An ordinance defining false alarms and providing a schedule of notices, warnings, penalties, and costs.

MTAS was asked to look closely at the manager-commission charter to determine whether there is authority to grant an exclusive contract for garbage collection in the City.

MTAS was asked whether a municipality may have a private act passed authorizing it to obtain a retail liquor license and own and operate a retail package liquor store.

Ask lots of questions and get answers you can live with before building a centralized sewer system.

Twenty cities responded to a survey about fitness assessments for police officers as part of the employment process.

Cities were asked about the ownership and control of drainage easements and their enclosures on private property.

Letter to follow up a meeting, covers several issues including whether the fire department is a city department, budgeting and firefighter fund raising activities, employee status of volunteer firefighters, where to maintain firefighter personnel records, compensation for volunteer firefighters, and how to report that compensation.

A city advisory board asked for MTAS Legal Consultant Elisha Hodge to clarify the application of the Tennessee Open Meetings Act to email conversations between members of that board.

The purpose of this guide is to present a simple, step-by-step procedure to aid Tennessee municipal officials in procuring engineering, architectural, land surveying, and other professional services by using the QBS process.

This guide promotes the Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) process. QBS is an equitable, rational, objective process that enables the city to obtain the services of a highly qualified professional at a fair and reasonable cost. By using the QBS process, a city chooses to base consultant selection on qualifications. The quality of engineering services may lead to lower overall life cycle costs for the project. When initiating a project, all owners—whether municipalities, private companies, or institutions—and the design professionals with whom they contract, seek the same results: a completed project that meets the owner’s short-term and long-term needs, is completed on schedule, and stays within budget. Following an organized process for selecting and procuring professional services will help both the owner and the design professional achieve these results. This guide establishes a framework for a successful project. Procuring professional services is both an objective and a subjective process. This publication provides guidance for the process. It discusses nine essential steps and provides sample documents and forms for procuring professional services.

The city manager for the City of Athens requested MTAS to evaluate a proposal for the addition of personnel to the police department. In response, a staffing study was conducted by MTAS police consultant David Moore and the report provides insight into current workload, training, resource allocation, and level of service.