The Logo of the Clarksville, TN Gas and Water Department

If the Clarksville Gas & Water Department (CGW) had been upfront and honest, there would be no need for a lawsuit to force the promised return of deposits. If Judge Shelton had followed standard court procedures and issued a default judgment when the duly served defendant Mayor Johnny Piper or his counsel did not appear, the case would have ended then. If City Attorney Lance Baker would right the wrongs, rather than defend immoral actions by the city through his superior knowledge of the law, we would not need an attorney.

However, with the publicity generated by Clarksville Online publishing my letters to the editor, we now have a volunteer. A federal attorney who feels that we can win this case. We are grateful to him. This is good news for all consumers served by CGW. We will seek to establish a legal precedent, and tell municipal bureaucrats that they can no longer be able to tell residents that “The city can do whatever it wants.”

Now we are looking for witnesses and other victims. For the witness we need people who can testify that they paid a service deposit to CGW and later had it refunded back. We also need other consumers who had their deposits seized, even though they had always paid their bill in a timely manner.  It is now appropriate to move to convert this suit to a class action, which will benefit all of the victims of this “theft” by City Hall.

The Logo of the Clarksville, TN Gas and Water Department

Many readers requested updates to my article about theft by city hall, in which I wrote how I am battling to get the City’s Gas and Water Department (CG&W) to honor contracts and return customer deposits.

Yesterday, September 14, 2009, we suffered a minor defeat when Judge Grimes denied my motion for evidence, due to technical legal errors. He admonished me that although I am without counsel, he will cut me no slack for not having an attorney. I understand this, as it would be unfair to attorneys to hold them to higher standards. However, he should not have given Lance Baker, the city attorney, free legal advice by telling him he can “quash” my future subpoenas.

Similarly, at the original appearance on July 8, Judge Shelton, instead of ruling for a default judgment when the defendant did not appear, phoned the city attorney and had me wait for his arrival. This also displayed favoritism for the city’s Attorneys over ordinary citizens.

My case goes to trial November 9, and if I prevail, it will show our local government that the city cannot “do whatever it wants.” The sheriff served my subpoena against CG&W’s guardian of records on August 10, and I issued a new one against Mayor Johnny Piper yesterday.

We need to see if Baker will successfully “quash” the Mayor’s subpoena, and whether I can locate a local attorney who will help me to help you, either pro bono or for a reduced fee.

The Logo of the Clarksville, TN Gas and Water Department

On May 25, 2005, I opened an account with Clarksville Gas and Water Department, and gave a $225 deposit, which I was told would be refunded after four years. Four years later, on May 26, 2009, I applied for the return of my deposit. The clerk and her supervisor told me that new policies instituted by new management prohibit returns until after service ends, and “THE CITY CAN DO WHATEVER IT WANTS”.

I filed suit, charging breach of a legal contract, diversion, and unfair trade practices. No attorney arrived to represent the city in General Sessions Court on July 8, so Judge Shelton phoned the city attorney, Lance Baker. He later met with me, which gave me the opportunity to explain my case and share the evidence. We then went before the clerk, who reset my case for a two-hour trial before Judge Grimes on November 9th.

My evidence includes printouts, from Clarksville Gas and Water Department of my account.

They show my $225 deposit of May 25, 2005, and my billing and payment history for the past four years, with all payments timely made. They also show the May 26, 2009 comments from gas and water employee Becky W., “Cust. called wanted dep. refunded to his account. It has been 4 years since he paid it. I told him that policies have changed, and we do not apply after 4 years. (He) wanted to talk to supervisor. Gave info to TG BW.” Tracy’s (TG BW) comments are, “Spoke with Mr. Cutting regarding the deposits being refunded and that we no longer refund the deposits, that they are held on the account until closed. He stated he has already contacted The Leaf Chronicle and his attorney.”

Other residents that will also not receive their promised deposits, may wish to contact me, as we may have the basis for a class action suit. Do we really want the city of Clarksville to be able to “DO WHATEVER IT WANTS,”  to whoever it wants, regardless of the law, and whom it hurts?

David L. Cutting
Resident of Ward 8

Young dancers don Santa caps as they entertain.

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/12/17/young-dancers-entertain-elders-with-holiday-program/feed/ 0 http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/11/24/conflicts-of-interest-erode-trust-in-city-government/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/11/24/conflicts-of-interest-erode-trust-in-city-government/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:00:00 +0000 David Cutting http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/?p=12785 Conflicts of interest exist when people in positions of trust, such as politicians, have competing personal interests which make it difficult to fulfill their duties impartially.

As our city government, comprised of the mayor and city council, routinely rule on issues affecting realtors, builders, developers, and building material suppliers, people in those disciplines should not serve in city government. Since active realtors, builders, and developers are entrenched in elected local offices, we have bad laws which enrich them at the expense of the voters who elected them and all taxpayers and residents.

Christina Walsh of the Castle Coalition, of which I am a member, wrote recently about Clarksville, “Clearly, the confluence of bad law and politically connected developers here does not bode well for the citizens of Clarksville, who have been virtually abandoned by the very political officials they elected to represent their best interests. Local governments very often disguise their intentions of transferring perfectly fine properties to private developers, declaring so-called ‘blight removal,’ ‘urban renewal,’ or ’slum clearance’ as the justification for eminent domain. They hide behind this ‘public use’ concept in their quest to acquire property for the private use of developers.”

