When something is not working, you backup, re-evaluate, and try again.

CommissionerWalker.com will going off line in the up coming months.  Rather than make it all about 1, I am going to try to make it about all.  A new website/blog/forum is currently being developed and more will be posted here before this site goes down.

Stay tuned!

Thanks!

Mike

        

Well,
It is that time again, Election Time.

I would like to thank the 8th District for the privilege of serving them over the last 4 years. 

As of right now James Taylor, Gordon Wright and myself have picked up petitions to run for the District 8 Seat B County Commission seat.

For those who have online access and have questions or concerns during this election cycle as always feel free to contact me here or email me directly at commissionerwalker@gmail.com.

I be putting more information up soon.

Thanks again!

Mike

        

        

Blount County Animal Control

233 Currie Avenue

Maryville, TN  37804

Phone:  980-6244

Fax:  980-1919

• Office Manager/Shelter Coordinator -Jeanette Saddler
• Animal Control Field Officer - Lynn"Chubby" Burchfield
• Part-time Field Officer - EddieBungalow

Office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00am till 4:30pm.

        

Well we are now half way through the month of October.

Just thought I would make a couple of observations about FY 09-10.

1. In 16+ years I have never seen the County go from July through October without a budget committee Meeting.  This should mean that all departments are operating within their filed budgets.  Good Job!
2. Zoning, personally I am still not satisfied with the increased pace that rezonings are occurring, nor am I happy with the fact that we are making broad strokes on the largest single zone in the County, the R-1 zone.

Well, I guess we will see come November what is instore for the commission.

As always, if you have any comments feel free to drop me a note at commissionerwalker@gmail.com.

        

Just got word through the County Commission office that the work session and commission meeting for August will be comprised of 98% zoning issues.  This will include the setting of public hearings for campgrounds in R-1 zones.  Sounds like it will be a long meeting.

        

Before the beginning of the County Commission meeting last week I got the opportunity to speak to the IT Director and view the rough draft of the County Commission Blog software.  It looks simple and clean not a lot of bells and whistles but it does allow for RSS and ATOM linking.  It is not as sophisticated as some software that I have used or seen, but it is "free" and should do nicely.

I hope that this will be addressed at the July meeting so we can get it up and running as soon as possible.

Feel free to drop a note or your comments.

        

A email invitation I received but will be unable to attend.  Maybe you have some free time.

Solar PV Technology - An In-Depth Look. A free Workshop at 10 AM to 12:30 PM on Saturday, June 13th at Ijams Nature Center.  This workshop is provided free through the City of Knoxville Solar America Cities program, and will give an in-depth understanding of Photovoltaic (PV) technology. Speakers from the City of Knoxville, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority will cover such topics as the legal requirements for a solar energy system in Knoxville, Market Trends in the PV industry, Building Integrated Solar, new innovations such as micro inverters, potential maximum efficiencies and Concentrated Solar PV. The workshop will also provide an update on TVA's new version of the Generation Partners program and have a small group "tabling" break out providing a chance to talk more in-depth with solar experts.
——————-
Agenda
10 AM - Introduction and Welcome - Erin Burns, Knoxville
10:05 - An overview of solar PV technology - Gil Melear-Hough, SACE
            The legal requirements and explaining Generation Partners
10:30 - Where the PV industry is going - Neil Placer, TVA
            Building Integrated solar
            Innovations, micro inverters
11:00 Conventional and unconventional PV technology - Curt Maxey, ORNL
            Efficiencies and fundamental
            Concentrated Solar PV
11:30 Q & A on topics and Solar Installer identification - facilitated by Gil Melear-Hough, SACE
12:00 Topic Tabling - Generation Partners, Industry Trends and More!
12:30 Wrap up

        

Good evening!

Just wanted to drop a note and let those who read know that I have requested that the idea to allow Blount County Commission to have a blog that follows the pilot program that Knox County has used for the last year will be on the agenda for the next commission meeting.  The actual request will be for the IT committee to investigate and see if the means and money exist in the budget for this to happen.

More to come later.

        

I have forwarded a copy of the letter contained below to the planning commission to allow some level of flexibility to rezoning request within the Urban Growth Boundaries of the Cities contained in Blount County.  Let me know what you think.

Dear Chairman Stucky and Members of the Planning Commission:

I would like to thank each of you for your service on the Blount County Planning Commission. I am aware and appreciative of the time and effort that each of you put into your positions. 

I have a request that I would like the Planning Commission as a whole to consider. I feel that this request, if considered and implemented, would allow Blount County more flexibility and also allow it to meet the needs of the other municipalities contained within its boundaries. 

What I am suggesting is for the Blount County Planning Commission to review the zones that are contained within each of the cities who have filed an Urban Growth Boundary with Blount County. After this task is completed, then implement the missing zones as available zones within each UGB for each city.

This would allow Blount County the flexibility to zone properties accordingly so it would meet future growth or annexations by any of these cities.  Possibly, we could add the wording “such zones would only be applicable within the UGB of the related cities.”  Thank each of you for your time, attention and service to Blount County and its residents.

Respectfully,
Mike Walker
County Commissioner, District 8 Seat B