05/20/2016

· Most of us have probably heard of Governor Haslam’s Rural Task Force that was convened in August last year. The idea behind it is to pull together stakeholders and their resources to address all types of needs that communities in rural areas of Tennessee face. Herb represents the Institute for Public Service on the task force and has been part of the planning for its work for several months now. Plenty of general information about the task force here
http://www.tn.gov/ecd/topic/rural-task-force-overview . IPS has secured a contract to support the task force with various things, one of which is to assist with facilitation of listening sessions that will be held later this year in twenty three counties identified as economically distressed. CIS, CTAS and MTAS (and UT Ag Extension) will share the facilitation responsibility and Robin, Paul and I are working on the details of that right now. Some of us MTASers will have a part to play in it. More details to follow soon.

· Looks like on the whole, we’re making good progress towards the annually required 32 hours of professional development. In fact, looks like the training team is already there and moving ahead. It’s great to see that MTAS has exceeded 100% of the minimum goal for the last several years…and we’re on our way to do it again in 2016. I appreciate everyone’s attention to this important part of each of our jobs.

· No MTAS birthdays or service anniversaries next work week. Sort of amazing, huh?

· Lastly, remember a few things…
o What each of you do every day for our customers and each other is recognized and appreciated. Really! It is!
o “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
o A website called “Tennessee Trivia” says that the very first miniature golf course ever / anywhere was built on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee in 1927 by a guy who owned a hotel there and thought the course would attract guests to stay in his hotel. Yet another “first” for our state. This is amazing stuff, I know.

· An enjoyable and comfortable weekend for all!

Jim Thomas, Executive Director
(O) 615. 532.4950 (C) 615.972.9219

jim.thomas@tennessee.edu

www.mtas.tennessee.edu