Author: Micaela Watts

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

MPD Overtime Costs Unlikely to Shrink in Current Political Climate

On July 9, 2017, roughly 80 people gathered in Tom Lee Park for street theater skits and speeches that focused on social injustices, including state-sanctioned police killings of unarmed black Americans. The societal ills addressed in the gathering were the same as those that drove thousands of protesters to shut down the I-40 bridge one year earlier.

That gathering was small potatoes for the Memphis Police Department when stacked against other thousands-strong protests in Memphis spurred by either the election of Donald Trump (the satellite Memphis Women’s March) or his policies (the now-legal travel band on majority Muslim nations).

Yet, the few dozen folks that gathered in the stifling heat were under the gaze of the MPD all the same, a gaze that included one helicopter, three mounted officers, one police van equipped for multiple arrests, and several officers either on foot or driving through the park.

Currently, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland finds himself defending more than $200,000 in police overtime for his personal security detail for the 2018 fiscal year. The amount is nothing to sniff at, but it’s a small sliver of the $20 million in overtime for the MPD during the 2018 fiscal year.

Both the mayor and MPD Director Michael Rallings cite the need for millions in police overtime as an effect resulting from a two-pronged cause — dire understaffing of the police force and political protests.

The former is an issue entirely too complex for this little space, but the latter can be boiled down to a question of police presence at protests. How much is too much?

Strickland points to a December protest in 2016 wherein seven protesters staged a “die-in” on his front lawn in East Memphis as one of the events that would usher in a new era of 24-hour security detail for the mayor and his family.

Some of the seven or so protesters appeared to be peering into the home’s windows, causing alarm for the mayor. His security detail is an expense Strickland begrudgingly accepted when the political turned just a little too personal for his or Rallings’ comfort.

The mayor also faces online threats that threaten violence against him and his family routinely, many of them spurred by those furious at the thought of a monument to slave trader, founding Ku Klux Klan member, and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest being removed from his place of honor in a public park.

The few-dozen people monitored by a disproportionate police presence at the Bridge Protest reunion were nonviolent. Protests in front of McDonald’s that call for an end to the poverty wages they pay their employees are nonviolent. The 2017 August rally at Health Sciences Park calling for the removal of the Forrest monument was nonviolent, in spite of the police-incited chaos that ensued once protestors were randomly pulled from the crowd for arrest.

It’s a verifiable truth that organized protests in Memphis since the 2016 Bridge Protest have not resulted in violence against persons or property. On occasions that protestors are arrested, their charges of disorderly conduct or obstruction of a highway are usually dropped the next morning.

It’s also a verifiable truth that police often respond to protests, even ones that have a city-issued permit, with expensive tactical resources such as helicopter surveillance and Blue Crush vehicles.

Rallings and Strickland must reevaluate the degree of police response to peaceful protests. Because in the months or years to come, it’s unreasonable to expect anything other than more organized actions from Memphis communities directly threatened by the Trump administration. The GOP’s rush to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court vacancy is already stoking fear among Americans concerned for abortion access, equal marriage, labor unions, or affirmative action.

Should MPD continue with the same level of police response to nonviolent protests, it’s likely that overtime woes will continue to strain the city’s budget. And though MPD recruitment efforts have earmarked funds, the staffing goal of 2,300 officers by 2021 may offer little relief in overtime expenses amid the political climate that is driving Americans into the streets in numbers not seen in decades.

No one should hold their breath waiting for any easement of the two primary causes of police overtime according to Rallings, but everyone who pays city taxes should ask Rallings to reevaluate the use of already strained police resources to monitor non-violent protests.

Micaela Watts is a Memphis-based freelance reporter.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Outsourcing Tennessee

On December 1, 2015, Tennessee’s Department of General Services (DGS) filed a request for proposals through the Central Procurement Office for facility management services through a private vendor.

Simply put, more than two years ago, the state quietly sent out feelers. If they decided to outsource or privatize the lowest-paid and most diverse part of their workforce — custodial maintenance and groundskeepers — which private company would be interested in absorbing their employment? And what would they charge?

Two years later, Tennesseans have their answer. Multi-national commercial real estate management giant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) inked a deal with the state to outsource facility workers at state-run institutions to the tune of $1.9 billion to be paid from the state to the company over five years.

