From former Alderman Kay Morris to this forum!

[okyedokye]

From former Alderman Kay Morris to this forum!

I have sent this to all board members, but my questions to
them in the past have been ignored by all except Peggy Ruth,
so I don't expect to hear from the four others.

I will not address my concerns to Gordon Rhodes
because he has no business answering
to the citizens for the board. He has no authority
to answer anything that doesn't pertain to the roads
department. If there were a problem with Springfield
city business, do you think citizens would go to an employee
of the streets department for answers? Obviously the
mayor has no problem with his answering questions
because Danny reads this site and has done nothing to
stop Mr. Rhodes from posting on behalf of city hall. Mr.
Rhodes can't be held accountable for his comments. So,
Danny has a way to disperse his spin without being held
responsible when they turn out to be lies.

I know that many of you are grateful to have Mr.
Rhodes come on here and give you answers, but
we need REAL ANSWERS from city officials. They
were elected by the citizens of Coopertown and THEY
OWE US FORTHRIGHT RESPONSES!

Maybe I'm the only one concerned about this, but.....
when was Gordon Rhodes transfered from the roads
department to the public relations department? Also,
was he elected by the citizens to replace Peggy Ruth
on the board or was he merely appointed to that position
by the mayor?

It looks to me that Mr. Rhodes is spending all day
either online, going through city records, listening
to tapes, or in the office running things with
Danny. He continually says "WE"; as in "WE
transfered money" "WE decided", "WE will answer any
of your questions", "WE went to Chief Rush's house".
Why is he being involved in discussions to decide
city matters, including how to spend city funds? How
does he have first hand information about official city
business? Mr.Rhodes obviously has much more power
and is privy to much more information that Mrs. Ruth
(who happens to be an ELECTED official!) That says to half
of Coopertown that "we don't care what you think and we
don't have to answer to you." That also makes me wonder
who else is being allowed to participate in all these meetings
and decisions. And surely, none of these meetings with Mr.
Rhodes, Mr. Gill and the mayor are in violation of the Sunshine
laws!

How does a man hired to patch potholes and mow grass
have the authority to speak for the city and be given access
to information that isn't available to citizens (not to mention
one of the board members?) And exactly when does Mr. Rhodes
find time to do the job we're paying him to do? If he has so
much free time because the crew doesn't need his supervision,
it looks to me that we could make a cutback there. Or, we could
get rid of the information officer and pay Mr. Rhodes her salary.

I've never posted to this site before and am not sure why this issue
prompted me to do so. There have certainly been many other
situations that have stirred my ire. It's nice to see different views
on here and see that most of you afford everyone the right to voice
their opinions even when they don't agree with yours.

Kay Morris
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Re: From former Alderman Kay Morris to this forum!


From Current Mayor Danny Crosby to this forum!

Date: January 11, 2008

From: Mayor Danny Crosby

To: Ms. Kay Morris

Re: Response to your e-mail

Ms. Morris:

I find your e-mail to be very amusing to suggest to me that Mr.
Gordon Rhodes doesn't have the right as a citizen of Coopertown and
the USA to post on the yahoo website, talk on the telephone or stand
on the tallest mountain in Tennessee and expound on any subject that
he chooses to speak about.

It amazes me that you would want me to prevent him from doing
exactly what you and numerous other residents of Coopertown have
done by expressing your opinions publicly without the facts. The
only difference with Mr. Rhodes is he takes the time to research on
the truth. Mr. Rhodes has never been appointed to any board to
replace Peggy Ruth, but if he was, then I would have an Alderman
that would work.

Furthermore, this is a yahoo blog site, open to anyone to make
accusations, rebuttals or comments. It is not the official
Coopertown website; therefore, neither you nor I nor anyone else has
a right to censor any posting there.

In past e-mails I have read that you were not given information by
Mr. Niec. This is simply not true. I personally sat with you at
city hall going over the credit card bills. After all the research
that Mr. Niec did for you, you took the copies he made and refused
to pay for them. But instead, you took this merchandise home and
copied it and brought them back to him. When Mr. Niec told me that
you had not paid your bill, I advised him not to do any more
research until you paid your bill.

Remember Kay, when I was on the Road Committee, I paid for all my
copies. I even had to go to Pleasant View to get a copy of the
Subdivision Roads Code Manual and pay Pleasant View for a book that
I was not afforded by the town of Coopertown, the city recorder nor
you as an Alderman.

Sincerely,

Mayor Danny Crosby

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Posted right after the January Coopertown MBA meeting:

--- In CoopertownTNtalk@yahoogroups.com, "gorhodes1" <gorhodes1@...> wrote:

My Last Post
I have met some nice people on this web site.I have met some not so
nice.I bid you all farewell.God Bless All Of You!

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Why would the mayor censor Gordon after defending his right to speak.