It’s rare to have all of Williamson’s mayors in one place.
But all six came and discussed what’s going on in their cities at Franklin Tomorrow’s Breakfast with the Mayors on Tuesday morning.
Here is what each had to say.
County Mayor Rogers Anderson
“We are entering into a significant growth period in our county from one end of this community to the other. The school superintendent is the one we always ask for his opinions, along with the school board. Their requests over the next 10 years is a little bit over half a billion dollars worth of funding for our schools.
“Last night, the governor’s state of the state indicated that he was going to send some additional money down to growth communities. That’s about $36 million in additional monies, but I am not real sure how much that will result for Williamson County.
“The other issue we’ve spent a great deal of time on is that we need some relief on traffic issues. We are asking if you are strong about it that you pick up the phone and call those legislators. Let them know how you feel about. There are some 18 projects that involve Williamson County. It gives us an option of how we are going to look at transit issues in all the surrounding areas.”
Franklin Mayor Ken Moore
“The Improve ACT would hopefully get rid of the 11 billion in backlogged projects. In Franklin we are working on Invest Franklin that has a number of projects that are important to use McEwen to Wilson Pike is important. The park in southeast park, Franklin Road, the intersection of Mallory and Royal Oaks and Liberty Pike is also on that list along with significant road improvement and repaving projects. We will also have a brand new fire station in southeast Franklin.
“There’s a few things you need to recognize.
“We will have our second public meeting for the Columbia Avenue project. It’s 100 percent funded I am glad to say.
“Next is that the state of the city is something I always look forward to. We’ve chose May 17 to do that. We are going to have a different venue this year. We’ve worked with Mayor Anderson and the parks department. We are going to do it at the Enrichment Center at the old BGA campus.”
Brentwood Mayor Regina Smithson
“I hate to be real partial, but there’s a lot of things happening in the best little city in Tennessee. It’s Brentwood, of course. We have HG Hill Center moving right along and it’s turning out as good as any development on that corner. It will be a real asset and benefit to the county. We will truly be collecting taxes from that property.
“Concord Road is really nice how it’s almost finished up to our city limits. The other thing that we are really excited about was a park that’s 27 acres at the end of Mallory Lane. It’s a nice walking area for people in the business community for them to enjoy.
“We are just excited about what we have going on. We have maintained our Triple A bond rating and no debt.
“We also work hard with the county and the state to help alleviate some of the traffic problems.”
Spring Hill Mayor Rick Graham
“We are one of the best regions in the state and the country. We are together a whole lot, usually about transportation. Spring Hill has grown and we are the 18th-largest city in Tennessee. We passed six cities recently. We are trying to manage our growth in a wise manner today.
“This past year, we had 699 residential permits. Remember – 12 or 14 years ago – we had 1,200 permits a year. We don’t want to go back to the turbo years. We are at a level today where we can manage our growth. The things we started working on four years ago are the same things we are working on today. We are playing catch up in north Spring Hill and get ahead on the south side. We are doing things now that we won’t repeat from our past.
“We are trying to grow smart. We are transitioning to being one of the bigger cities. We are learning to put on our big boy pants on and doing the work necessary to our future. We are building up public safety and roads. We have 50 projects we are working on, but it’s the work we have to do now for later. We are focused on that.
“Spring Hill continues to blessed with another 250 more jobs. It seems to come regularly, and we kind of take it for granted. Most cities would like to have that in one year. It’s very good. The quality of life is other big tenet, including parks and walking trails – things that are in important to our community.”
Fairview Mayor Patti Carroll
“We’ve got some great things going on in our great community. I serve with a great set of mayors. We have wonderful guidance and a wonderful team.
“I might have to say we are the best community. Great things are happening in Fairview. A couple of years ago I might have people asking, ‘where is Fairview?’ The days of a sleeping little town that no one knows about are gone. When I came in as mayor, there were lots of challenges. I am here to tell you it’s a new day. We’ve accomplished new things. We are financially stable, we are in the process of a comprehensive plan.
“We are getting a direction. We are the best little secret in Williamson County. Right now we have a lot of initiatives going. Mr. Hall – our former city manager – was finishing up our grants.
“We have a brand new city manager, and he’s running. He’s doing an excellent job. We are working with the the health department and library. We are doing a walking trail from the library to Bowie Nature Park. It’s encouraging exercise and doing two of the most important things, which is getting heathy and reading. You will be hearing and seeing more about that to come.”
Thompson’s Station Corey Napier
“We are Tennessee’s village green – close to everything and a way from it all. What do you do when you want to keep cows but live between two of the hottest communities? How do we grow into our shoes? We’ve run a fiscally sound budget.
“We are focusing on the residents, businesses, and working with growing tourism. We have 15 square miles of green space. We get a chance to put things on the canvas in advance. If you’re a resident – what do you want? You want a quality of life. We are working on trails, an under crossing on 31. The quality of life is back to exercise and getting out and about. We want to be a front-porch community.
“If you think about Thompson’s Station, we have few corporate chain business. But we have cool authentic businesses. It will help us maintain a revenue model. We have historic tourism and Civil War tourism. We have to be selective of how we develop as a community.”
Nolensville Mayor Jimmy Alexander
“A few years ago, people didn’t even know about Nolensville. The secret is out. I would contend Nolensville is the best small town in Tennessee. I will stick by that and argue with anyone. We have a great deal going on.
“First of all, it’s a great place to live. There’s an awful lot of people wanting to come live here. we are getting a record number of permits – but the main reason is the great schools. We have a low crime rate, and we have something called proximity. You are right on the edge of Nashville, Brentwood and Franklin. What great neighbors to have. We are tickled with that and that works to our advantage in a lot of cases.
“Late last year, we approved a $90 million mixed-used development. We hope it gets started this year and will be a great asset to our town. With that $90 million development, they have committed to improvements to our roads, which we desperately need. Infrastructure is a concern. Traffic is a concern to all the people here. But we are trying to do our best to address that.”
Emily West covers Franklin, education, and the state legislature for the Franklin Home Page. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter via @emwest22.
