BD Newsletter

Todd Herzog, Founder and former president of Accu-Router, Board member of of the Business Roundtable Action Committee.

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By Brad Durham

I interviewed Todd Herzog last fall, and sadly, Todd passed away before his complete interview was published. Todd Herzog was a valuable and irreplaceable member of the McMinnville business community. Todd and his widow, Kathy changed McMinnville for the good when they moved here many decades ago. I remembered Todd briefly after he passed in an article. You can read it by clicking here, Todd Herzog.

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Why are you in McMinnville?

I have a very simple answer for that: I came here to work at Powermatic. I came here for a job. I was in Buffalo, New York and Powermatic was looking for someone to head up their sales and marketing department and I applied for the job. I came and spent 16 years in that role.

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What year did you come here?

1976, in June. A very interesting thing about that…we were part of Houdaille Industries, a very prominent Fortune 500 company, and twice a year they had presentations on a business plan. And literally my first day there was one of their semi-annual meetings. I attended a meeting and Jerry Saltarelli, CEO of the corporation said, “Well, Mr. Herzog, are we going to hear from you?” George said that this was my first day on the job, and that he had invited me to join the meeting to see the discipline, and to see what this was all about. But he said that I was not ready for that presentation yet, but that I would be in six months.

When I came here, Powermatic was the third biggest employer. Number one was Carrier. Number two was A. O. Smith. Ironically, all three of them are gone. Powermatic had the main plant, the foundry, and they also owned a machine factory up in Cincinnati.

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What do you think when you reflect on McMinnville’s future? Positively, negatively. What do you see in the future?

Our background historically was agriculture. I don’t see that changing. Although the population north of us is huge in Nashville and Murfreesboro. No reason to think we can’t prosper. 

We are going to go through a groundswell of success with new recruiting. There is a major success that is going to be announced imminently. With 200-300 jobs. I still think we are in a prime spot to get a major win. We have that 223-acre tract on the west side of the county. 

We could do so much better, and I think we will because we’ve gone to training levels that most people would love to have, and it’s here. Our CT program at the high school is phenomenal. I think it is the best in the state. Obviously, the robotics center is a major win. Megatronics is a big win. There’s a lot going on here. 

Here is the exciting part. When I first came here, if you wanted a good job, you had to do what everybody did up north, you had to leave town. You don’t have to do that anymore. If you are willing to drive forty miles, from here to Decherd, forty miles or less, you’ve got all kinds of opportunities in careers. Obviously, Bridgestone…they are going to hire a lot more people. If you breathe on a mirror, right now, if they like you, they will hire you right now. They added 28 people a couple of months ago, for their monthly add. And they aren’t slowing down, they are going to keep moving forward. So, to make a long story short, if you have a need, and you have a good story to tell, you can find people.

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Do you think there is a difference between McMinnville and Warren County?

I guess it is in the eye of the beholder. Warren County is much bigger than McMinnville in every possible regard. Obviously in industrial recruiting. Our industrial parks are in the county, not the city. So, if you are going to talk about our county, you can talk about our localized success, but it has to be the county. You could find a plant in the city, but it would have to be an existing one and probably an older one. So, you are talking about 27,000 people versus 14,000. Big difference.

You have a lot more people in the county. Head count drives a lot of funding, so that’s where it’s at.

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If you were mayor of McMinnville and you had a magic wand, what three things would you change?

Well, first of all, I think they have done a pretty good job in the last five years. Redoing the Civic Center was a huge project, and probably very much needed to support longer term growth. 

I continue to believe that the city ought to have an industrial recruiting program. There is nothing to stop them. For example, the city of Sparta leased all kinds of land on 111 for industrial recruiting. There is nothing to stop them from doing that. Just because IDB (Industrial Development Board) reports to the county doesn’t mean they wouldn’t work with the city. So, I think they are missing an opportunity there — almost to the point of being short-sighted. The original industrial park of Warren County was Depot Bottom. I’m talking about a hundred years ago, but that is absolutely where it was. 

IDB, by definition, has five people from the city and five people from the county. There is no bias that keeps the city from being involved in industrial recruiting, if they wanted to be. It is more a case of the board of alderman deciding if they want to make that a priority, and then do something about it. Nothing like that gets done overnight. You would have to develop a game plan and start to put the pieces together. I don’t see why they couldn’t or shouldn’t.

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So you would change the industrial recruiting if you were mayor?

I would add it as a priority and see what you could do to develop sites for it.

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Is there another thing you would do as mayor if you had a magic wand?

Well, the general population wants more in terms of consumer options like more shopping, stores, restaurants. That is population driven. I don’t know how we can affect that unless we have a corresponding growth in population. Nothing strikes me at the moment but industrial recruiting.

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What do you think unites us in McMinnville?

Success is one (thing). If you have success, people rally behind that. I you have a cause that you are trying to get, like the Civic Center. If you have something that people can see and get behind, that helps. Again, I’ll go back. You’ve got the Civic Center project…you’ve got the Armory being built right now. Motlow is going to put a big building right behind the Robotics Center. You have the Bridgestone project going on, and you’ve got another one pending. That’s a lot of activity for a relatively small area. That will get people feeling good about Warren County. 

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What do you think divides us in McMinnville?

That’s a tough one. When I first came here, I didn’t understand the way this works. We’ve historically been hard-core Bible Belt. We are about as traditional Bible Belt as you can get, and I think that is a divisive issue.

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That’s a little ironic, isn’t it? It should unite us.

Not all religions get together. I guess that’s safe to say. Religion here is a borderline full-time project. It’s not that you go to Mass once a week and do your duty. We have something going on tonight and tomorrow night. Most churches meet Sunday and Wednesday night, and more often as needed.

I think some of the historic attitudes behind religion are problematic in terms of people getting along. It doesn’t bother me any. 

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Do you agree with the direction and quality of education in Warren County that the public school system offers for our children?

I’m biased because I am heavily involved in one aspect of that. The growth of the CTE program at the high school is phenomenal, particularly if you go back 20 years. It used to be a shop program, and it is totally different from that today. We have $5-$8 million in equipment in the CTE wing. We have a huge megatronics program there, and a huge robotics program there. We have one million dollars’ worth of equipment — all new in the machine shop technology program. 

I was always impressed with the culinary arts program they have. They’ve got everything there that running a restaurant could possibly want or need. That’s an impressive program. Bottom line, going back to getting a good job, if the truth be known, there are more job openings now than there are people to fill them. These are career jobs, they aren’t just week-end openings. If we have the training available to train kids to get jobs like that, that’s a huge part of being successful going forward. 

Another thing I do is interview kids, who we give scholarship aid to. One of the hot topics on my question board is “where do you want to settle down once you get your education?” And I can tell you unequivocally that well over 50% is right here. That’s encouraging because that means that your leaders of the future are being developed internally. That’s all to the good.

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Is everything you need in McMinnville exist in terms of groceries, retail stores, churches, restaurants? 

