Finance personnel should make sure the interest rate they use, either in manual calculations or in those generated by computer software, is 8.75 percent for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2003.

The purpose of the meetings was to help establish priorities for future city services and to identify options regarding the city's future finances.

MTAS was asked whether the beer board has the authority to suspend or revoke a beer permit when an officer's actions are in question.

A sample job description from the Town of Erwin, Tennessee for a parks and recreation laborer and equipment operator.

10 cities were asked questions about personnel handling environmental compliance.

MTAS was asked for help in estimating the life expectancy of buildings and equipment.

MTAS was asked to study the operations of the Johnson City Senior Citizens Center.

The Town of Atoka requested technical assistance from MTAS for the preparation and adoption of its first capital improvement plan. Utilizing a guideline and templates prepared in 2022 by MTAS, Chuck Downham, MTAS Management Consultant, and Kay Stegall, MTAS Finance and Accounting Consultant, initiated the plan preparation process with the Town Administrator and staff. An initial PPT presentation was provided to Town staff outlining the importance of a capital improvement plan and the process that would be followed in preparing a draft plan. Since this was the Town’s first capital improvement plan, it was decided to utilize a five-year planning period initially with the understanding the planning period could be expanded in future years based on long-term capital project needs of the municipality.

Following the kick-off meeting, department heads were given a Capital Needs Worksheet prepared in Excel to identify and prioritize capital projects within their respective department. The Capital Needs Worksheet provided essential information about each capital project including a description, justification, estimated capital cost, estimated operational costs, and prioritization. MTAS consultants worked closely with department heads to ensure completeness of documentation for each capital project including the preparation of detailed project descriptions and sound justifications for every project.

Each department head was requested to identify 3 to 5 capital projects for inclusion in the capital improvement plan for their respective department and to also provide a funding strategy including possible funding source(s) for each project. Each department head submitted their prioritized capital needs worksheets to assemble into a master worksheet containing all capital improvement requests. The master worksheet is organized by department and capital projects are presented in the priority requested by each department head. Data and information from each capital needs worksheet was transposed to the summary worksheet including description, estimated capital expense, estimated operating expense, implementation year, and funding sources.

Some department heads identified debt financing as a possible funding source for certain capital projects involving significant project cost. In order to provide decision-makers with a better understanding of current debt obligations through the planning period and beyond, MTAS consultants prepared a debt summary statement as part of the capital improvement plan summary worksheet. A review of the Town’s adopted debt management policy was also performed and it was recommended the Town consider reevaluating and updating their debt management policy given future capital project needs as identified in the capital improvement plan.

A sample resolution was prepared for consideration by the governing body containing a capital improvement plan policy outlining the process for preparing, adopting, amending and implementing a capital improvement plan. MTAS staff also prepared a draft resolution to adopt the capital improvement plan with the summary worksheet serving as an exhibit to the resolution.

MTAS was asked whether the mayor can hire counsel at city's expense to defend certain actions regarding his compensation.

The 113th General Assembly amended the Tennessee Open Meetings Act with two separate public chapters that will impact your municipality. Those public chapters are Public Chapter 213, Acts of 2023 (requires meeting agendas for meetings of the local legislative body to be made available 48 hours prior to the meeting), and Public Chapter 300, Acts of 2023 (requires a public comment period at each public meeting). The summary and comments on both are found in the attached document.