Catoosa accomplishments: the good, the bad and the funny

Last week the Catoosa County News printed a list of accomplishments cited by Catoosa County Chairman Bill Clark. Some of these accomplishments are indeed good news. A few of the listed accomplishments seem rather dubious, while others reek of hypocrisy.

Positive accomplishments include the sale of three county-owned industrial buildings just outside the landfill on Shope Ridge Road. This is good news because the buildings sat empty for two years, costing taxpayers around $15,000 per month in principle, interest, insurance and utilities. The bad news is that we lost money on the sale. The county constructed the industrial spec buildings for $1.4 million (including land) in 1997, and sold them for $1.2 million in 2007. Although property values have risen during the last decade, the county lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on this venture.

Now that we have finally cut our losses, you would think that Catoosa County government would want to stay out of the speculative construction business. Not so. They are dreaming of constructing a 100,000 square foot industrial building in the hope that someone can be found to occupy it. Even if they choose a better location (and any location is better than the county dump), industrial spec buildings are a terrible risk. Manufacturing facilities often require very specific concrete works and large equipment that cannot be easily retrofitted into an existing building. For this reason, manufacturers prefer to install the concrete and large equipment first, then build the building around it. The only time industrial spec buildings are appealing is when they sit for ten years and then sell for a song.

The first loss may have been an honest mistake. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Isn’t it interesting how an all-Republican board of commissioners whines about funding the Colonnade and the fire departments, yet happily throws a couple of million dollars of taxpayer money into a bad gamble? I thought Republicans were supposed to be fiscally conservative.

Speaking of the dump, another positive accomplishment is the completion of the county’s five-year probation for landfill violations. Most of us had forgotten that our county government is a convicted felon.

Although the landfill is partially closed, hair-brained management ideas continue. The latest misstep (also touted as an accomplishment) is the purchase of adjacent land from a county resident who was complaining of methane migration. Is this really the proper way to deal with pollution, buying out those who might squeal? A better idea is to clean up the environmental problems.

In another real estate accomplishment, Department of Family & Children’s Services moved into the old Ringgold Telephone Company Building. The county spent ridiculous sums renovating the “new” building, while the old (much newer) building sits empty. If DFACS has more space for less money – and if we are not still paying for the vacated building – then this could be an accomplishment. Such answers are not readily available.

Another alleged accomplishment is the $1 charge for riding the Trans-Aid bus. If this is an accomplishment, then why does Chairman Clark feel the need to cite federal and state pressure as a reason for doing it? The charge seems small – almost nominal, really – until you consider who rides that Trans-Aid bus. The bus mainly benefits the elderly and low-income families. People who cannot drive for medical reasons or perhaps cannot afford a car use Trans-Aid to go to work, shop for groceries or attend appointments. This is another example of how we are losing services without a corresponding tax break. Republicans love to slash programs that help the poor and the elderly.

Chairman Clark also touted the opening of the amphitheatre as a county accomplishment. The amphitheatre will certainly benefit the county, but it is difficult to understand why the government imagines they should get credit for it. Looking at the records, it seems the county’s only contribution was the acquisition of prison labor – for which the amphitheatre foundation must reimburse the county. The county will own the amphitheatre, which is on county land at Benton Place, even though the funds to construct and maintain it were raised from the community. I suppose that is some kind of accomplishment, when the county gets something for nothing.

Although Chairman Clark brags about denying new subdivision development, they seem to be sprouting up everywhere. His own ideas for residential growth are bizarre. He claims that narrow, curvy streets and houses closer to the road will make better homes for children. In reality, this plan will result in more accidents involving children and vehicles.

Clark calls for “conservative subdivisions” which have twice as many houses per acre. How is that conservative? Logic suggests that such tactics will result in lower property values, because people will not pay as much for an identical house on a smaller lot. Building lower-value houses is also a recipe for worsening the bedroom community problem, because less property tax is collected on lower-value homes. The cost of putting a child through school remains the same regardless of the size of that child’s yard. The greenspace initially achieved by spacing houses closer together will be swallowed up by new growth in subsequent years – and then there will be twice as many under-funded students.

The sewer grants for Lakeview, on the other hand, are a good start. The sewer interceptor is also positive in that it will allow for commercial and industrial expansion. The trade-off is some loss of local control.

Sewers are only one component of the infrastructure needed to draw businesses into the county. By infrastructure I don’t mean 100,000 square foot spec buildings. Rather, we need to offer build-to-suit sites with full utility services. Companies also consider fire insurance ratings when looking to site a business. Cutting fire service funds (in some cases completely) ensures that commercial growth cannot happen. Neither will we attract businesses by charging exorbitant impact fees for the construction of a factory, or by shutting out all expansion.

It takes hard work to bring in new businesses. Currently we do not even have one paid staff-member at the Economic Development Agency. We have some good people who serve as volunteers in a part-time capacity, during their spare time. That’s all.

Rather than working to attract new businesses, our current leadership works to fend them off, and then brags about it. Included in the Catoosa accomplishments list was a pat-on-the-back for rejecting construction of two asphalt plants. Wait a minute – I thought everyone wanted to correct the residential to commercial ratio. It is often repeated that our tax base is 2:1 residential to commercial, when the ratios should be reversed. How will we ever reach this goal if we turn away industrial growth? Sure, asphalt plants are smelly and yucky. Nobody wants to live next-door to one. But the reality of capitalism is this: Land-owners have the right to develop that land as they choose, within applicable laws and according to the limits of zoning. The commission’s refusal to find a good, safe location for these plants cannot be considered an accomplishment; it is a failure.

There were a few items on the list that made me laugh. “Appointed a committee on open government.” How can a watch-dog committee have any teeth against the official who appointed them? This is worse than the fox guarding the henhouse. It’s more like the fox asking the dog to guard him while he guards the henhouse. It does nothing for the hens.

Repeated episodes of committee-dissolving and buddy-appointing demonstrate that anyone who opposes the chairman will be sacked. We saw this with the abolition of the Planning Commission. The Board of Commissioners reconstructed the Planning Commission with hand-picked members who do not represent every district in the county and can be removed any time at the whim of the commissioners. Only a public uproar has delayed a similar fate for the area fire departments. Clark retaliated against the backlash by cutting fire departments funds. If they won’t go quietly, he will starve them out. Could the “new management of animal control” accomplishment be another example?

In his State of the County Address, Catoosa County Chairman Bill Clark stated that he would give the county a grade of 60. Who then is responsible for the county’s failure?

Jeannie Babb Taylor