11/18/2016

· Cornbread stuffing…one of my four major food groups…385 calories in a one-cup serving. Which leads me to wonder why they express it “per cup”. That’s not a serving. That’s a nuisance.

· Sharon and I attended a meeting at TDEC yesterday morning and the topic of discussion was water supply (or lack thereof) in the Sequatchie River basin and the southern Cumberland Plateau region. No question that the drought is significantly affecting those areas right now but the task discussed at the meeting was developing a plan to assure ample water for the area in the future. Early on, MTAS will be involved to the extent we can use our relationships with local government leaders in the region to encourage them to be participants in the planning process. I can see, as time goes on, that we will get requests for support from our city government customers. Not sure what that might look like, but I think it’s a safe bet we will. I’m interested in knowing if we’ve already provided service to any city that can be directly tied to the drought in these areas. If you have, please let Sharon or me know.

· W. T Purkiser was a Church of the Nazarene preacher who once said, “Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving ” . Good words, Reverend Purkiser.

· MTAS training…the process continues in finding the next training and development program manager. Rick is coordinating the search committee activities. Also working on the committee are Marty Spears and Jon Walden from CTAS. Macel is also on the team. Other MTASers on the committee are Cyndy, Patrick and John Grubbs. Lieutenant Tammy Debow is the training coordinator for the Knoxville Police Department and she is part of the team. The team will meet November 29 ^th to review all applications and reduce the pool to those who will be interviewed. We’re working to have the next manager identified and (hopefully) in place with the new year.

· Since he moved to the Naifeh Center, Macel has continued coordinating the training team…and I’m very grateful for his doing so. But Macel and Herb have good plans for Naifeh and Macel’s full attention to them is critically important. So, until the training function has its next program manager in place, we’ve asked Chris Shults to step in as interim manager. That job for Chris is effective immediately and I’m appreciative of his willingness to take on the additional responsibilities. And Macel, thanks for wearing both hats for the past couple months.

· Two MTAS service anniversaries coming up next week. Doug Brown joined MTAS on 11/20/06 and Sharon came to MTAS on 11/26/84. Congratulations and thanks to both of you for what you do for us and our customers every day.

· So, the new member at the golf club walked up to the first tee on the course and greeted his caddy with, “I hear you are the worst caddy ever to work at this golf course”. The caddy responded, “What a coincidence!”

· 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

· Don’t remember being quite this excited about seeing heavy rain crossing the Mississippi into West Tennessee on the radar right now. Hope it doesn’t stop before it helps get some of the fires under control. Cold and rainy actually sounds good.

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

jim.thomas@tennessee.edu

www.mtas.tennessee.edu