..."They need to be serious about ethics, disclose their income and at least make us feel like they have the taxpayer's interest at heart. Right now I don't feel they do."

5. Absolutely No Enforcement of "No Construction Traffic" signs put up by Mayor all over town. Ready-Mix Trucks, Lumber Trucks, Trucks with Long Trailers with Huge Earthmovers Crushing Local Streets and Water Lines.

More to come later. Send us your comments. Email Town Hall.

"We Liked Our Mayor and Aldermen Better Before We Got to Know Them So Well"

Our headline is a direct quote from one of our readers..."We liked our Mayor and Aldermen better before we got to know them so well." Nolensville is busting at the seams in every direction. Our Mayor in our last town meeting said..."Annexation allows us to have more control over what will be coming to our town. Our standards are somewhat different. In many ways, they are more rigid than the county's" Hold that thought for a moment and compare it to another quote by the Mayor..."If the developers meet our codes and ordinances then we cannot turn them down." The Mayor is "somewhat" right...if they present a PUD (planned unit development) with "postage stamp size lots" 6,000 sq. ft. or less the so-called "rigid" standards are really "relaxed" and easy to meet. That is why Professional Housing Developers keep coming to Nolensville even playing the county against our city. The "Silver Stream"170-acre development is headed up by Tom Moon a Williamson County Commssioner looking for the best deal from Nolensville or the county. His proposed development is located inside the 725-acre area that our Mayor and some aldermen want to annex ASAP! Our town attorney said there's no guarantee that Nolensville would get the land in that time frame. And the town needs approvals to extend a plan of services to that area--more costs, too. Only Dr. Joe Curtsinger, alderman, said..."this poses a bunch of questions for me. We don't have the (Silver Stream) plans before us right now. I don't think we should take this in without seeing what it's about." Curtsinger is right again...and the Mayor is still pushing hard to get the area annexed and under the town's jurisdiction. Tom Moore, of the Silver Stream development just recently resigned as a County Commissioner to avoid any "conflict of interest" be it ever so late. So we need to stay alert the wheeling and dealing has just begun. Unfortunately, our "part-time" team of Mayor/Aldermen may not be much of a match against professional undersized developments...PUD's that is. There are two public hearings and a second reading on this in the future so watch the agendas for future town meetings and plan to be there. Email the Mayor at Town Hall.

How Can the Mayor Get Rid of It...If it won't Go Away?

"God forbid if we have to have a workshop on our Code of Ethics?" So said our Mayor in a previous town hall meeting. It seems in our last town hall meeting thursday, October 6th, it would have been the right thing to do. Why? Because the new Code of Ethics presented in the meeting was
suddenly sent back to ??? for a re-write. According to the Sunday Tennessean 10/9/05 Nolensville resident Mr. Aubrey Short took issue with a part of the code that encourages aldermen to only speak well of each other. "That's not ethics. It's against free speech," Short said.
Now get this...Nolensville City Attorney Bob Notestine agreed, saying that the code should only enforce "certain types of behavior." He's dead on right...but why didn't he read the code before it was presented???? And watch for who is picked to enforce the code??? Let's hope our city leaders don't follow the state legislature that attempted to choose the panel that would enforce their code of ethics. Our good book the Bible says..."avoid the appearance of evil." A painful assignment for most politicans. Email the Mayor at Town Hall.

Read & Listen to What Readers are Saying about Nolensville Town Meetings

As of October Ist, 2005 over 3,750 readers are returning daily to read What is happening in Nolensville, TN. Can you believe people in Australia, Ireland, South America and many U.S. states read about us in Nolensville. Best of all we are getting people to comment on news items published in this weblog. Of course you all know you can read the comments for yourself by clicking on comments at the bottom of each posting. Nolensville is growing by leaps and bounds almost daily. The traffic is way beyond what our streets were designed for many years ago. Daily new residents are moving into Bent Creek and other new subdivisions. The pressure of such overnite growth is being felt throughout our city. Next year (2006) we will have the opportunity to vote on just who we want to lead our city. 12 short months from now we can choose a new Mayor and certain Aldermen plus a badly needed FULL TIME city administrator. Part time key city positions won't get the job done anymore. Local people are beginning to make their feelings known for example:
"When I come to the town meetings, the Mayor always seems to try and put down anyone who does not agree with him. I find him to be down right ugly. He gets very upset when the new aldermen (Alexander and Curtsinger) question him. I congratulate them on their opinions and agree not much progress will be made on the code of ethics until the Mayor and Dugger are removed. I don't think Larry Felts is strong enough to take on the Mayor. I don't see the ethics statement being passed as long as Ken Kelley (local realtor), Dugger (alderman) and the Mayor are running things. "
Signed...Anonymous.

Here's another reader comment: "I was in the audience back in the fall when Dr. Curtsinger questioned Frank Wilson (planning commission member) and Mr. Cates (C & K development/Bent Creek) about what was going on with Bent Creek? Although Mr. Cates got up and called him (Dr. Curtsinger) a liar over and over, not one word of fact was given to support Cates or Wilson (by the Mayor). In fact, the fire department and the public records presented supported all Curtsinger was asking about. Then the Mayor was seen yelling at Curtsinger after the meeting. I may not be very sharp but there is at least one person asking those tough questions. We need ethics reform, but this Mayor doesn't want it to happen." Signed Anonymous.Let us know how you feel?? Email your comments in or click on comments and give us your opinions.