The biggest targets of the contract are higher education facilities, including the University of Memphis, Southwest Tennessee Community College, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The union representing workers employed by public higher-ed institutions, United Campus Workers, say that more than 760 workers in Memphis alone are at risk for lowered wages and benefits.

Micaela Watts

Across the state, the numbers jump anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000, depending on who you ask. But even if the scope of the contract is considered small in contrast to the population of the state, the move itself is unprecedented. No state has attempted to auction off swaths of campus workers’ jobs.

As of today, Tennessee, under Governor Bill Haslam’s administration, is making fast moves to become the first to do so. Repeated talking points are savings to taxpayers and public universities, which will theoretically, in turn, prevent raises in tuition.

But as of press time, there are several unknowns — the number of workers affected, what their new salaries and benefits packages will look like, and how the contract will affect smaller districts that house state-run prisons and other facilities that are employment bedrocks in sparsely populated areas.

What is known is that JLL, a company that Haslam has invested in to an unknown tune (more on that later), is about to rake in billions in profits, and thousands of Tennesseans will be shuffled from the public sector to the private sector. Read on to find out how you sell a state, one workforce at a time.

 

BURNING QUESTIONS: VANILLA RESPONSES

In late April, after the state prematurely and quietly pulled the trigger on the outsourcing contract, bipartisan opposition went from tepid to boiling. Seventy-five of the state’s 132 lawmakers signed a letter penned to Terry Cowles, the director of the Office of Customer Focused Government (OCFG), the office that will oversee the outsourcing.  

The letter urged Cowles and the comptroller’s office to slow down the contract office until more solid information was known about the cost and the workers affected. Eighteen of those legislators requested economic impact statements specific to their district.

All 18 legislators received the same response, absent of district-specific information. Bob Oglesby, a commissioner with the DGS, floated the same number to all of them — $155.5 million in savings over five years.

“Obviously, if more authorized entities [contract speak for universities] participate, the savings will be even greater,” Oglesby wrote. The commission also pointed to savings accrued already from the state capitol facilities previously managed by JLL — $26 million over a three-year contract.

Though the state declined to provide district-specific information to representatives, the contract was approved by the comptroller’s office anyway and declared effective on May 26th.

John Ray Clemmons, a Democratic representative for part of Nashville and an established critic of the state’s outsourcing quest didn’t hold back. “There’s been absolutely no transparency in this process,” Clemmons said. “Their response was neither sufficient nor district specific. They responded with vanilla information.”

Another Nashville Democrat, Bo Mitchell, echoed his colleague’s response. “The bottom line is that privatization is harmful for state employees, public servants that have worked so hard for this state. Now they’re going to lose those jobs for corporate greed.”

Pointing to Tennessee’s privatized prisons as a cautionary tale, Mitchell warned that the contract is more of the same — sham numbers, false savings, and corporate greed. “I call on anybody in the state to release numbers that prove that this is helpful to state employees,” he said.

As of press time, no such numbers have been released, and they likely won’t be even after this story goes to print. All concerned departments in state government will insist that’s because too many variables hang in the balance. After all, it’s not even known at this point which facilities and universities will choose to “opt in.”

The OCFG has pointed to the “opt-in” option repeatedly as the contract’s major safety lever.

“This is really about what makes sense for each institution,” said Michelle Martin, spokesperson for the OCFG. And while the OCFG has maintained that autonomy still reigns supreme for each institution, United Campus Workers drew no comfort from the officials from OCFG seen touring campuses across Tennessee, just days before the contract was signed.

 

LOCAL COLLEGES WEIGH IN: CUE CRICKETS

Amid the protest and touting of the outsourcing plans, one group of voices remains glaringly absent from the official process — the state employees who actually stand to be affected.

To date, not one meeting has been held between the OCFG and workers in state-run facilities. No major university or college has taken it upon themselves to do so either.

To those uncertain about their future employer, the silence is deafening and has prompted civic action.

Three days before the contract was signed, a week before it was to be presented and on record to the public, UCW members and University of Tennessee Health Science Center workers gathered at their employer’s administrative building. Cowles was rumored to be inside, supposedly touting the benefits of the contract with JLL.

