DUANE SHERRILLEditor

The vision for Tullahoma as seen by the board of mayor and aldermen was capsulized this past meeting of the city board by freshman Alderman Busch Thoma who said improving the road system is but one of the tasks ahead.

“A vision without action is only a vision,” Thoma told the fellow members of the Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Aldermen, referring to a statement he had heard at a recent conference.

“We took a vision of needing to do something about our roads and we took action to do it,” Thoma said, referring to 15 cents that was put aside as part of a city property tax hike this past budget to improve roads. “I commend the board and also the citizens.”

Thoma said the comments he has heard regarding the 15 cents per $100 valuation in property taxes for road improvements have been supportive of the move.

“I’ve had very few comments and all have been positive,” he said, turning his attention to city hall. “We still have vision, and we approved five cents, to do something about our city hall.”

Thoma was referring to five cents per $100 in property value that was part of the over 20 cent tax increase with that five cents earmarked for including infrastructure like city hall. Thoma noted there are two options on the table – to improve the existing building or to build a new one. Local leaders agree that city hall is entering a deteriorating state and something needs to be done. Thoma noted the city is waiting to get estimates on how much it would take to update the existing building.

Thoma continued that there are more visions that city leaders share when it comes to improving Tullahoma. Quality control growth is one of the visions.

“The problem is that I don’t think we have defined that as a board,” he said. “It’s just a vision. Hopefully in this next year we will make it action.”

Thoma said anytime he drives around Tullahoma and there is an open lot, something is being built on it.

“My concern is are we putting the right things in the right places,” he wondered, before pointing out the recently passed budget was the first budget passed by the new board. He noted that city department heads are good at keeping costs down but he wondered if there are “better ways” to help streamline the city budget.

“It would be nice to make sure our tax payers aren’t looking at us next year wondering why we were having to make an increase,” he said.