League of Women Voters of Blount County 2006 Candidate Survey
Name Joe McCulley Phone 982-6351
Candidate for
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:
- Please list your
diplomas and degrees, along with the areas of study.
Attended
University of Tennessee College of Business for three years. Highest honor
student. Attended Investment Institute
of
- What relevant
experience do you have, including previous public offices held?
Formerly
licensed as an investment broker, real estate broker and insurance agent. Former owner and principal broker of a
financial services brokerage and the owner and publisher of a weekly
newspaper. Former member of two
commodity futures exchanges. Retired
from ALCOA where I was an active member of the United Steelworkers Local Union
#309. Served the union as a member of
the Board of Directors, chairman of the Trustees, Insurance and Benefits
chairman, and editor of the local union newspaper. Currently serving as a member of the Alcoa
Tennessee Federal Credit Union Board of Directors where I have served as the
Treasurer. Currently the chairman of the Investment Committee for the Credit
Union.
- Please list local
service and civic groups in which you have participated, including when
and for how long.
Lifetime
member of the John J. Duncan Sr. Memorial Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #10855
where I serve as the Senior Vice Commander.
Member of the United Veterans of Blount County and serve on the Blount
County Veterans Affairs Committee.
Former member of the Maryville-Alcoa Jaycees.
- Please indicate any
business activities that could constitute a conflict of interest in the
event you are elected.
I
am retired. I have no business
connections, hidden agendas or special interests.
E. Name three leadership skills that you practice.
A self –assessment of oneself is a difficult
task. But some skills I believe I
possess are the ability to support what, in my opinion, is right regardless of
my critics and detractors, being able to
listen to others and consider their opinions, and being able to analyze new
ideas and problems for a solution.
F. What
unique qualities, besides the above leadership skills, do you have to
contribute to this office?
I
have over thirty years of practical experience in union and management
relationship and negotiations. The skill
of being flexible while holding to your basic principles is an admirable
quality.
II. Questions about your understanding of the office you
are seeking:
- What do you see as the
three most important functions of this office?
The
- What would you identify
as the three
most important issues facing
The three most important issues and
primary responsibilities of the county commission are to provide for the education of our youth, maintain adequate
infrastructure (schools and roads), and provide for public safety.
- What can you do in this
office to impact these three most important issues?
As
a member of the county commission, I will vote for the efficient spending of
our tax money so that proper appropriations can be made for these important
items in the budget. I will support the
implementation of long-range planning to insure our preparation to face these
important issues in the future.
III. Positions on specific issues of importance in
A.
Means for insuring the fair and
respectful treatment of all
The
commission can assure that county owned facilities, or facilities and services
supported by county tax money, will provide fair and respectful treatment to
all citizens regardless of race, gender, religion or ethnic background. The means for attaining compliance would be
the withholding of tax funding for non-owned facilities and services and
holding the department supervisor responsible for county owned facilities.
B.
Promotion of greater diversity in our hired and appointed government
officials and employees
I fully support the hiring and promotion of
government officials and employees based on a strict merit assessment based on ability and job performance
regardless of race, gender, religion or ethnic background.
C.
Reconciling the potentially competing interests of growth/development
and adequate infrastructure in our county, including the application of the
Hunter Growth Strategy
Growth/development
has three facets. They are industrial
development, retail development and residential subdivision development. All three of these facets are
intertwined. Industrial development
leads to residential development which creates more retail development.
D.
The environmental impact of development and/or non-attainment status
with the EPA
The
county must require that environmental impact studies be completed prior to the
start of any development and that all state and federal laws and regulations be
complied with before the local approval of a development.
E.
Identifying and resolving conflicts of interest of public officials
It
is my understanding that the recent ethics legislation passed by the state
requires all local governments to implement an ethics policy. In my opinion, such a policy is long overdue
and I will support a strong ethics policy applicable to all local elected and
appointed public officals.
F.. The
consolidation of:
1. city and county schools
2. city and county government
3. or a feasibility study on consolidation
As
a member of the county commission, I would support a feasibility study on
consolidation of the cities and county school systems. Comparable educational environment and
learning opportunities should be provided to all the children in the
county. Our goal should be to raise the
standards for all of the schools.
G.. Health
care
I
support providing the best health care plan to county employees possible while
maintaining fiscal responsibility.
Commissioners must realize that tax money is a limited resource and must
be wisely spent. We cannot afford
everything much less the best. I am
cognizant of the fact that good benefits, especially health care, help to
retain good employees. The new county
health clinic provides a benefit to the employees with the potential of saving
money for the county.