No, we travel outside the area to augment that topic. Example, we go to Publix at least every six weeks over in Tullahoma. Publix is an expensive store, but it’s got great stuff. Even something as simple as their carts. They run so much smoother than the ones at Walmart. That alone encourages me to want to go there. 

We do a lot of shopping in Murfreesboro. If it’s important, like once a year, we’ll do Christmas shopping in Chattanooga. Count me among those who buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. It is so easy to do. You hit a button, and you have it the next day. They have everything. You are knocking yourself out, and you can’t find something and why don’t you check with Amazon. They’ve got it. 

I think there is no men’s store; there are limitations on women’s stores. I think there have been more eateries, if you will. There’s still a big void in terms of what most people want, or at least what we want.

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Do you think McMinnville is doing enough for people who are economically disadvantaged?

I don’t know if I am the right guy to answer that, but we have that HOME with a pretty sizable committee behind it…with funding from both the city and the county. There is an effort being made for the 30 to 40 homeless people, to help them. That seems to be an effort that has been pretty well done, and pretty well received. 

What’s interesting is that both Kathy and I have gotten to know virtually all the charities in Warren County. I’ve gotten to know them because of applying for help for two of the organizations I represent, our scholarship fund and Habitat for Humanity. I go once a year in front of the city and county and I get to hear everybody else that is active in that regard. Kathy is in the Power of 100 and she hears three presentations every quarter from local charities. Over a period of time, she has gotten to know what these charities are all involved from a female perspective, and that Power of 100 is a great organization. If you benefit from it now, you get $15,000-16,000. And for a local charity, that is a huge benefit. 

But if you were to ask the non-profits how are they doing, it really depends on the leadership of the non-profit in terms of how successful they are. Some do better than others. There is a difference in talent.

Another aspect is we have the best higher education support structure of any other state in the country. We have free tuition for community college and tech school for two years. That also means you can get a four-year degree, if the first two years you go to Motlow, then transfer all those credits to a state school to get four-year degree…instead of having $200,000 in college debt it takes you the rest of your life to pay off, you’ve got a much smaller number and it becomes much more doable. Another thing we have done is that we’ve moved a lot of college classes down to the high school, and there you can get scholarship aid to cover the cost of tuition while you are in high school.

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Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you would like to comment on?

I don’t live in the city, and I never have. I think what the city has done in terms of redeveloping downtown has been positive. They continue to urge that along. That’s been positive. Turn the clock back 100 years, Saturdays was the key day on the calendar to go downtown and spend all day. Shopping, socializing, eating. We keep adding more to the downtown scene, and that makes it more desirable to go there more often.

That Blue Building may create some economic things that will push some of these things into being if there is economic support downtown that we’ll get new restaurants. I don’t think we are going to get a Target or anything like that but you might see some more diversified shops.

I think we are going to continue to see growth because of where we are located. We have to be…Tennessee has got the least amount of debt of the 50 states. Our state government has a requirement of a balanced budget. That is in the Constitution, and so our state is absolutely in a prime position. If you look at sales tax, growth is substantial because the population keeps going up. You look at the people coming in. Californians go to Texas first, but Tennessee is number two. A lot of people from Florida are coming here because they are tired of being chased around during hurricane season. Tennessee is a good place to live.

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The next complete interview will be featuring Tony Lawrence.

Stacey Harvey, CEO of Warrior Precast, City Alderman.

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By Brad Durham

I originally interviewed Stacy Harvey on October 22, 2022. Mr. Harvey is a member of the McMinnville Board of Mayor and Aldermen, and the Board recently voted to raise property taxes by 25 cents (Ordinance 1859). Stacey Harvey voted to increase the property tax rate, and I have updated my interview with Mr. Harvey to include his comments regarding his vote on the tax issue.

The June 27 Mayor and Aldermen meeting was recorded live on Facebook. There was some spirited discussion regarding the tax increase, and it can be viewed by clicking on this link: June 27 Mayor and Aldermen Meeting.  

Voting to pass Ordinance 1859 and the tax increase were Deitra Dunlap, Stacey Harvey, Keri Morton and Ryle Chastain. Voting no were Sally Brock, Steve Harvey and Rachel Kirby. The ordinance passed 4-3.

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UPDATE

Stacey Harvey:

It’s my opinion that this tax rate increase SHOULD have been done in 2017 or so.  Simply due to the fact that the City didn’t have the funds to pave streets for years, and in 2018 borrowed money to pave. Borrowing money is a penalty to the city residents via the payment of INTEREST. Which is a voluntary tax for not having the money we needed at the time we needed it.  

We needed this increase to cover adequate equipment and to pay fair wages to our first Responders. We have had POLICE Officers SHARING TASERS…. think about that during COVID…just think about it. We have had firefighters sharing gear, running through major intersections wearing only LAP belts for their vehicle safety on 30 year-old fire trucks……

I could go on and on, but I would like to say this: I am proud of the relationship I have built over the last two years with Mayor Chastain. It has not been easy! He would agree with that I am quite sure! But we are focused on doing the right thing for this city — needs over wants, 100% of the time.  

I am excited about our new board members Dunlap and Morton. Upon their election, we immediately voted to purchase a new fire engine to replace the 30 year-old one that the prior Board members voted DOWN just before the election, on the VERY night that Harrison Ferry Mountain was burning!

Had we not gotten these two new members and INSTEAD returned one prior member in the last election, we would not be here prioritizing our city employees and First Responders. Best of all…now their families KNOW the Board values their contributions to our public safety and their service to our city. We must continue to do things we NEED FOR the City, and not fall victim to the “wantsome” whims of some others who prefer to expend resources on things that do not add safety, security or value, to living in McMinnville Tennessee. Indoor pools are nice, but they won’t come to your home at 3 am and save your life. Never have, never will.  

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The original, complete interview…

Why are you in McMinnville?

I was born here. We moved away when I was in the eighth grade to Kissimmee, Florida and then to Fort Worth, Texas. That’s not where I wanted to raise a family. I was raised out in Faulkner Springs and I always said [that] this is where I wanted to raise my family. So, I struck out on my own with my own business when I moved back here in 1992. I’m still here 30 years later, and I’m not going away.

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What do you think when you reflect on McMinnville’s future? Positive? Negative?

I think it’s… I think it has more potential than it has ever had. I think the business climate in the town is pretty good. I believe that we’ve got some challenges with law and order. We’ve got some challenges with our court system. We’ve got some challenges with our jails. We’ve got some challenges with funding our emergency services at the level they need to be funded. And I believe if we do the things that we should do, we can move into the future and still have what made us great in the past. We don’t have to forgive and forget all that stuff moving forward. 

