Reasons to re-elect Henry Clay Sneed

In announcing my bid for re-election as Alderman of Springfield Ward 6, I would like to start with one issue that should sum up your voting preference to re-elect Henry Clay Sneed for another term.

Currently the Springfield City Mayor is payed $600 per month and the Aldermen are paid $350 per month. After about 15 months on the job in the Spring of 2018, a motion was made by Alderman Harris to increase the monthly pay for the elected officials. The new pay per Alderman Harris’ motion would be $1,200 for the Mayor and $600 for the Aldermen. The vote was swift at 6 to 1, with little debate and even less media coverage. Henry Clay Sneed was the only one on the board to vote against it. Was it too much? Yes! We only meet one day a month for about 1 to 1.5 hours. How much do you make per hour?

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When the Roberson County Chamber of Commerce, a 501c nonprofit and recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds over the years, refused to honor my request for the internally produced summaries of financials, I brought a lawsuit to force the issue to resolution. I had no lawyer but the Robertson County Chamber of Commerce actually hired a lawyer to keep me from seeing as a due-paying Chamber member, that the bylaws state I can view.
The case was dismissed due to being filed in the General Sessions Court, which could have heard the case but was argued that it is not the proper court and should be heard in Chancery Court. I could have re-filed there but we can all come to our conclusions about this matter.
I then made a motion at a City Hall meeting to require all nonprofits that are requesting to receive taxpayer donations, to submit an IRS form 4506 to allow the City to obtain a full or partial transcript of tax returns at our discretion. (This is the same form a bank sometimes requires when you get a mortgage loan.) The measure passed with a split vote of 4 to 3 with the Mayor notably voting against it. Months later with this rule in place, staff allowed request for funds to be considered without the required form stating that “some did not want to do this”. A motion was made by Alderman Harris to rescind the requirement that just months earlier he voted for. The effort to repeal worked and they got the money, therefore we cannot be sure of what it is being used for. One nonprofit actually asked for thousands more and got it.

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An architect was hired, as it is required by law, to assist in the partial demolition of a building by saving parts of the building and tearing down another. A blueprint in reverse called a “Schedule of Demolition” is required by law to be provided and used by whomever is contracted to do the work. A contractor was hired for about $450,000 after vetting and bids handled by the architect. The day the contractor started, they had what was called an “accident” that damaged the remaining part of the building. They had a million-dollar insurance policy. Unbelievable! The City officials and some of the Aldermen did NOT WANT to file a claim but to give them a Change Order to pay them more to tear down the rest of the building that THEY damaged. I was successful in stopping this from happening as I was about to file a formal complaint against the architect to the State Board of Architects and Engineers with regards to this architecture firm. My efforts saved the City nearly $500,000, that many on the City Board could have cared less.

A contractor building a subdivision for homes is required to install and maintain erosion control to stop dirt and mud from running off into a nearby creek. The creek is already on a list of water ways that are strained. At that time, I was a member of the City Planning Commission and with some oversight role in these type matters. After some reports of major erosion, I visited the construction site and it was in my opinion a major disaster and was the worst erosion that I had ever seen under the supervision of City staff. I called for an emergency meeting the next day to address the matter. After the meeting, all who attended agreed to shut the site down until erosion control measures were in place. Staff failed to do this and mislead me in handling the matter. In order to get the situation addressed, I had to file a formal complaint with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to send a State inspector who then made the order to shut it down or fix it.

Stealing is a crime! When it was reported to me about the ongoing theft of scrap metal, I began a covert investigation for about a year to be sure the problem was there and not an isolated incident. I brought what I had found to the other members of the City Board and told them to do something about it and that I was tired of bringing issues to the Board to only see my efforts fall flat. They did not care and therefore nothing happened.

If you had rain water pouring into your yard or driveway from the street and called the City to fix it, you would be told “we don’t fix storm water issues on private property”. This is true but sometimes it depends on who is asking and who is at fault. The City just approved by a 6 to 1 vote to spending $1,700,000 to fix a collapsed tunnel under a railroad, which is private property allowing water to run into a State Highway that the State said they would not spend any money to repair because it is on private property. Guess who did not vote for this?

The City Industrial Development Board was asked to approve a loan of about $7,200,000 by a Nashville attorney representing a trust of unknown people. I tried to find out who they were but no one would talk or say if they did. The loan was to buy an apartment complex in Springfield, one in East Tennessee and one in Georgia at a low interest and would be tax exempt as a nonprofit. I am trying to get all members of the City Board and others across the State to be required to file financial disclosers each year under penalty of a new law.

Please VOTE to keep integrity and at least one on the City Board of Mayor and Aldermen who at least acts like they care about you and the City of Springfield.

Vote Henry Clay Sneed

Alderman, Ward 6 – Springfield

November 3, 2020

(615) 394-7721 – csneed2585@bellsouth.net – www.claysneed.com