Shelby County Commissioner Terry Roland was the guest speaker at the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce luncheon today (4.25.18). And in his folksy manner, he shared details of his eight years as a Commissioner.
He is running for Shelby County Mayor in the primary which is May 1. Early voting ends tomorrow (4.25.18).
Mayor Wyatt Bunker preceded Mr. Roland by describing the Vision 2020 Strategic Plan for Lakeland and announcing the first fire chief for the Lakeland Fire Department, Dennis Wolf. Lakeland fire services are to start July 1, 2019.
Chief Wolf is a consultant to cities across the country through the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Public Service Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) and is the former chief of the Germantown Fire Department and emergency management director for that municipality.
Link to the announcement story: https://lakelandcurrents.com/dennis-wolf-named-lakeland-fire-chief/
Mayor Bunker announced the selection of the Chief and also said residents will be receiving a brochure by snail mail which will provide a new website about the Vision 2020 plan. Chief Wolf was unable to attend the Chamber lunch.
He said City officials have been working on the strategic plan for six to eight months. The five areas are education, fire services, economic development, residential and infrastructure and parks and recreation. He mentioned 500 residential lots under development now and an Osaka restaurant coming to Lakeland. “There are exciting things happening here,” he said.
The Mayor praised both the elementary and middle schools in Lakeland and said officials will continue to pursue a high school for the City. Currently Lakeland students attend Arlington High School through an interlocal until a high school is built in Lakeland.
He noted the City is planning an Athletic Park Complex at Memphis Arlington and Canada Roads on 100-acres. He said grant money is to be used to start phase 1 of the project, along with matching funds.
Wil Ashworth, Chamber president, introduced Mr. Roland, noting he has been a Shelby County Commissioner since 2010, having been reelected in 2014 and is from Millington.
Beginning his comments, Mr. Roland said, “I want to thank y’all for letting me serve you for eight years.”
He discussed the surrender of the Memphis City Schools (MCS) charter and said that was not about kids or education, but debt. He said MSC had $1.4 billion in “Other Post-Employment Benefits” (OPEB) debt and wanted to put that debt over everyone in Shelby County. He noted that in surrendering a charter, you can’t transfer debt and it went back to Memphis. He said the same thing would happen in a municipal school district if it took on debt and then went out of business. The debt stays with the City.
Commissioner Roland talked of the opioid crisis saying, “We’ve got to rid ourselves of this problem.” He said the Mayor (Mayor Mark Luttrell) wants the state attorney general to sue the state. But any money would go to the state and not local, he said. Suing in federal and state court with a jury trial, he said, means money will come to the citizens for resources used.
He talked of a “culture of corruption,” citing $1.5 million a year in fines to the EPA because sewer lines are in disarray. “The sewer fee is only to keep up the lines,” he said. “Six million dollars a year over 10 years was put in the general fund instead of the sewer fund. That’s against federal law. This is a culture of corruption.”
Mr. Roland said he is not a bought-and-paid-for-politician. “I work for y’all. I take every call from constituents. For the last eight years you’ve got a fulltime commissioner at part-time pay, $ 29,000 a year.”
There are three reasons citizens are leaving Shelby County, he said. Schools, crime and high taxes. He said he hopes County taxes will be reduced, giving money back to the taxpayers. He also said safety of constituents should be number one.”We need to take the handcuffs off the police. Where’s the sympathy for people taking care of us?” He added Shelby County Schools are spending more money but it’s not getting to the children or teachers.
Mr. Ashworth reminded guests that the next Chamber luncheon is May 25 at Stonebridge Golf Club.
On Friday (4.27.18) the Lakeland Chamber will have its First Annual Sporting Clays Tournament at the Memphis Sports Shooting Association (MSSA) located at 9428 Old Brownsville Rd in Lakeland. Lunch is included and will begin at 11:30 a.m. Shooting will begin at 1 p.m. and will last until approximately 3 p.m.
You can register online at www.mylakelandchamber.org. For more information email brittney@mylakelandchamber.org or call at 867-6141. Space is limited to the first 60 shooters.
All proceeds from the tournament will go to the Chamber.
…Photos by Anna Stonestreet Smith for Lakeland Currents.