I made a statement in a public meeting that some of the policies that government offices have around here—I hear frustration from people and my comment was that in everything we do, we still have to remember that this is McMinnville, Tn. This is not Atlanta. This is not Nashville. This is not L.A. This is not Dallas. This is McMinnville, TN and we have to maintain that small-town feel. We have to do it right. There’s no reason why we have to be so heavily regulated. But you can’t put a Happy Fall, Ya’ll sign on your porch without getting a visit from the sign Nazi. We’ve got to be very careful with that. We can’t turn this into California. We’re just not going to let it happen. I’ll fight it till the day I die. Warren County, Warren County. I want people to come in here and want to be Warren Countians and McMinnvillians.

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Do you think there is a difference between “McMinnville” and “Warren County?” Why or why not?

I don’t really think so. I have a friend that has put together this Facebook group called Our McMinnville. You know he has started asking folks for pictures of McMinnville. You know how hard it is to come up with family pictures of McMinnville? It’s very difficult. One wouldn’t think so, but it’s very difficult. Because McMinnville, to people who live here, is Warren County. 

I started looking through, I mean I have dozens of family albums that my grandfather passed down to me that go back into the 40’s when he was in the military. He came out and became a state trooper and I just couldn’t find anything, any pictures of anything going on in McMinnville. If we were on the creek, if we were in the yard, if we were having family gatherings…if we were at Midway for a family reunion, if we were at a church picnic, there were lots of those pictures. So, I think that McMinnville and Warren County are synonymous.

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If you were mayor of McMinnville and had a magic wand, what three things would you change?

Well, number one, I don’t want to be mayor of McMinnville. I don’t envy that position at all. So, can I just answer it if I can change any three things? There’s a lot. There’s so many. I don’t intend for this to sound militaristic in any way, but I think we need to get our residents to respect law and order. We need them to respect their neighbors’ and get them to respect traffic laws and speed limits and I think it has to start at that most basic level that we can’t allow criminals to go away unpunished. If I waved my magic wand I could come up with clearly defined list of expectations for every segment of our population and I would enforce those laws and expectations and develop accountability.

There is a lack of accountability that we have in our entire world and it affects us negatively here in our own home. And I would want to make people more accountable and more respectful to everyone’s ability to have their say, and everyone’s ability to protect their property and enjoy their property. And be free of intrusion of people who don’t need to be where they’re going. I don’t know how else to say that. I believe the property owners’ rights are paramount. I would make sure that the rights of the individual are respected. That would be one. 

Two is I think that this area needs a lot more transparency in government as far as taxation and spending. I hope that I am doing my part in trying to bring that out. Instead of being made out to be a pariah in bringing things out in local government, if you question the priorities in spending in the local government, I would wish that we would have that expectation to continue to be ongoing that government officials are questioned and that they expect to be questioned and they appreciate an opportunity to post an answer and plead their side of the case instead of feeling attacked because government officials need to be accountable. If they make a mistake, own it. Don’t lie about it. So, I would bring a lot of truth and transparency to the administration of our rules of life in Warren County and McMinnville that need to be upheld by everybody When you are an elected official, you are not above anybody. And the elitist mentality in this area, I would do away with.

Respect. For people to fact-check your words. To hold you accountable for the things you promised you would do.

The third thing I would do is…you know we have a really bad drug problem here, and it’s so unfortunate. I did a ride-along a week ago at night with Lt. Bill Davis of the McMinnville Police Department. I was sitting in my living room on the first Friday of October and it was real pleasant, and I had the windows open and I was with my wife enjoying a nice, quiet Friday evening at home and I heard more emergency sirens than I believe that I’ve ever heard. Of course, in the summer my windows are not open because I don’t like to be hot. Because it was pleasant, I opened them. It troubled me, I knew there was some fire. So, I did that ride-along. I contacted Lieutenant Davis to see if I could do a ride-along with him. I didn’t advertise that I wanted to do it…I kept it kind of on the down-low. I wanted to see what they deal with. I believe that we have underfunded and overtaxed our emergency responders to the point of breaking them. He picked me up at my home, and the first thing that we did was go interact with some homeless people. And we went down under a bridge down by the railroad tracks by the Farmers’ Market, and there were human feces on the ground. It smelled like urine. Lieutenant Davis was talking to two individuals who are on the Sex Offenders Registry and telling them that the railroad  has sent a letter to Homeland Security requesting that the local police department clean them out of that area because they are trashing up that area. He was advising these individuals that they were going to have to move. Take the weekend, find some place to move, but it’s coming. It was very respectful discourse, but it was very sad. It was very sad to see. But we had to go to the other side of the bridge to another individual that was hiding. A fourth individual that I saw because maybe there was some bond condition and Davis told them that they were going to have to move.  We see homeless everywhere. 

I was in a little fact-finding meeting several weeks ago with some county officials and we had a discussion about how many people are homeless in this area, and how many people are helped by HOME, that’s an acronym for Homeless of McMinnville Effort, which Lieutenant Davis was one of the founders. He is still an officer of HOME, and he’s like an outreach person for the McMinnville Police Department and HOME. One of the county commissioners in that meeting said that they had helped over 450 people in the last year—homeless people. The way that that number is recorded doesn’t tell us whether that is 450 individuals or that was the total number of aid or calls for assistance that they had performed. He couldn’t delineate that for me.

I am sorry that I am so long-winded about it, but it is a huge issue. I would find a way to…I don’t want to say help the homeless. That’s not what I want to do.  I don’t want to help the homeless. What I want to do is help lost souls, help them find a sense of purpose, help them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to get back on their feet and make them productive members of society. You have to classify them. You have to classify them as ones that only need a break, those who expect a break, and those who will never be a damn thing other than what they are now. You have to call them out. You got to help the ones you can help. You got to put the ones on the road that got to be on the road, put the ones in jail that need to be in jail. 

So, I don’t want to answer that in such broad terms like help for the homeless, that’s not…I want to be very specific in my answer. But I wanted to give you that back story. I would empower the people that find themselves less than or less fortunate than others. I’ll call it housing deficient. I don’t know what the terminology is, I don’t know what that is. If they are in a situation where they’re homeless, then I want to help them. But I want to …we’re not a baby bottle with a nipple extending out to where someone wants to come take a drink. You know, that’s not it. There has to be, if we are going to help them, there has to be expectations. There have to be benchmarks, and there has to be constant progress. Sure, you are going to have setbacks, no problem. I want to move that forward. I don’t want them to just stay where they are and never feel like they can go anywhere. And the ones and believe me, there are ones that enjoy that. There are folks that are homeless and they don’t want anything else. That’s what they want. That’s good. You can be that way, but you need to go be that way somewhere else. Not here. So, I would cure that.

