Welcome

I am pro-education. I am a product of Sumner County schools. I raised four children in the Sumner County school system. I have a vested interest in a quality education for the future of Sumner County and our nation. With this in mind, I stand firm in the parent, teacher, student model of educating our future. Unfortunately, we are seeing an assault on our educational system from bloated administrations, rogue boards of education that do not regard the citizen's voice in the decision-making process for our future. This must stop. Children are not a commodity to advance a political agenda.

I am pro-responsible growth that maintains the charm and character of our community. It is the reason people are leaving California, New York, etc. to embrace our culture and community. While we should welcome our new friends, let us ensure that we stand strong in our conservative values and community spirit. Local government must have a long- range strategic plan to maintain that charm and character. Moreover, we must address the commercial/residential property tax ratio and the property tax burden placed on the residences of citizens. A strong economic policy for quality commercial growth encourages citizens to work in their communities rather than drive outside the county, it shifts the tax burden from residential to commercial, and increase in sales tax revenues that helps reduce the property tax burden. In short, it betters the quality of life for families.

The fundamental role of government is to ensure a safe society. To meet that benchmark, we must recruit, train, and retain the best and brightest in each field. We must pay a competitive wage to ensure valuable taxpayer dollars are not wasted on a revolving door onboarding program. It does not make sense to continue to pay for training for other counties and watch our county decline. It also does not make sense to put a band aid and a wound that is hemorrhaging. Together, we can fix this problem.

n 2014, the citizens were promised the most transparent government in our 225-year history as stated by my opponent. An updated website was promised to provide a greater level of transparency. It simply did not happen.

The commission is peppered with votes to silence the public, citizens denied opportunities to address their elected representatives, and a culture of distain for the citizen’s voice. I was recently published in an industry journal on addressing the accountability paradox through E-government principles. The research discusses the importance of moving from static websites to a more dynamic delivery of information to stakeholders. It institutionalizes a culture of customer experience and invests in digital experience platforms to support personalized citizen and business experiences. It brings about a transformation from e-government to we-government. 

In my first 100 days, I will roll out a GIS-powered web environment that moves past the static delivery of data. One of my first technology-leveraged projects as Assessor was the GIS Enterprise system that involved collaboration with cities, public utilities and other public/private entities. It was a project that earned national recognition as one of the top 150 sites in the world utilizing GIS technology. The new digital platform will be interactive in providing truth in taxation data at the citizen’s finger tips as well as growth trends in housing, population, and other census markers. Our current budget is presented as a 133 page .pdf and requires research to pull specific data. Those days will be over. The budget will become a dynamic, interactive document that the citizens can extract data and make educated decisions about how their tax dollars are being allocated. 

I will meet with the open records counsel to determine the most requested and released documents. Within the legal framework, a repository of this data will be available on demand. While open records requests will not disappear, it is my goal to decrease the number of requests by making the data available and streamlining the process. The potential uses with this application for education, planning, economic development, and others will create the transparency in government that begins to rebuild trust in your county government. It is an investment in the citizen's voice that must happen.

I understand that government must fund citizen services. As a conservative, I must approach every policy decision with a fundamental question- Is this the role of government? If not, government must get out the way and allow the free market system grounded in capitalism provide that good/service. If so, we must find the most efficient and effective way to provide the good/service. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.