An ordinance to increase the fee paid to Milan Public Utilities for the collection of solid waste fees each July 1 from 2024 onward, by the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

The City entered into a Wastewater Treatment Facilities Management Agreement with the County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority for the operation of the City’s wastewater facilities on October 31, 2003. The City actually transferred its facilities to the Authority pursuant to the Agreement. The Authority now claims that it is only responsible for the operation and maintenance of the “main” lines, not the lateral lines, although the City understood that all assets and liabilities of the wastewater facility were transferred to the Authority. MTAS was asked to review the Agreement and statutes and determine if lateral lines are included in the property transferred to the Authority.

The City of Shelbyville Planning Department requested technical assistance from MTAS to analyze the current development fees for plan review, permitting, and inspection services and to recommend adjustments in the fee schedule to address disparities between permit fee revenues and expenditures incurred by the city for development services. A financial analysis was performed that identified a disparity of permit revenues to development services expenditures of approximately $71,754. To address the disparity, a comparative analysis using Excel was conducted to analyze the current fee schedule to identify adjustments that would result in additional revenues to reduce the gap with development service expenditures. Exhibits were prepared for use by City staff to illustrate the financial disparity and a comparison between the existing fee schedule and proposed fee schedule as well as an exhibit as an attachment to a Resolution for consideration and adoption by the governing body. The resolution adopted by the governing body is included with the documentation.

A  resolution to request a charter amendment from the General Assembly for the town of Petersburg.

The Town of Petersburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen requested MTAS assistance to perform a comprehensive review of the Town’s charter.  MTAS facilitated a work session with the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to identify any specific concerns outside of the request for an overall review of the charter.  Following the work session, Chuck Downham, Municipal Management Consultant, and Elisha Hodge, Legal Consultant, worked collaboratively to perform a comprehensive review of the charter, giving specific attention to items noted by the Board.   The comprehensive review revealed numerous provisions throughout the charter that MTAS recommended amending.   Utilizing charter provisions from other municipalities including the City of Shelbyville, an initial draft resolution (attached) was prepared and presented to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for consideration during a work session.  The work session was facilitated by MTAS to reach consensus on the recommended amendments prepared by MTAS. The initial draft resolution identified the provisions MTAS recommended amending in the current charter and also included provisions that MTAS recommended adding to the current charter.  Specifically, the initial draft resolution included provisions establishing the positions of a Town Treasurer and Town Administrator, in the event the Board of Mayor and Aldermen desire to appoint such positions in the future. During the work session, the Board identified a few additional provisions to be included in the final draft that was to be prepared by MTAS and presented to the Board for consideration.   A final draft resolution and corresponding exhibits were prepared for formal consideration by the Board of Mayor and Alderman.  The final draft resolution was approved unanimously by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and a fully executed copy will be transmitted to the legislative delegation so that legal services can prepare a bill for consideration by the General Assembly.

A resolution prepared for the Town of Petersburg to adopt a public property naming policy.

MTAS was requested to facilitate a management evaluation of the Building & Codes Department for the Town of Signal Mountain. One of the findings of the management evaluation was a significant disparity between permit fee revenues and expenses incurred by the department. The disparity had been growing year-over-year during the 3-year period analyzed as part of the management evaluation. To reduce the gap between revenues and expenditures, it was recommended the Town explore permit fee adjustments to increase revenues to more closely align with actual expenses.

MTAS conducted an analysis of revenues and expenditures that was utilized as the basis for preparing adjustments in various permit fees. Adjustments in fees were outlined in a comparative analysis that provided a side-by-side comparison of the existing permit fee schedule with an amended permit fee schedule to illustrate to decision-makers where amendments were being considered. Rather than attempting to make up all the difference with one comprehensive amendment, it was recommended the Town consider a multi-step process where initial fee amendments would be adopted and at the end of the fiscal year a subsequent financial analysis would be performed to determine if additional adjustments would be needed to further reduce the disparity between permit revenues and expenses. A draft ordinance was prepared with the recommended amended fee schedule as an exhibit to the ordinance. The ordinance repealed the previously adopted fee schedule and adopted the amended fee schedule in its place. The governing body approved the amendment to the permit fee schedule. 

An update to the Capital Improvement Plan for the City of Mount Pleasant was approved by Resolution in August 2023. MTAS provided technical assistance in the preparation of the initial Capital Improvement Plan including a summary of capital projects by department and priority. as well as input in the preparation of the updated plan.

In 2023, MTAS facilitated and prepared a Strategic Plan Update for the City of Shelbyville.

The Town of Petersburg was working with the South Central Tennessee Development District (SCTDD) to apply for and utilize federal grant monies for various public projects.  SCTDD requested that the Town of Petersburg adopt a Procurement Policy for receiving and expending federal funds for various projects where federal funding was being utilized.  The Town of Petersburg requested assistance from MTAS to prepare an ordinance to adopt the recommended procurement policy provided as template by SCTDD.  MTAS consultants’ Chuck Downham, Municipal Management Consultant, and Tonya Travis, Finance and Accounting Consultant, worked collaboratively to prepare a draft ordinance for consideration by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to adopt a procurement policy that would only be utilized in the case of projects involving federal funding so as not to conflict with the Town’s adopted purchasing policy.  The ordinance was approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to establish a procurement policy for the use of federal funds for projects.