MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Friday, September 18, 2009 12:10 pm

Murfreesboro City Council is “very pleased” with the new City Manager Rob Lyons, but warned tough times may be ahead if the economy doesn’t improve, Mayor Tommy Bragg said.

“I’m very pleased with his energy level and with the relationship he has with the department heads and city employees,” Bragg said.

Lyons has good relationships with city employees because of his 14 years experience working with them as assistant city manager under Roger Haley, who retired in August.

The council told Lyons it would like to see the city maintain, if not increase, the level of services offered to city residents, as far as public safety, education and other quality of life issues are concerned.

At the same time, the council wants to see the same fiscal responsibility and effiecent borrowing enjoyed during Haley’s tenure.

But financial stability may be difficult to come by in today’s economic climate with a decline in state-shared revenues and sales tax projections coming in under budget.

“If the economy doesn’t improve and the job market doesn’t improve,” Bragg said, the city will have to look at some deeper cuts.

“I hope it’s not that bad, but when you look out at diminishing and flat revenues,” Bragg said, adding the city implemented a hiring freeze last year and looks to fill most job openings internally.

One job that may not be filled internally is the open assistant city manager post.

Since calling for resumes, Murfreesboro received 143 resumes for the job.

Lyons has interviewed the following candidates for the open assistant city manager post:
- Tammi Sadler, former Berlin, Conn. Assistant Town Manager,
- Shannon Logan, Murfreesboro Principal Planner
and James Crumley, former Morristown City Administrator.

David Strohl, a fourth candidate, withdrew his application.

“I will be getting input from my community panel and staff panel before I make any decisions,” Lyons said, adding he wants to have the search process completed by Oct. 1.

Other council business:
• Approved an agreement with the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce for the construction and maintenance of a proposed visitor’s center on Medical Center Parkway.

“This agreement formalizes the relationship between the city and the chamber,” Lyons said.

According to the agreement, the building will be owned and maintained by the city and the chamber will occupy the second and third floors along with MTSU’s Small Business Development Center.

The center will cost an estimated $5.1 million, paid for in part by a $3.3 million Tennessee Department of Transportation grant to the city and a $2 million grant for the Chamber portion from the Christy Houston Foundation.

• Approved payment for completed improvements to Greenland Drive between the Discovery School at Reeves-Rogers and Shawnee Drive.

The improvements cost $1.5 million and will be paid for with funds borrowed previously for capital improvement projects.

• Approved $6,074.00 in construction changes to expand the Stones River Water Treatment Plant.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.