IV. Questions for
CANDIDATES FOR
A. How can you communicate
effectively with your constituents?
I will maintain my website at: http://www.Vote.Joe.McCulley.20fr.com
to communicate with my constituents. I
will survey the public with polls on current issues and have a comment form
where people can email me their views on issues. Constituents without access to the Internet
can always phone me or send their comments by postage mail. I welcome the opinions of the public.
B. Which recommendations of the
Hunter Growth Strategy do you support, and why?
There
are several recommendations in the report that I could support, especially
those that would preserve and protect the scenic beauty of our area and those
that would affect the health and welfare of our community. I could support those recommendations that
would prevent harmful development in the environmentally sensitive lands of the
mountains and regulating development on mountain and ridge tops to protect the
slopes and views. The proposal to reduce
the negative impacts of billboards, signs, towers and other structures is a
worthwhile recommendation. Also, those
recommendations that would improve management of storm water runoff and surface
and sub surface water quality and to continue working with various state and
federal agencies to identify and eliminate sources of water pollution,
especially in the Little River. In
addition, I could support the review and upgrading of standards for septic
fields and pursue enforcement of the best practices in managing them. And the recommendation to prepare a county
wide evaluation of long-range sewerage needs based on projected densities of
development and adopt a policy plan for the location and funding of future
sewerage improvements.
C.. How
do you propose to fund infrastructure growth and improvements?
1. A wheel tax
2. An adequate facilities tax
3. Other____________________________________________
I am opposed to a
wheel tax and an adequate facilities tax. This question makes the
assumption that the answer to everything is an increase in taxes. The taxpayers need a relief. After the election, in July, the property tax
rate will be increased. This is the
second increase in the past couple of years plus fee increases charged for
various county services. Commissioners
must realize that they must vote ‘no’ on some spending proposals. I have regularly attended commission meetings
for several years and watched, in my opinion, the wasteful spending of our tax
money. For example, the state has
mandated by law a minimum salary level to be adjusted every year for elected
county officials. It is the prerogative
of the county commission to increase the compensation of elected officials
above the mandatory minimum levels. The Blount County Commission has chosen
each year to increase the salary of these officials. The mayor for the fiscal year 2004-2005 had a
statutory minimum salary of $72,728 but our commissioners voted to pay
$107,475. This is $34,747 above the
required amount set by the state. All of
the commissioners voted for this salary increase. In my opinion, this was an unnecessary
expenditure of our tax money. Our tax
money must be spent more prudently.
Another example is the recent vote to provide forty million dollars to
the school system. The school
administrators repeatedly advised the commission that the top priority
requirement was the construction of a new high school which they estimated
would cost forty-two million dollars to be comparable to the other high schools
in the system. With the vote of the
commission, the school system lacked two million dollars. Now within five years, the county must
appropriate an additional forty-two million dollars, not factoring in
inflation, to build a high school. In my
opinion, this was a mistake by the commission in not voting sufficient funds
for the construction of a high school, especially if you are going to vote to give
forty million dollars. We must have
commissioners that can wisely spend our tax money. I could provide numerous other examples where
I have disagreed with the spending of the commission, but for brevity I will
state that my point is before the county starts looking at means to levy more
taxes they need to consider alternatives to control spending. An expanding tax base from increased property
assessment from industry, retail and residential development should generate
enough revenue over time to fund bond issues for infrastructure improvements,
especially with a higher tax percentage for industry and retail
assessments. However, the county cannot
provide tax abatements to industry and retail developments. This tax revenue is part of the equation to
fund adequate infrastructure.
D. How can
the county address the needs of the senior population?
If, and when, the Homestead Tax Relief Act is
passed, this would be of great benefit to the senior population. This Act will provide that senior citizens 65
and older will have their property tax assessment kept constant, not increased
with inflation, for their primary residence.
The local legislative body, county commission, must approve a resolution
providing this tax relief. As a
commissioner, I would support such a resolution. I am retired on a fixed income
and I know the importance of this proposed legislation to our senior citizens.
E.. What is your position on hiring a county law
director vs. the current practice of retaining an attorney for the Mayor?
I
would support the election of a county law director to be available as the
county attorney to serve all departments of the county government.
F.. Concisely describe your vision for
My
vision for the county would be a place where economic growth would continue
providing good employment opportunities for our young people and our community
would continue to be a place where people would desire to live, work and retire
in harmony. There is no reason, with
proper planning, that we can’t have both worlds of economic development and
serenity. They must coexist for us to be
a progressive county.