The Town of Greenville (Town) and UT MTAS agreed to a memorandum of understanding concerning an operational structure analysis of the community’s unique municipal and utility relationship. In short, the Town owns the water and sewer infrastructure and a separately elected board, the Greeneville Water Commission (GWC), operates, builds out, and maintains the utility system. The study would expect to deliver:

• Analysis/overview of current structure.
• Comparison to cities of similar size.
• Pros/Cons of current structure.
• Recommendation with details of required legislative actions, if necessary.

On November 15, 2024, in State of Texas v. Dep’t of Labor, 24-cv-468-SDJ, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the Department of Labor’s (DOL) rule raising the salary thresholds for exempt status. In simple terms, the increased salary threshold is no longer going into effect and the salary threshold that went into effect in July is now null and void. The court’s order applies nationwide and to all employers both public and private.

The Town of Erwin, Tennessee, approached MTAS about studying the operational structure and personnel skills in place in the administrative offices to explore where there might be gaps in experience, skill sets of credentials and help position for succession planning in order to operate in an efficient manner. Erwin will provide all documentation in regard to employee classifications to be studied and MTAS will compare and contrast the Erwin team’s compatability skill set/experience/education, to the positions and function required for the town of Erwin.

MTAS participated in the Lakesite City Commission's strategic planning process on October 30, 2024. The session resulted in a new mission statement for the city and a SWOT analysis that identified the city's internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.

MTAS was asked what measures, if any, a municipality could take to restrict the operation of peddlers/solicitors, in response to an individual peddler who went through the permit process but still raised concerns.

MTAS was asked to prepare a Comprehensive Management Review for the Greeneville Water Commission.

The Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) participated in the Lakesite Parks and Recreation Advisory Board's strategic planning process on February 20, 2024. The session began with an overview of the strategic planning process. The objectives of the process were to create a mission statement, scan the internal and external environments via SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), create a vision statement, and then to devise goals to guide the Board in achieving its vision. The next step in the process of strategic planning is to narrow down the list of goals. The city manager will provide further information regarding the goals listed. At a later time, the Board will gather to narrow down the goals based on staff information.

MTAS was asked whether it would be acceptable to use occupancy tax (hotel/motel tax) revenues to fund a percentage of a Director of Parks, Recreation & Tourism position.