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Stacey Harvey asked at the end of the interview to make this the number one thing that he would change…

Number one should be housing. We have such a housing shortage. We have a housing affordability crisis. And there are a number of things that have caused that. One is a state law that municipalities cannot annex parts of undeveloped areas. The city used to be able to go out and annex parts of the county. We can’t do that anymore. We can’t mandate that we are going to annex anybody. We have to be invited to annex. The city’s tax base is locked. That’s it. We have very large minimum lot sizes. We have a larger minimum lot size than Cookeville and Sparta. And Smithville. I believe that’s correct. Cookeville, Sparta and Smithville have smaller minimum lot sizes. And what that does is makes the cost of real estate more expensive. For instance, the R1 minimum is 15,000 sq. ft. but it is 10,000 sq. ft. in Sparta and 10,000 sq. ft. in Smithville. So, for every two lots that you have today, you would have three. 

We are in a housing affordability crisis here. If we would reduce the minimum lot size to 10,000 sq. ft., I think we would have people who own property outside the city limits that would develop and ask us to annex. It would increase the tax base in the area. That’s a real problem that we have. It is a city-wide problem, and it’s a city-wide cure. And we have some disconnect between the realities of some up-and-coming families, and the establishment of the governing institutions, I believe.

The challenge with that is that property owners are concerned about smaller, more inexpensive homes coming in next to their homes that decreases their values. It is a battle over the years…a lot of battles lost….people trying to keep apartments out of their neighborhood.

I’ve been a victim of that. I wanted to put some what is known as “aging in place” housing here. I wanted to get older, retired folks who can’t take care of their place anymore to build some small houses for them that were affordable. I was fought like cats and dogs. There were actually people in the city administration who were out knocking on doors campaigning against my private development. I caught them doing it – I saw them doing it. So, it’s a problem. Housing here is a bad problem. When you have a 1200 sq. ft. home in McMinnville that in 1999 I built and sold for $99,000 and today that same home…I’m a builder, right? That same home that in 1999 was $99,000 today is $248,000 in 23 years. Just think about it.

So now we’ve got interest rates going up to 7-8% and we’ve got real estate prices going up, we’ve got a quarter of a million dollars for a 1200 sq. ft  house, a starter home with a one-car garage. What do you think that’s going to do for young families? They can’t afford to live here. They are going to have to go into the county. They are going to go to Sparta where land is less expensive. Manchester, where land is less expensive. We’re driving them away. We are not welcoming them. We are driving them away.

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What do you think unites us in McMinnville?

Anger and love. There’s a fine line between love and hate.

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What do you think divides us?

Opinions, which leads back to one of my first comments. I wish people would be respectful of other people and their opinions. I believe that we’re divided by…in this country…unfortunately from 2012 to 2020, we were divided by race — by the United States government within the United States government. I think they brought that back to the forefront. When you have certain actors within the government taking certain tones for the general public…honestly we aren’t divided by race. I think maybe when I was a kid you could feel that a little bit. We’re not divided by race in this town. 

I have a son-in-law who is African American. He is my son-in-law. They just had my first grandchild, and that baby’s awesome. So, we’re not divided by race. I do think that we are divided a little bit by lifestyle, we’re divided by financial acumen, you know, because I think a lot of people don’t know about money, but they should know. They find themselves in an endless cycle of poverty, and there’s no way to really get out. I think that those folks that are in that situation look adversely at people like myself who have a business and employees and all this, and I wish that those folks could remember that the only difference between me and them is one break. I took advantage of one opportunity, and the led to another opportunity. I took advantage of that opportunity, and the next opportunity and the next opportunity. So, if you are not doing well financially, don’t hate on somebody who is. Now if they are from third-generation family money, and never had a struggle and they are trying to tell you how to live your life, you know, then maybe you can take exception to that. 

But there was a time in my life when I was homeless. I slept in a doghouse, because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. And the only difference between me and them is one big break. We’re divided economically, not racially. And I do believe that the opinion of law enforcement in this area is not justice for all. I really believe that. There was a saying when I was a kid that if you’re not kin, you’re not in. Have you heard that: if you’re not kin, you’re not in? So, if you do something bad and you know the right people, you will never suffer the consequences. But consequently, if someone else who doesn’t know these people, whoever these people are, can do something bad, and then they get the book thrown at them. 

I believe that there is disparity in law enforcement and the way we adjudicate crimes between economic classes. I do believe that there is evidence of some disparity, whether that’s adequate legal representation, you know, maybe that’s it. Or maybe there’s bad blood from way back between families. We have to be able to adjudicate people on a level playing field. I honestly believe that we are doing the right thing, right now. Our new district attorney and our new sheriff, I think they are going to do that. I put my full faith and trust in them. I’ve spoken to those guys and I’ve gotten extended time in the last year and a half and there will be no good old boy network. There will be no wink, wink, nod, nod, don’t worry about it down the road, that these guys are going to do it. They are going to take their posts seriously, and they are going to adjudicate anything that comes before them on a fair and equal basis.  I believe that’s what divides us.

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Do you agree with the direction and quality of education the Warren County public school system offers for our children? Why or why not?

I want to divide this comment into two sections. When our son graduated number three in his class at Warren County high school, he was the only one in the top ten who wasn’t dual-enrolled. Three-sport athlete. Not dual-enrolled. Graduated number three. Those people that know, if they did a little research, they would know what that means. The dual enrollment ups your GPA. It’s not a four-point scale in dual enrollment, I believe it’s 4.5. I asked them, after his freshman year at VMI, because there was a lot of discussion about the quality of education in the area. And I asked him, I mean, he went to one of the most difficult colleges in the country, hard academically, hard physically, hard extra-curricular. I mean it is brutal. It is torture up there, and in one of my conversations with him, I said, “Jacob, do you feel that you were adequately prepared in the Warren County school system to succeed in your undergrad?” He said absolutely that he was. It’s really about time management. That’s it, and he said that everybody has the same programs available to them, but if you don’t use your time wisely, if you don’t get your studying done, if you put pleasure ahead of your school work, if you aren’t self-disciplined, then he said you are going to get lost. He said that he believed that the Warren County schools prepared him to go anywhere in the country. And he has proven that to be the case.

That is pre-COVID. During and post-COVID, I believe that the lack of transparency of the school board, the programs of diversity, equity and inclusion, critical race theory, whether that is taught in the Warren County schools or not, and it’s kind of a muddy subject. I’ve had some people say no, and I’ve had some people say yes. 

Letting gender identification in to our area — where at the middle school a middle school child that says he identifies with a female can enter the female elementary bathroom with girls. I didn’t know that was happening till last week. I was told by a county commissioner that it is happening. The words were, not that it was quoted to me, but quoted to me by a county commissioner that it was told to him by the director of schools that when the county gives him $11 million a year in funding, he’ll listen to the county. That he’s going to listen to the federal mandates, and that’s what the feds told him to do. 

That’s terrible. That’s absolutely terrible. It has no place in our area. So post-COVID, I think the school board sucks. I think that the policies of the school board suck. I think the tone and the tenor that the Warren County schools are going in sucks. I think that we need an elected school superintendent, not an appointed school superintendent. I think every school board meeting should be open and completely transparent. They should be able to take addresses by the general populace in a timely and regimented manner. It is my understanding, I’ve not attended one, but I understand that during COVID they would not let people attend, even wearing a mask or not, but they televise the meetings. So, I believe that we have a huge problem in our school system.

