1992

Administration | Development | Environmental Services | Finance | Fire | Parks and Recreation | Police

ADMINISTRATION

1. Mayor Charles Salvaggio, Vice-Mayor Bill McGaughey, Aldermen David Halle, Lisa Parker, Robert Parrish and Jerry Tubb.
2. Tributes were given to Aldermen David Halle and Bill McGaughey. Mr. McGaughey had served as Alderman for eight years and Mr. Halle had served for four. Sharon Goldsworthy (our current Mayor) and Gary Pruitt were elected Aldermen in the November ’92 election.
3. Governor McWherter’s education plan was discussed. In the previous year, a $2 million shortfall was predicted in Shelby County. The plan stated that the county would receive $25 million that had never been received before. This money would be used to improve student/teacher ratios, smaller classrooms, additional teachers, and technology in the classroom.
4. Germantown’s population was certified at 36,055 in a special census. The 1990 U.S. Census established the city’s population at 32,893. The cost of the special census was $.10 a person totaling $3,605.50. 
5. Mr. Tom Cates replaced Mr. George Brannon as City Attorney.
6. Mayor Salvaggio declared 1992 as “The Year to Shop Germantown First”. Local retailers generated 18% of the General Fund reserves. 
7. The Youth Commission held the first Youth Leadership Conference with representation from fourteen area high schools. Congressman Don Sundquist was the keynote speaker. The Commission had also been working on the Sister City Program, and was planning on choosing a city in Germany.
8. Mr. David Carlisle, principal of Riverdale School, was recognized for being named a 1992 Reader’s Digest American Hero in Education Award. The award program honors ten educators each year. Mr. Carlisle also received the Mayor’s Award of Merit.
9. Germantown adopted the Americans with Disabilities Act Implementation Plan. The city was required to develop an implementation and accessibility plan to make sure that all the facilities and programs are accessible to citizens with disabilities. The ADA Accessibility Committee recommended this plan. The plan was a result of the ADA act that President Bush signed into law in 1990. The city purchased $2,703 worth of hearing impaired equipment as part of this plan.
10. The Board passed an ordinance increasing the membership on the Youth Commission from nine to twelve. The commission retained the three adult supervisors but in a non-voting capacity.
11. A check for $6,164.81 was presented to Ms. Marian Francis, librarian for the Germantown Branch Library. The check was the proceeds from a Home and Garden Tour. The Board approved a grant for $75,000 for books for the library. The Germantown branch was the second busiest library in the Memphis/Shelby County system.
12. Senator Leonard Dunavant received the Mayor’s Award of Merit. Sen. Dunavant aided the City in receiving refunds from sales tax revenues that the state had misdirected to Memphis.
13. The newly incorporated Germantown Arts Alliance was awarded a $48,700 grant by the Board. For the past two years, City Administration had been working with local members of the art community to develop a long-range plan that would establish an independent art group, separate from the government.
14. The Board approved an amendment to the 1989 Smoking Ordinance. The amendment had the following points.

1. 1. Post and maintain conspicuous signs advising of the existence of “No Smoking” or “Smoking Permitted” areas;
   2. Conspicuously located signs shall be located either on all building entrance doors or in a location clearly visible immediately upon entry into the building;
   3. These signs shall be located not less than five feet nor more than eight feet above floor level.

15. The City hired Mr. James W. Yarbrough as Traffic Engineer to replace James Cheeks, who had resigned.
16. The City made its final payment of $153,142.65 to Shelby County Government for construction of Wolf River Boulevard (Humphreys Boulevard). The total cost of the project was $6,165,790 and Germantown’s share was 29%, with Shelby County’s being 57% and Memphis’ 14%. 
17. The Board passed the following resolution:

“Resolved, that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Germantown respectfully request the legislature of the State of Tennessee to repeal that portion of the statute mandating each school district to establish and maintain an alternative school. It is further requested that each school district be allowed to exercise its discretion as to whether to establish an alternative school.”

18. A resolution was passed approving the transfer and assignment by Heritage Cablevision to Time Warner of the franchise to operate a cable television system in Germantown.
19. GHS-TV won six first place awards at the National Federation of Local Programmer’s Hometown U.S.A. Video Festival. Along with winning more first place awards than any other access center in the country, GHS-TV also won The Overall Excellence in Education Award, which is given to only one access station in the United States that demonstrates outstanding programming in an educational setting.  
20. The Board passed an ordinance prohibiting peddlers and transient vendors and restricted the operation of mobile frozen dessert vendors. This ordinance made it unlawful for any person, peddler and transient vendor to sell on streets, public property, motor vehicles, vacant lots, temporary display stands, the types, goods and merchandise as defined in the ordinance. Ice cream trucks were prohibited from operating within ¼ mile of a school during certain times of the day. 
21. An ordinance was passed to allow for non-binding referenda. According to the ordinance it would take six votes to put the referenda, or questionnaire on the agenda. It was felt that this was another way to gather citizen input on important issues.
22. The City received an award at the Governor’s Conference on Economic Development. The award was “Best of Category in Literature and Audio Visual” for a brochure and video done on behalf of local economic and community development groups.
23. Local girl Rochelle Stevens was rated No. 1 in U.S. in the 400 meter race and received a silver medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. She did her winter training at the Germantown Centre under a membership sponsored by the Germantown Festival.   