The long-range solution to conflicts of interest is voter education. All qualified candidates for local office who receive $1,000 or more in campaign contributions or spend $1,000 or more on their campaigns must file financial disclosures. These disclosures must identify all contributions and expenditures over $100. Since the local newspaper does not publish these public records, I will do so, on Clarksville online, for future elections, as the candidates file their disclosures. I will highlight, for voter scrutiny, all contributions from realtors, builders, developers, and building material suppliers. I will also attempt, with Clarksville online, to vet all qualified candidates, with special attention, again for voter scrutiny, to active realtors, builders, and developers. Hopefully, through this process, we will eventually achieve a city governent that is dedicated to serving the populace rather than itself.

David Cutting's election campaign was a family affair

In my recent stand for a seat on the Clarksville City Council, I spent $790, or $1.25 for each vote received, and the winning challenger spent $6,740, or $2.68 for each vote received. He and I both wanted to win, worked hard at it (he much longer than I did), and saw a real need to replace the incumbent.

The defeated incumbent, similarly to me, spent less than $1,000 on his campaign, but unlike me, did not work hard at it. The winner received $4,740 in campaign contributions, and a $2,000 loan from himself to fund his campaign. I neither sought nor received contributions, and if the incumbent did, they totaled less than $1,000, or he would have had to file a report. The local newspaper reports none of this public record data, and it is not on the Internet.

The gains to the public are that on January 1, 2009, the incumbent will leave office, and the gain to the winner is obvious. My gains include having met many wonderful people, hearing a voter tell me I am a good man, and facing my wife’s applause at 7:30 p.m. on election night, without her yet knowing whether I won or lost.

My point is that in a few weeks there will be four new members in our city government, each of whom earned the right to assume their seats. The rest of us must help them do their jobs, and encourage them to remain independent of the mess that is city hall. However, we must remove some of the entrenched members of city government who are seeped in questionable practices and/or corruption. Only then will Clarksville progress as a modern city, with equality and justice for all.

For the Clarksville city government, meaning the elected mayor and the elected city council, building a water park, placing cameras on traffic lights, and building a separate city council structure violates Jeffersonian democracy to the point that we should vote them all out.

Foremost is that the city does not adequately provide the essential services. The police and fire departments are under budgeted, understaffed, and underpaid. Public education and public libraries, although Montgomery County’s responsibilities, are similarly under budgeted, understaffed, and underpaid, to the point where, if the city government had surplus funds, it would behoove the city to contribute more to their support.

A water park would be a major improvement for us, but not at taxpayer expense. To refinance the city’s debt structure to include an additional $32,000,000, which may or may not be enough to build a water park, equates with refinancing one’s home mortgage to pay for improvements, and we see how that has contributed to the nation’s economic crisis. A water park built by private industry, and run, not by a bureaucracy, but by experienced water park managers is what Clarksville needs. In addition, elected officials should not benefit financially due to the proximity of its location to their land holdings.

The city should not install cameras on traffic lights, mainly because they cause accidents. Clarksville Online Bill Larson, and others featured as guest commentators on this site, previously and adequately addressed this, but the mayor, the city council, and the local newspaper decided to ignore all opposition to the city’s greedy plan.

A separate structure for the city council, proposed recently by the mayor, is unnecessary, considering the infrequent usage.

In November 2010, we should vote the mayor, and city council members not independent of him, out of office.

Kiara Cutting

The Studio of Tiffany Hilliker held its Fall Recital at the Clarksville Department of Electricity’s Hall on Saturday, November 8. Nineteen students, all in recital attire, brilliantly performed.

Seventeen of these gifted students are pianists, and two, Lexi Moore and Lauren Ritter, are vocalists. An audience of approximately one hundred enjoyed the performances, and afterward shared in refreshments.

Clarksville knows Mrs. Hilliker for her piano and voice teaching, and her Kindermusik classes at Mary’s Music.

The performers, along with their selections, were:

• Kiara Cutting, Classic Dance, Nancy and Randall Faber
• Megan Chalmers, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Ludwig Beethoven (1770-1820)
• Victoria White, Whirling Leaves, Nancy and Randall Faber
• Marianne Rivera, When the Saints Go Marching In, Traditional
• Lauren Ritter, Once Upon a Dream, from Jekyll & Hyde
• Jarius Satterfield, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Emma Krone, Musette, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750
• Faith Lu, Andante, Nancy and Randall Faber
• Ashley Robertson,  Minka, Russian Folk Song
• Andreya Steidl,  Polovetsian Dance, Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
• Lexi Moore,  Daddy’s Hands, as performed by Holly Dunn
• Mina Grieco, The Lost Doll, Bela Bartok (1887-1945)
• Charlie Krone, Turkey in the Straw, Folk Song
• Chris White,  Reverie, John Thompson
• Taylor Gamble Melody, Friedrich Baumfelder (1836-1916)
• Ashley Rivera, Fleeting Moments, Mike Springer
• Michael White,  Starlight Waltz, C.S. Brainard
• Vanessa Rivera, Falling Leaves, Mike Springer
• Sarah Traylor,  Boogie Woogie Rock, Mike Springer

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