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The BD Newsletter on Education responds to some of the statements in Stacey Harvey’s interview. You can read the article by clicking on EDUCATION.

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Is everything you need in McMinnville exist in terms of groceries, retail stores, churches, restaurants? 

Yeah. The key to what you asked is do you have everything you need.  What people don’t understand is that there is a difference between need and want. Are our needs addressed here in Warren County? Yes, they are. Could it be better? Of course. But we are not Chattanooga, we’re not Nashville, we’re not Murfreesboro or Cookeville. If you want to be one of those places, go move.

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Is McMinnville doing enough for people who are economically disadvantaged, or should be doing more? If not, what should the city be doing?

We can never do enough. We can never do enough. But I think that in, well, let me say this—I don’t believe a metro government is right for this town. Or county. I don’t believe that because I don’t believe that 24 people can address the needs of 45,000. We have seven members on the board in McMinnville and we have about 14,000 people. So, every alderman represents about 2,000 people. So, if we have 45,000 people and we have 24 commissioners, the number is the same. But is the contact the same? No, it’s not. The county is more fractured than the city, I believe. It’s not as compact, it is spread out, so there’s sections of the county that they don’t know who their commissioner is. 

I said that to say that I don’t want metro government. I think we could have more impact on that if the county and city could find a way to work together. And full funding. But the number one thing, and I’ve had this discussion two different times in the last two weeks — we can’t find a way for the city and county to work together. We can’t have a good old boy handshake agreement, this is the way it is, and if we are going to pool resources, we have to have a concerted effort, an operating agreement that both sides abide by, that is clearly defined. That operating agreement, with a combination of resources has to be enforced. 

I’ll just give you an example, because this was a topic of conversation about HOME, Homeless of McMinnville Effort. They do great work. They need a full-time paid person to help manage these cases. They’ve got tiny homes, and they’ve got some property that the city gave them. But what’s going to happen is…they are going to be a victim of their own success. By that I mean you have Tina Higgins, you have Bill Davis, you have James Hunt all of these people have other jobs ok. I think that it’s time for the city and county to get together and fund them at a higher level and with a real strict operating agreement as to what these funds are used for. We have to be more businesslike in our approach to helping anyone. I do not think that the city and county do enough to help the economically disadvantaged, but I think that the reason we don’t do enough is we all need to work together on it. Define our target, look to who we want to be.

Look at programs, outreach in other parts of the state and to other parts of the country where this has been done successfully. Do a lot of research. Once we do that and we have an operating agreement that defines the expectations that it’s a business deal and we conduct business…then we could help a lot of people. 

It’s the system that’s the bad guy, it’s not a person. You don’t have to wear a black hat and deliver bad news. We have to pool with very clearly defined delineated expectations about the use of those funds. When someone becomes completely dependent on an organization like that, they need to know that there’s a finite cut-off line that if you don’t meet a certain x-y-z expectations. Then this is over, and when there is the next person who wants to use it as  a transition for a better place for them and their family, they’ll get that opportunity.

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What did I not ask you that you would like to comment about regarding  McMinnville and its people?

There is one thing that I think is important that most people don’t realize is that elected officials in McMinnville and Warren County are not the best and brightest that we have in this county. They are not. That’s not derogatory in any shape or form or fashion, but no elected official in this area should think that they are the best person in the area for the job. They’re just making the best marketing person that ran for the job. And if these people in their area think that they know more and that they are better than the general population, they need to be smacked in the face and brought down to reality. The truth of the matter is the best people in this county and in this city are out there every day fighting for their families, fighting for the families of their employees and they fight a battle every day. They may not have enough time left in the day to fight a battle with the city or county level, but no elected official here should think that they are the best because they have been there for 12-14 years or that they’re the best because they got elected. That’s an absolute fallacy. You’re not the best because you ran and won. You are the best of the ones that ran and that’s a small percentage of the overall population of this area. So just because you are elected, you are no better than anyone else. As a matter of fact, you may not be as near as good as most of the people around. 

You’re supposed to be a public servant. There’s a lot of stuff going on right now and I’m a lightning rod. I don’t set out to be. I don’t set out to issue criticism. I don’t set out to be a flamethrower. What I do set out for is I want people to tell the truth. I want people to own their actions. Their great deeds and their mistakes. Because everybody is human. But there are some people around here who will admit to no wrongdoing whatsoever. They just won’t. They just won’t. Somebody points out somebody telling a lie, you know, then they attack the person pointing out the lie. They don’t address the lie even when it’s in print.

I honestly believe and you can print this if you want that the local political class here counts on people not remembering what was said. I believe that they think everybody has a short attention. I believe that folks are smarter than that.

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The next complete interview is with the late, great Todd Herzog.

Jimmy Haley, Former County Executive, former City Mayor, and retired educator.

Interview by Brad Durham

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Why are you in McMinnville?

Well, my roots run very deep. My family were founding members of the community 200-plus years ago, so they’ve lived here and flourished here. Some have moved on to other states and places, but I felt that my calling was to remain here in McMinnville and help change lives one day at a time.

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What do you think when you reflect on McMinnville’s future? Positive? Negative?

I’m an optimist. I always think that the best is yet to come. We have had ups and downs. A survey guy came several years ago with a little analysis of our community and projections about what could and could not happen.  He said that if a lot of communities don’t start investing in themselves, they’ll go down into a hole and die. And even though they may rebound a little — they may get on a plateau. and they stay there. And that kind of resonated with me and made me think that we need to be a little more proactive. We need to think about the future and we need to be making plans for the growth that’s coming.

About the time the great recession hit, everybody was preaching gloom and doom. Normally, when you have an economic downturn, that’s the time you plan and lay the foundation for what’s to come. That’s what I felt compelled to do being a part of city government at that particular time.

I’m a historian, but sometimes investing in the past is not necessarily the best future. To diversify our economy and be a part of a team effort across the state, to rebuild real communities…Governor Lee and former Governor Haslam both believed in investing in rural communities and giving them the resources. We realize that the handouts are not going to last forever. So, unless you build a sustainable economy where you have the tools to grow and prosper…I feel like we have done a lot of that over the past few years.

With good leadership and good planning and like I said, being more proactive rather than reacting to situations, to me, that is how you expect something good to happen down the road. We’re in the next growth circle from Nashville, so if that growth continues to expand, then we will be ready for it.

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Do you think there is a difference between “McMinnville” and “Warren County?” Why or why not?

A lot of people think that and draw divisions and lines. I’ve just never had that attitude. We are one community, and boundaries only divide people — they don’t unite people. I used to use the argument that when visitors come to Warren County and they float our rivers, or fish or whether they come to hike, or stay in one of our state parks that are surrounding us, they don’t care what county that it is. They don’t care what city this is. They are here for the experience and enjoyment. It’s the same thing for people who want to relocate here for business purposes. They aren’t looking for their customers all to be located in McMinnville or the city of Morrison or Warren County. To me, we are all Warren County. 

