League of Women Voters of Blount County 2006 Candidate Survey

 

Name _____Harry Grothjahn     _________________Phone_____________________________

 

Candidate for ________County Mayor______________________________________

 

Please write your answers in the space provided or use a separate sheet, and return your survey in the enclosed stamped envelope. It is very important that you write legibly. Please consider e-mailing your completed survey by requesting an electronic survey at rderycke@bellsouth.net     

The League of Women Voters will acknowledge receipt of your completed survey.

 

I. Qualifications and experience:

  1. Please list your diplomas and degrees, along with the areas of study.

 

        The 33rd Christian Financial Concepts Seminar Presenter certified by Larry Burkett, Life, Accident and Health, Variable Contracts, Tennessee Department of Insurance; NASD General Securities G-7; Real Estate Agent, Tennessee Department of Commerce;

B.A. Wofford College; N.B. Forrest High School Diploma

 

  1. What relevant experience do you have, including previous public offices held?

 

I have attended more public local government  meetings in the last 11 years than anyone in Blount county history. I spent 10 years doing Personal Financial Planning in Blount county for IDS/American Express.

 

  1. Please list local service and civic groups in which you have participated, including when and for how long.

 

     1. I founded the American Family Association Chapter in Blount county in 1986 for the purpose of picketing video stores to remove video’s from the general merchandise. The area chapter succeeded and closed.

     2.  In 1991 I organized the First Prayer Chain for Life and assumed the leadership responsibilities in 1996. I have continued with my wife Freida’s support and others on occasion to bring about a 1000 people annually to the sidewalks of Lamar Alexander Parkway to Pray for the Unborn and those in crisis pregnancies. 

     3.  In 1991 I hosted the First National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday in May on the Blount County Courthouse steps, and have broadcast those services since 1996 when I acquired the controlling interest of WBCR.

 

  1. Please indicate any business activities that could constitute a conflict of interest in the event you are elected.

NONE

 

  1. Name three leadership skills that you practice.

1. Foresight_____________________________________________

2.     Initiative_______________________________________________

3.     Persistence______________________________________________

 

F.   What unique qualities, besides the above leadership skills, do you have to contribute to this office? 

 

Probably one of the most important qualities for leadership these days is a willingness to change one’s preconceived opinions about issues when you don’t have a full understanding of all sides of the issues, and be willing to accept responsibility for and admit your mistakes.   

 

II. Questions about your understanding of the office you are seeking:

  1. What do you see as the three most important functions of this office?

 

1. Fiscal accountability to the people and the commission has been the traditional role and the primary responsibility of the Mayor as Chairman of the Budget committee under the Fiscal Act of 1957, used in Blount county until last year when the Mayor was unable to fulfill those duties.  In order to implement my campaign Pledge to not increase the property tax rate without a referendum, the county commission would have to restore the Fiscal Act of 1957 for the Mayor to assume the Chairmanship of the Budget Committee.     

 

        2. The Mayor is the communications link between the legislators and county Constitutional officeholders as Chairman of the Budget committee and an ex-officio member of all committees to keep the county Commission appraised of how the taxpayers resources and the county employees are being managed through policies created by the commission.

 

        3.  The Mayor appoints members of county boards, commissions and department heads subject to the confirmation of the county legislative body and will strictly avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest by making those recommendations. 

 

 

  1. What would you identify as the three most important issues facing Blount County in the future?

               

       1.  Not raising the property tax rate without a referendum and using the growth of property taxes to fund the existing missions of the county while getting new revenues from the Adequate Facilities Tax , Impact Fee and/or Real Estate Transfer percentage tax fees to fund the expanding infrastructure, while promoting common sense business practices of planning and preparation before recommending spending.

       2.  Getting federal road money for the improvements recommended by the Hunter Growth study, while leading the community in learning what the options are for controlling growth and preserving our beautiful quality of life and personal liberties.

