Metro Clarksville: Maybe it’s time

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By David W. Shelton | September 9, 2007 |

Clarksville, TN

The 21st century has seen some wonderful changes in the way business is conducted in Clarksville, including some refreshing progress in settling some old baggage. Specifically, the City Council approved settlements for the lawsuits filed by Kenny Austion and Tony Blakely.

The Clarksville Police Department has long been struggling with the multiple lawsuits that have been filed against them. No one could say “there’s not a problem,” after the City started losing these suits, one by one. Action was needed. Thankfully, action has been taken.

Further, this isn’t the only area where we’ve seen progress in Clarksville. No matter what one’s opinion is regarding the current or previous mayoral administration might be, it’s clear that things are beginning to change. Clarksville is growing up, and we’re starting to see some much-needed progress in several areas in town. To be fair, I don’t think any one mayoral administration can lay claim to most of these projects, since they’re often the result of years of planning:

Trenton Road at Exit 1 is being improved and widened. The intersection of Trenton Road and Tiny Town Road is getting some much-needed improvement. This has been a long time coming, and those of us who live in the area are anxious to get the project finished. It’s anyone’s guess as to when the rest of Trenton Road will be widened (from Northeast High School to Wilma Rudolph Blvd.).
CDE is installing fiber optic lines throughout town. The high-speed internet (100 megabytes per second capability) and telecommunications system will be a boon for the entire city.
Peacher’s Mill Road will be widened with 4-foot sidewalks on both sides. The “meandering sidewalk” idea was nice, but not very practical. With this new plan, the city will save almost three-quarters of a million dollars.
Dunlap Lane improvements will be cost-effective. Mayor Piper had hoped to have underground utilities in the area surrounding the new Gateway Medical Center, but the savings will help the city in the long run.
Hilldale “Midtown” designation: Alumni from Leadership Clarksville’s latest class have been hard at work to revitalize the area surrounding the existing Gateway building. Their work has been to be proactive (imagine that) to restore the area long before the hospital even moves. Kudos to Jimmy Mann and others who have been working diligently on this project.
Downtown revitalization: In the last two or three years, there have been literally hundreds of new apartments and condominiums under construction. The largest of which is the University Landing apartments built primarily for APSU students. There are new condominiums on Main Streetand new apartments and condos being built near the Smith-Trahern mansion.
101st Airborne Division is currently in the midst of a major widening project (in case anyone in Montgomery County lives under a rock). This project will also lead to the eventual widening of Warfield Blvd and Richview Road.

This is just scratching the surface of projects in development in Clarksville and the surrounding areas. This is all progress, and every step of the way, we’re getting closer to becoming a stronger community. This leads me to ask the one question that seems to be on the tips of a few tongues around town: Is it time for consolidating the city and county governments into a metro government?

It’s certainly not a new idea. It was first proposed back in 1958, where it was rejected. It came up again a few years back, with voters in the city limits overwhelmingly approved the measure, while County residents rejected it. Having lived in both the City and the County, I can understand both points of view. County residents are very apprehensive about adding more taxes to their income, and aren’t convinced that the city services will be adequate for their needs.

A metro government would effectively combine all of the communities in Montgomery County into one consolidated government. As it is right now, the City has plans to move a little further east of I-24, but there are no plans to move south or west of the Cumberland River.

With the coming completion of the 101st Airborne Division Parkway loop that would extend from Dover Road to Highway 149, there will be much greater access to the south side of the county. This will open up the metro conversation even more, and I think maybe it’s time.

Thankfully, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System has already been combined, so there’s not a lot of concern there. In fact, we can look to the CMCSS as a great example of how city and county residents can work with each other. Their years of success in integrating the school system shows that consolidated government can work.

There are any number of considerations that would have to be discussed before any viable plan would be offered:

How would the police jurisdiction be handled?
How would the governments be combined? Would there be a Mayor and a City Executive?
How would gas and water services be expanded?
Would CDE and CEMC merge? How would they work together in transition? Or would CDE buy out the Montgomery County CEMC customers?
Would sewer services be expanded to County residents?
How would the City Council be redrawn? Would there still be 12 members?
How would the judicial system be adjusted? Currently, we have three General Sessions/Juvenile court divisions and one part-time city court. Clearly, this would need some serious discussion.
The Montgomery County Highway Department and the Clarksville Street department would have to be merged. How could this be done effectively?
Would there be a revamped sign ordinance? Our existing ordinances are outdated and have resulted in an extremely gaudy crowd of signs, especially near the Mall. I’d talk about how irritating those animated signs are just plain ugly, but that’s another article.
Would growth be managed?
How would county residents benefit from consolidation? There are still people in the St. Bethlehem area who have not received sewer service, even more than 20 years after the area was annexed.
Would the fiber optic network be moved into the county as well?

These are but a few of the considerations we’d have to mull before taking the plunge into a metro government, but I am absolutely convinced that the time to start those discussions is now.

Our city’s future just may well depend on it.