The commissioners represent the entire county and the city residents as well. So, to me we are all part of the same team. I don’t like making those divisions and lines as a resident here. As a person who grew up here, I don’t see why you would say well that’s city or that’s county. We’re all Warren County and McMinnville is a part of it, it’s the county seat. 

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If you were mayor of McMinnville and had a magic wand, what three things would you change?

Change? I don’t necessarily use the word change. I would invest in infrastructure, housing, and economic development. I think those are all three keys to future growth, prosperity and for more sustainability for local government to provide the services that people expect. To me, that’s what government is…to provide services. 

It’s not a far-reaching power grab, a hand that squeezes one to death. To me, you give people the resources to prosper, and less government is more freedom and more opportunity to grow and to prosper. That brings investment, and that brings people because it is quality of life that most people are looking for now.

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What do you think unites us in McMinnville?

It is a collective people. Schools and education, because that is a common denominator. Public education is a great opportunity for many folks that has given them the avenue to go and do. Particularly people that are first-generation to graduate from college. So, to me that community spirit of having a child in school…I think that’s what unites us. It’s the common denominator. Even older people who don’t have children in school anymore, they see the value of education because that’s who waits the tables, that’s who drives the trucks, so that’s also future workers that you are investing in as well. 

I think we’ve done an excellent job in the last few years investing in education. Once again, the State of Tennessee has pushed that with lottery money. Tennessee Promise, Tennessee Reconnect and some of the other programs that are out there. There’s more ability to trade schools and colleges and to finish school now without going deep in debt. To me, that’s a good opportunity. 

We have a great vocational education department out at the high school, and then Motlow is expanding that Robotics Center and all those things make us appealing as the job market goes. We’ve got the resources to train, and hopefully that’s going to continue.

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What do you think divides us?

I think the fear of change. I think it has been fueled a bit by the political climate of our country, and I think that politics has instead of uniting people, has divided people. It’s become….if you are for that, then I’m against it. They draw the line and there is nobody willing to meet and compromise in the middle, and that’s what has made democracy so great for so long. 

I think the fear of what’s coming next and change. People have a hard time adapting to change, for whatever reason. Like I said, politics has continued to fuel that fear of change and people are either aggressively retaliatory or they get on social media and blast everything that looks like progress.

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Do you agree with the direction and quality of education the Warren County public school system offers for our children? Why or why not?

I do. We are always trying to build better programs and recruiting good teachers, and having the buy-in of the community is essential — they have to see results. For a long time, it was like they really didn’t want to invest in children. But, to me, you invest in children or you invest in jails. 

Children are the only future that we’ve got. So, we’ve got to make sure that the resources are within the schools and the buildings, the programs and the trained staff and support resources are there. It’s a little bit worrisome about the new TISA (Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement) formula for funding education from the state that replaces the BEP (Basic Education Formula). It looks like down the road, most of the state funds will be tied up and will be directed more toward charter schools and private schools, which will leave local communities and rural communities having to fund education completely. And that’s a little…I’m a little fearful…

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Can you raise property taxes? When you raise teacher pay, we are more competitive with our border counties.

Part of it is that property values rise and are reassessed. You grow communities with new jobs and new industry moving here, and it kind of takes care of itself. You don’t have to raise an additional tax to do that. Grow your economy, and it becomes more sustainable. It is generating more. I think some property is underassessed now, and because of the real estate boom, we know (I’ve been an economics teacher for years) there is boom and bust. It’s already…people are starting to ask if they paid too much for their houses.

We have to reassess based on the new property values so people are paying $400,000 (taxes) for a house that is assessed at $200,000. But there will be a readjustment in everything else…as long as the economy and people are moving here, and prices are going up and there is investment. Bridgestone just announced a multi-million-dollar expansion as well and so we’ve had two or three industries looking at us. As long as…with the new concept of building supply chains within our country, rather than depend upon external trade and supply lines coming from other countries that are not very stable, I think there will be an even bigger move to invest closer to market. Tennessee is centrally located as a marketplace. In and around bigger cities is where a lot of investment has come, but it is getting so hard to get property and people can’t afford to live in these places.

Now politics has gotten involved in education and that has caused it to be divisive as well. Lots of people are saying, “I just can’t take this” and so it’s become problematic, particularly when government starts to over-regulate education for political reasons. That to me is unproductive as well. It is troublesome a little bit to think about that as that model continues to evolve, and we are going to have a hard time having teachers in college, teachers in high school, grade school.

People don’t even want to be on school boards anymore because they get attacked. You hope that this is sort of a temporary thing that passes, but boy, it just seems to be gaining momentum unfortunately.

It’s been around for a while. People feel empowered to express their opinions too vocally now and they think they have the right to threaten people. That’s covered under First Amendment. Threatening people is assault and if you hit them, it is assault and battery. That doesn’t just give you the right, just because you disagree with them, to slash their tires or threaten to kill them.

They are loud and they get the attention. For teachers to be threatened and school board members to be threatened and elected officials to be threatened is unacceptable. To me it is un-American. It’s going to drive the most qualified and the most educated, the people who are most interested in helping in that arena away from education, and it will allow those voids to be filled with people who have their own opinions and who want to make those opinions everyone’s opinions. My grandmother always said that level heads will prevail.

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Is everything you need in McMinnville exist in terms of groceries, retail stores, churches, restaurants? 

There are two schools of thought on that. With Amazon now, everything is available now and you don’t even have to leave your recliner. Watching Fox News, you can just get your phone out and click and get your little market basket…and it will be there in the next day or two. 

As far as restaurants…the restaurant business is our business. My dad was in the restaurant business and it is a lot of hard work. There is not a lot of profitability to it, and one of the first businesses to fail is a restaurant.

Oh, I’ve got a good recipe and I can do this. Nothing is a given anymore. Food prices are high, and profit margins are small. People say we need more high-end restaurants, but I’m not so sure how many restaurants…I’ve noticed this a lot just from an economic standpoint. People in McMinnville want to eat at a higher-end restaurant, and they want an experience with it. They want to go shopping or visit someone, and then stop by their favorite restaurant and then drive on to McMinnville. They want to make an experience. Some people just want it cheap, quick and easy and that’s what drive-throughs are all about.

Now if I want to go out and buy a brand-new suit, there are not many opportunities to do that. You’ll have to go to a larger marketplace. But McMinnville is 45 minutes from Murfreesboro. That is not a big drive. I don’t like that they get our sales tax, and the general assembly has mandated that the sales tax on Amazon does go to Warren County and over the course of the pandemic, those tax collections were way up because most people were bored and sitting at home and working from home, and once again, it is easy to click on that button and get something ordered and that was a blessing.

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Is McMinnville doing enough for people who are economically disadvantaged, or if it should be doing more? If not, what should the city be doing?