       3.  Help control the spending in the school part of the budget.

 

 

  1. What can you do in this office to impact these three most important issues?

 

1.  After the passage of SB 001 and it’s amending the Tennessee Constitution Article 2 sect. 28 to freeze the property tax for 65 year old property owners.  I would continue to write and call the governor about getting more of Blount counties tax money back to Blount county.  We spend almost $20 million in gas taxes at the pump in Blount county according to Mr. Crawford’s  estimates yet we get less than $5 million to maintain our roads and improve them.  As I pointed out in my letter to Governor Bredesen last month, he has violated the “shared revenue” legislation regarding the local gas taxes and taken $90,000.00 from Blount county to balance the TennCare budget since he has been in office and with a $500 million surplus in state sales tax revenues this year he needs to restore all that money now.

 

2.  Lead a community “Applied Vision Committee” on Blount County’s future to integrate the planning already done by individual departments and bring them together with the Parks and Recreation Department  Long Range Plan and the school board’s needs plus the Wilber Smith roads study that analysis of those recommended improvements and create a coordinated strategy for funding our infrastructure for the future.    

 

  3.  There have been alternatives that individual school board members have suggested to deal with overcrowding which need more visibility in the community for discussion and consideration and by bringing the Mayor’s office to channel 5 and discussing those issues and other budgeting concerns like only partially funding the purchase of student textbooks for two years and using fund balance to initiate teacher pay raises are issues that need more public and commission awareness.      

 

 

 

III. Positions on specific issues of importance in Blount County:   Use a separate sheet to respond.

A.                 Means for insuring the fair and respectful treatment of all Blount County citizens, regardless of race, gender, religion or ethnic background, given recent concerns about racism and bigotry in our county

 

As Mayor the leadership in other areas will tend to set the kind of example that should show respect for all and discrimination toward none.

 

B.                 Promotion of greater diversity in our hired and appointed government officials and employees

 

 The appointment authority is an important one of the Mayor and an active effort in getting to know the needs of the service community of the many appointments will fit well with keeping up on how the community is being service by the budgeted resources.  The human resource office should be guarding against any diversity prejudices, if not I would hope to hear about it and take necessary action.

 

 

C.                 Reconciling the potentially competing interests of growth/development and adequate infrastructure in our county, including the application of the Hunter Growth Strategy

 

           See II.  AB&C above

 

D.                 The environmental impact of development and/or non-attainment status with the EPA

 

October 20, 2004 I wrote Dave Bennett to point out that 40 CFR 1606.2 actually requires the EPA to adapt local plans to the fullest extent possible (1) including joint planning process (2)when backed with scientific environment research.  Title 40 CFR 1506 (1501.6 & 1504.5) require federal agencies to conform to the lowest cost best management solution.  I plan to use the federal regulations to protect the quality of life and liberty in Blount county.

 

 

E.                  Identifying and resolving conflicts of interest of public officials

 

State law is clear and people who do the county’s business should not be doing business with the county.

 

 

F.                  The consolidation of:

1. city and county schools

2. city and county government

3. or a feasibility study on consolidation

 

1.2. & 3. A feasibility study of all the features and benefits from the viewpoints of city and county taxpayers should be done and even if the political reality would prevent a consolidation; joint service agreements should be used to facilitate economical management.

 

 

G.                 Health care.

 

Health care is a luxury in industry today and the need to create a community health network needs to be investigated and other self insurance strategies investigated.

 

 

 

IV.  Questions for CANDIDATES FOR COUNTY MAYOR:   Use a separate sheet to answer these questions.

  1. How would you facilitate communication and collaboration between county departments?

 

There presently exists a healthy level of communication as demonstrated by the flexibility in the Human Resources Office working in the Justice Center three days a week to facilitate services to those employees.  However, if there are break downs the Mayor needs to have a regular meeting with the constitutional office holders and the community they serve on the county school cable channel so as to take calls from the community and get information out.