DEVELOPMENT

24. Project Development Contract No. 946, Ramano’s Macaroni Grill was approved. The plan called for a freestanding restaurant located in the Carrefour Shopping Center. The building was to be 7,328 square feet and situated at the northeast corner of the shopping center.
25. The City entered into a joint funding agreement with Shelby County Government for the construction of Dogwood Road and Johnson Road Extended in conjunction with the construction of Houston Middle School. The total cost of the improvements, including water and sewer line extensions, was $645,000. The cost was split 50/50 between the city and county. 
26. The Board approved Project Development Contract No. 948, Campbell Clinic. The proposal was for a two-story medical office and single story physical therapy wing with a total building area of 58,137 square feet. The clinic was to be located on 7.5 acres on the corner of Brierbrook and Germantown Parkway.

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

27. Allen & Hoshall, Inc, was granted a professional services agreement for the design of the six million gallon per day Water Treatment Plant and the two million gallon underground reservoir at Johnson Road Park. A 1988 study revealed that additional storage capacity and a treatment plant would be required to service growth and demands in the eastern portion of the city. The basic services cost $208,506. The plant and reservoir were part of the master plan for Johnson Road Park. 
28. Browning-Ferris was awarded a four-year contract for sanitation collection and transportation services for yard trash, household garbage and recyclable materials. It was determined, however, that the existing garbage and trash ordinance did not address several issues relating to recyclable bins and materials. The Board passed Ordinance No. 1992-12, amendments to the Garbage and Trash Ordinance (Chapter 12 of the Municipal Code). The amendments were as follows:

1. 1. Addition of recycling language relating to jurisdiction materials and containers;
   2. Exclusion of cardboard from the yard waste pickup;
   3. Clarification of the location of household containers for collection, Specifically, collection could not be from beneath carports or from within garages;
   4. The curb line was defined as the correct location of yard waste;
   5. Clarification of what was to be collected as recyclables; and a 
   6. Section added to establish violations as offenses to the City Code.

29. A contract was developed between the city and the United States Department of Interior/Geological Survey to provide continuous data recording services for both the existing Old Germantown and future Johnson Road wellfields. The services included continuous ground water level monitoring and recording as well as in-depth chemical analysis of water samples collected from both fields. Germantown’s share of the cost was $3,701.
30. The Board appointed Mr. Sam Beach, the City’s Director of Environmental Services, as Germantown’s representative on the Shelby County Municipal Solid Waste Regional Board. The purpose of the Board was to develop a detailed solid waste management plan and submit it to the state. The plan had to provide for a ten-year disposal capacity and a 25% waste reduction plan. 
31. A new Tree Protection and Grading Ordinance was passed. The ordinance contained the following:

1. 1. A tree protection and tree planning ordinance which encourages the preservation of existing trees throughout the City and also establishes some requirements for planting new trees on new developments;
   2. Requirement of a permit prior to any grading or moving of earth to protect the existing grading designs throughout the City; and 
   3. Establishment of a Germantown Tree Board which would be responsible for promoting tree preservation and tree planting by providing an educational process on the worth of trees and their preservation. 

32. The City amended its Air Pollution Control Code as it pertained to the increase of existing fees for permits and established a new fee for pollutants emitted by area companies.  

FINANCE

33. For the tenth consecutive time, Germantown received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association.
34. The Board approved the Capital Improvements Program for FY93. The total budget was $4,316,000 and included projects such as a jail addition, signals for Poplar Estates and Poplar and Dogwood and Johnson Roads, and water/sewer for Poplar. The original budget had been for $3,698,000, but was adjusted for projects such as Wolf River Boulevard and Miller Farms drainage. 
35. The Budget for the fiscal year 1993 was approved for $25,698,000.
36. The Board refunded the 1987 Series Bonds and rewarded $4,015,000 General Obligation Bonds 1992 Series to Craigie Incorporated.

FIRE

37. The crew of Fire Engine #2, “B” Shift, was recognized for their rehabilitation work on two pumpers. Those recognized were Battalion Commander Edgar Babian, Lieutenant Howard Thompson, Driver Karl Kennin, Firefighters Joe Maloney, Bill Wardlaw, and Frank Shenault. The rehabilitation saved the city an estimated $70,752. 
38. The Germantown Target store donated toys to the regional burn center in honor of the Germantown Fire Department. The MED Fire Fighters Regional Burn Center was the only burn center within 150 miles.

PARKS AND RECREATION

40. The Board approved the concept of the Germantown Greenbelt Master Plan as presented by the Pickering Firm and as recommended by the Parks and Recreation Commission. The plan called for a sixteen mile greenbelt surrounding the city and connecting all the major parks. The idea of the greenbelt began in the 1960’s and Pickering was contracted in 1991. This was a long term project and done one section at a time.
41. The Germantown Centre was recognized nationally by tying with the City of San Francisco in receiving the 1991 American City and County Award in the category of Parks and Recreation.
42. For the third consecutive year, the Parks and Recreation Department received the Governor’s Award for Parks and Recreation Excellence. Germantown was the first city to win the award three times in a row and, as a result, the Department received the Governor’s Gold Seal. 

POLICE

43. Surveillance equipment was purchased for $25,511 from the Drug Enforcement Operations account.
44. When a savings of over half a million dollars was discovered, the City decided to lease the police fleet instead of rehabilitating the vehicles. The lease was for 30 cars with full maintenance from the Ford Motor Credit Company. The lease was for three years at a cost of $45,142 per quarter. The City had previously replaced vehicles five at a time after the one time rehabilitation. Discussion was held on using this system in other departments. The Chief was congratulated for the cost savings to the City.
45. Chief Boatwright gave a yearly update. He stated that the City of Germantown had the lowest crime rate within the state for any city over 10,000 in population. There were only 35 burglaries which averages less than three a month. The response time was less than 3 minutes.
46. The Department’s Tactical Team had successfully negotiated a hostage situation without injuries to anyone.
47. The Department was a member of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s permanent congressionally funded Drug Task Force and had two trained German Shepherds.