I’ll say Warren County instead of making a division. We have a lot of great volunteer support agencies out there. Government can’t do everything and can’t be the hand that feeds the masses every day forever. That’s not sustainable and never will be and never has been. Call it socialism or whatever you want to.

Government is part of the safety net but it can’t be the whole safety net.

No. It cannot be. There is a large segment of our population that struggles every day with just basic needs, and a lot of people who don’t see it don’t understand the gravity of that. There are children who are going to be hungry and there is no support system at home to get them up and get them ready for school. So, once again, the burden falls upon the school system. Teachers can tell you stories. I know it, I’ve been there. But thank goodness we do have a lot of support agencies that do try to assist. Once again, try to break the cycle of poverty and invest in the child so that they get a good job — so that they are able to take care of themselves. Instead of being a hand-out, it is a hand-up. An opportunity.

Are we doing enough? Some people say we are doing too much. Is government doing enough. Local government can’t do a whole lot except give to some of these agencies, and a lot of people get mad because tax dollars are going to some of these agencies who get bypassed by government bureaucracy. They can leverage volunteers and do more with a small amount of money than the government could ever do. 

So, I don’t think we do enough to appreciate Families in Crisis, the Advocacy Center, Hamilton Street, UCHRA…all those support agencies that I feel are crucial to stabilizing that population that struggles with those needs. Do I wish it was different? Do I wish everyone had a job and could support their families? Yes. But in a realistic picture, it’s not going to happen. There is still going to be an element of that population. It’s generational and until you break that cycle of poverty, not a lot will change. There is a lot of mental illness out there, self-medication, a lack of insurance…we have a large uninsured population here in McMinnville. We do have our challenges, but it is no different from any other place.

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What did I not ask you that you would like to comment about regarding  McMinnville and its people?

I think we have a great little town with great opportunity. We have always been close-knit and have been a community of volunteers. We are blessed with so many agencies that a lot of communities don’t have. They are grass-roots and they grew. People saw the need, and the leadership was there to make it happen; and then the recruitment of some people and staff with some government funding.

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What would you say to those who say that these programs are attracting people to McMinnville and are coming from out of town?

They need to get out and do some volunteer work. It is easy to be on the outside and cast doubt on what’s happened. Go deliver Meals on Wheels or Good Neighbors that we do at First Methodist Church. Or go volunteer at Families in Crisis. Or go deliver meals to a homeless tent camp and work with these people and see what puts people in that place. 

They say it is like feeding a stray dog…they’ll never leave the front porch. To me that is so derogatory when you don’t understand where that person came from or what drove them into that situation. Many people have mental illness, and it is easy to tell people with mental illness that you need to get a job. That’s not an easy thing for someone who is suffering from a mental crisis.

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The next complete interview features Stacey Harvey.

Mandy Eller, Executive Director Beersheba Springs Medical Clinic; former Executive Director of the McMinnville Chamber of Commerce.

Interview by Brad Durham

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Why are you in McMinnville?

Well, I was born and raised in Warren County. You know I ended up marrying a nurseryman. My dad was a nurseryman and whenever I left home at 18, I said  I am never going to set foot in another nursery. And I ended up marrying a nurseryman. (Laughs.) So, I was around the nursery industry for 37 years anyway. I ended up staying here, you know. 

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What do you think when you reflect on McMinnville’s future? Positive? Negative?

Oh, I see it as very positive. I see a lot of young people getting involved, investing in businesses, running for offices, so I think that’s a sign for long-term growth.

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Do you think there is a difference between “McMinnville” and “Warren County?” Why or why not?

Absolutely. I think you will find it in the governments, but in the people as well. People who live in town like to be busier, and people in the country like to be laid back and taking it easy. That’s how I grew up, living in the country and I’ve lived in the city for the past eight years. So, I tend to like living in the city, because our downtown is so great. You get to go to all the shops and restaurants. There is not a reason to leave. You know you can find a lot here.

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If you were mayor of McMinnville and had a magic wand, what three things would you change?

Mmmm. What would I change. You know, we need more housing, and that’s a huge issue if we want to grow. People say we need more jobs, better jobs, but they have to live somewhere and the schools would have to expand as well. We need more housing, affordable housing, yes. And some neighborhoods could use some investment and development. Theoretically, if the real estate market stays strong, that should happen over time. We’ll see. I think encouraging development in that way is good and making it as easy as possible to do business is important. But I would also (coming from the tourism background) I would definitely push hard for that as well. With my background with the Tourism and Development Board, I do think there were mistakes in setting that up and it should be reviewed. It’s hard for them to have certain functions like marketing because it was set up by the City. And when it was set up, it wasn’t funded, and there’s a lot of difficulties in carrying through with projects—the way it is set up now. They said it would be like IDB. It’s not. There are inherent differences. So, I would fix that. I would not have it as a discrete component of the city, which is what it is now and have it set up like IDB. It’s actually separate and it can operate more fully that way—more easily that way. 

I think Nolan Ming is doing a great job going after grants now. And I think Justin Scott is too. I think that continuing to go after as many grants as possible, and taking advantage of as many of those opportunities as possible. I think they’re doing a good job at that. What’s always been wrong with that is that there as never been just one person focused on it.

The grant-writing has been spread out, and if you don’t go to the conferences and you don’t see these opportunities, you don’t always know they exist even if you are over that department. So, I think it would be important to have someone in the know. It’s not writing the grants themselves because you have the Development District. They can write grants for free. It doesn’t cost any more than their membership, which the city and county already pay. They can write and administer grants on behalf of the city or the county at no additional cost. I think really using that relationship and making sure that those grants get through is important.

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What do you think unites us in McMinnville?

You know, from my experience seeing business growth downtown gets a lot of people excited and wanting to push for more. That was what I saw when I was at the Chamber. That was the perspective that I saw, so maybe I’m in my own box. But you know, that’s what I see. And tourism always had a great response from people. People seem to understand the value of it in the city and want more of it. This town can’t support all the businesses we want, so we need to have people coming in from the outside and spending money. I think that’s something people really get behind, and that helps to unite people as well.

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What do you think divides us?

Politics, right? It’s dividing the whole country, and I think it’s ridiculous that in national politics and the division we see there — we are seeing at the local level. That’s crazy. It really shouldn’t exist that way. We are all in this small town. We all have the same issues, so I think we should try to work together more. I think it is silly to go looking for problems. Sometimes politicians can look for problems and kick up dust, and it takes the focus off the real problems and just working together and moving forward together.

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Do you agree with the direction and quality of education the Warren County public school system offers for our children? Why or why not?

I do, and I feel for the school system and the teachers especially. I was glad to hear that Hillsdale lost its contract and that it was not coming in because that was going to be a very threatening prospect for public education. I think the teachers are doing everything they can, and the school system is doing everything they can. I’ve been very happy with my sons’ (who are in the school system) experience. I think it’s great.