 

  1. How would you ensure the accountability of the various county departments?

 

The Financial Mgt Act of 1981 has placed the Director for Schools on the Financial Mgt Committee where he votes for his own largest budget 60% of the county budget and he is never accountable to the voters but rather just  four members of the School Board who have according to the Tennessee Attorney General Opinion No. 01-102, June 22, 2001;  “unconstitutionally “extended“ his contract to six years.”  Therefore, I would immediately ask the county commission to restore the Fiscal Control Acts of 1957, and restore the Mayor as Chairman of the Budget committee with supervisory responsibility for the School Board Budget before it is submitted to the legislative body for consideration.

 

  1. Which recommendations of the Hunter Growth Strategy do you support, and why?

 

The Hunter Growth Study makes eight recommendations identified as “immediate priority”.   I would begin with P2-A which recommends updating of the comprehensive plan to guide future County growth as the framework for regulating land use and development.  As Mayor I would use the existing Chapter 1101 Coordinating Committee that has the Mayors of all the municipalities and small towns as well as the largest  utility providers to make up the  “Applied Vision Committee” (II.C. 2.) that would delegate to the five subcommittees organized around the  “Guiding Policy working Groups” the task of evaluating each of the other seven immediate priorities as to how  local government agencies are already dealing with the issue they are assigned and what recommendations they have that would manage growth more effectively.

 

  1. How will you represent the county interests at regional forums such as the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization?  How will you communicate these activities to your constituents?

 

The most serious problem presented by the Knoxville Regional Transportation  Planning Organization is that the Highway Superintendents are not a party to their discussions yet they are the most knowledgeable responsible person dealing with the transportation system so as Mayor I would ask that body to incorporate their participation.  Secondly, I have endorsed the wheel tax as a means to recover some of the $15 million in fuel taxes paid at the pump in Blount county but does not return to it. According to the Knoxville RTPO there is a $4 million grant for “high volume rural roads” that Blount county is eligible for if it could create a dedicated stream of $1 million per year. According to County Clerk Crawford we can with a $10 / steering wheel tax,  raise $1 million a year, and for those reasons I have endorsed the wheel tax on the August ballot.

 

  1. What do you propose to fund infrastructure growth and improvements?

1. A wheel tax

2. An adequate facilities tax

3. Other____________________________________________

       1. Yes, see D please.  We get $4 in road grant money for every $1 we pay up to $1million, no more.  So we pay $10 per steering wheel to collect $1 million and get $5 million to spend on qualified roads.

       2.  The Adequate Facilities Tax gives local government the flexibility to spend the revenues where they are needed most on the infrastructure while the Impact Fee is applied only to the area being impacted by the tax payer. Therefore it would make sense to use the Adequate Facilities Tax but now the State Legislature is debating that issue.  The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) recommended “ a 2/3 majority vote of the local legislative body as a requirement for passage of any local taxes authorized by general enabling legislation.”  Therefore it is of the up most importance to make all commission candidates take a position on these issues. 

        3.  If the State Legislature acts on TACIR ’s recommendations to allow for  Impact fees and a small Real Estate Transfer Tax like the state’s .34 of a percent then that would spread the tax burden around more. 

 

  1. Do you favor hiring a county law director vs. the current practice of retaining an attorney for the mayor?

 

.  When the cost of  hiring a law director equates with a mayor’s attorney costs yes.  We are probably at that point now or close to it.

 

  1. How can the county address the needs of the senior population?

 

By endorsing the passage of SB 001 that would freeze the property tax rate for 65 year olds and change the state constitution to allow it.  The other needs of the seniors should be given a broader forum through use of education channel 5 as with other public informational programming.

 

 

  1. Concisely describe your vision for Blount County’s future.

 

Harry’s VISION  and PLEDGE:  TO ONLY RAISE THE PROPERTY TAX  RATE BY REFERENDUM, while taxing new subdivision home buyers of more than 4 lots, with an investment into the infrastructure of schools, roads and parks through a combination of Adequate Facilities Tax, Real Estate Transfer Taxes and Impact Fees.