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Is everything you need in McMinnville exist in terms of groceries, retail stores, churches, restaurants? 

It has gotten so much better in the last ten or twelve years. We could always use some more restaurants. I’m sad that our brewery went out, and that goes along with tourism—it goes so well. And so, I’d like to see that. For example, Begonia’s. That has been tremendously successful and Vanilla Bean. With these restaurants popping up downtown, and I think people are supporting them. We could use more, and I think people would support it for the most part. We don’t have wine in restaurants, but we will. And that would be nice.

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Is McMinnville doing enough for people who are economically disadvantaged, or should it be doing more? If not, what should the city be doing?

Gosh, the government—it’s hard for a local government. I’m thinking about the Housing Authority. They had a lot of money saved up, and they haven’t used it. I do wish they would expand the housing program. I know that’s not a popular idea, but I do think that so many people are now in rentals that are owned by not-so-great landlords. That causes a lot of issues for people. So, they would have more options if they had more housing authority assistance available, it would take care of that issue.

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What did I not ask you that you would like to comment about McMinnville and its people?

I think we have seen a lot of positive momentum, and I am surprised that it has stayed even though with COVID. I wondered what it was going to look like at the end of COVID. But it seems like people are just as happy to get involved as they were before. So that’s great. I’m trying to think of something negative to say. I’ve been really positive. I guess the politics was really the negative part. It is changing here. There’s a lot of people moving in from the outside. I hope the locals embrace that. I get to meet them just going downtown to the restaurants. 

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The next complete interview is with Judith Gomez.

Interview by Brad Durham

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Why are you in McMinnville?

I’m in McMinnville because of two doctors. Wally Bigbee and Thurman Pedigo took a chance on a young kid 34-35 years ago. They recruited me out of Texas, and I was bound for Arkansas, where I was born and raised. They came to Texas and got me. At first, I said no, I don’t know anything about Tennessee. They said that they would fly my wife and I up there for a weekend, and to just come up and see us. We did, and thank goodness we drove through Woodbury and instead of Mt. Leo. They put us up at the Americana, and we came anyway!

We have lived here longer than we have lived anywhere. This is our home. Our children are all here.

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What do you think when you reflect on McMinnville’s future? Positive? Negative?

If you had asked me that 10-15 years ago, it looked bleak. But I am very hopeful now, overwhelmingly positive. 

Ten to fifteen years ago, it looked like a dying town. Looked like a place you could go and grow old and go to bed at 8:00. There was just no life. Now you drive through Main Street on any given day, and there is life now. 

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Do you think there is a difference between “McMinnville” and “Warren County?” Why or why not?

I don’t. I mean I have lived in the city limits and the county, and I don’t see a big difference. 

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If you were mayor of McMinnville and had a magic wand, what three things would you change?

I would like a week or two to reflect on that…Shooting from the hip, without a lot of time to think about it…

I would make McMinnville more dog friendly. 

I would put more walking trails and bicycle lanes. 

I would make it more walking friendly. For instance, if you were walking from here to the mall, you would be putting your life at risk, and people are doing that every day. 

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What do you think unites us in McMinnville?

Probably our small-town values like family and friends. And faith, and I guess that could divide us and unite us. There are a lot of faith-based folks in this town. I think that has potential to unite us more than divide us. 

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What do you think divides us?

Faith (laughs). I think we get caught up in issues like politics and parties that really don’t serve us well. And in our day-to-day lives, those things don’t really matter, but for some reason we get really caught up in it. We get very concerned about who is doing what in Washington, and probably we should be more concerned about what is going on right around us. 

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Do you agree with the direction and quality of education the Warren County public school system offers for our children? Why or why not?

It is A hard job. I mean the system has a hard job. I don’t know enough about it to really be critical of it. I do know…I went to public school my entire life, including Mississippi, including inner-city Mississippi. I’m a product of public schools, and I think it turned out great for me.

I think there are some challenges. I think teachers are under a lot of pressure. Administrations are under a lot of pressure. They are being asked to do a lot of things that parents used to do. 

Ask me the question again. I guess my answer to that is that I would like to see it improve. I would like to see the powers-to-be, whoever that is, try to improve the quality…whether that is paying teachers more or bringing in better teachers…I would like to see it improve.

I don’t know if it is true or not, but I am told that we are not paying teachers very well. 

No, I don’t agree, and I think we need to do better. 

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Is everything you need in McMinnville exist in terms of groceries, retail stores, churches, restaurants? 

If you are asking me, yes! If you are asking me personally, I would say yes. If you asked my wife, and you are not interviewing my wife, then the answer is no.

My wife will go to Murfreesboro or Chattanooga on a regular basis (for groceries). I don’t know why we can’t support a better option than what we have. I don’t understand the economics of it. It may have something to do with our demographics. 

For me, I am a vegan, and we are very blessed to have an “incredible” vegan restaurant (Juicy’s) right down town. That is such a treasure in our little town. I love Begonia’s, and I wish the acoustics were a little better for old people like me. But still, a step in the right direction. Collins River. Smooth Rapids has a black bean burger that I have quite regularly. I am very pleased with the restaurant selection here, and I am willing to support a new one if one comes along.

There is no shortage of churches, and my problem with churches does not have to do with availability. There should be a church for anyone in this town.

Amazon…I try to shop local. I brought my shoes from Mad Cow and my wife’s Christmas present at Lemon Tree. We have a lot of things going on. 

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Is McMinnville doing enough for people who are economically disadvantaged, or if it should be doing more? If not, what should the city be doing?

Again, I am no expert and I don’t know all the answers, but I am told that other cities bring their homeless here and drop them off because we do such a good job. Is that true? That is what I have been told. Surrounding counties bringing them here or directing them this way. 

Are we doing enough? Probably not, we could always improve taking care of our less fortunate, fellow human beings. I think we could do better. I could do better. I get laser focused on what I am doing at the moment…we can do better. 

I think we should probably become a safe haven for illegal immigrants — in my opinion. 

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What did I not ask you that you would like to comment about regarding McMinnville and its people?

Well, I just want to go on the record, whatever that means, saying that I am blessed and fortunate to have stumbled upon this little town 35 years ago. It has been great to me. The people have been great to me. I’ve had opportunities to leave, but this is home. This is where I had children and raised them. I’ve got children who live here, and grandchildren who live here. This is where I intend to be. I’m building a house, probably the house I am going to die in. This is where I look to be buried or have my ashes spread. I think it is a great town. I like the direction we’re going in. I see good things for our future. I am concerned about divisiveness of some people in the community, but the only way to combat them is to love them and try to get on their good side, befriend them. That is all I got. 

The next complete interview will be Mandy Eller.

My original intent was to encourage as many comments as possible by allowing anyone making a comment to remain anonymous. A recent comment was not approved because of some false allegations against someone. Consequently, submitting both your name and email are mandatory requirements for making a post. Users must be registered and logged in to comment.

Brad Durham