Micaela Watts

“If you’re going to outsource someone, you should give us the benefit of the doubt from the start and let us have some input in it,” said Charles Kendricks, a specialized carpenter at UTHSC.

“We don’t know the impact this is going to have on minority workers, on single mothers, or on veterans,” said Kendricks, a veteran himself.

The protest Kendricks attended was small, fewer than 30 people. But that’s been par for the course for the majority of the process. Campus workers and university students have spearheaded the majority of public outcry against the contract, going so far as to unroll a scroll of more than 6,000 signatures from individuals opposed to the plan in the state’s Capitol.

Still, the efforts by student and union organizers have been loud enough that no major university president is in the dark about opposition to outsourcing. But since the contract’s signature by both parties and approval at the comptroller level, no major university is willing to indicate whether or not they will sign on. Only the University of Tennessee system came close.

“Each campus within the University of Tennessee will meet with the proposed contractor and receive information to help determine whether contracted services would be in the best interest of the campus,” said David Miller, CFO for the UT system.

Miller added that each UT campus will present their individual decision to the board of trustees at a later point in the year. The University of Memphis has effectively washed its hands of the decision and deferred the future of more than 500 workers to the university’s independent school board.

A U of M student group, the Progressive Student Alliance (PSA), has been dogging university president David M. Rudd — and, occasionally, Haslam — about the decision at every opportunity.

PSA member Lindsey Smith said that Rudd had declared the matter as being out of his hands. “He’s told me that he’s personally against it, but that it’s not up to him but up to the school’s board,” said Smith.

The board’s chairman, FedEx’s CFO Alan Graf, said that the matter has not been discussed and that the next board meeting would occur on June 6th, and that it would be open to the public.

Graf didn’t say whether the privatization matter would be discussed and when asked for any update following the comptroller’s approval and the contract’s effectiveness, U of M spokesperson Gabby Maxey said that the outsourcing matter was not on the June 6th agenda and that the university had no additional comment, still.

Numbers provided by the campus workers’ union show that roughly 500 people work in building maintenance and custodial services at the U of M and that staff has seen reduction in the past years, to the point that some custodial staff are charged with cleaning entire buildings by themselves at night after classes have mostly dispersed.

And though these numbers aren’t readily available, a brief stroll around the campus seem to confirm findings that jibe perfectly with a study done on privatization and its effects by research and policy center In the Public Interest: The majority of U of M campus workers are women and minority, demographics that are employed by the public sector at high rates.

The study reads, “When contractors degrade jobs, taxpayers make up the difference through food assistance, emergency health care, and other public support programs.”

Should workers like Kendricks at UTHSC see their worst fears come true, outsourced employees will find themselves on the receiving end of reduced wages and benefits, and taxpayers savings through privatization will evaporate as additional federal and state assistance could be needed to supplement the loss in wages.

 

THE LEGISLATIVE DODGE

While the UCW represents much of the opposition in larger metro areas that are home to many higher education institutions, the Tennessee State Employees Association (TSEA) is the organization that rallies behind state workers at parks, prisons, and smaller state facilities.

TSEA president, Randy Stamps is a former Republican state representative, and he’s troubled by the tempo and secrecy of the plan. “It’s alarming, the pace of public outsourcing taking place in Tennessee,” said Stamps. “We have it on several different levels — state parks, higher education institutions, and the department of general services.”

Stamps had been long critical of the state’s efforts to privatize the Inn at Fall Creek Falls, one of Tennessee’s most popular state parks. That effort recently sputtered to a stop when no companies returned with a bid for state park facility management.

“When you decide to privatize state parks — including their inns and marinas — we feel like that’s a public policy decision, and the legislature should be involved in it,” said Stamps.

The legislature wasn’t involved in the process, but instead could only submit letters urging for more information and a halt to the process — efforts which were ignored.

As far as how a decision of this size and scope could legally be made without legislative input, Stamps points to a procurement act authored by state senator Bill Ketron in 2016. The act grants total autonomy to the state in pursuing public-private partnership.

Stamps insists that Ketron, who was unavailable for comment, believes his own piece of legislation yielded results entirely out of line with the original intention. “It gave a lot more authority than he intended to give,” Stamps said, adding that Ketron will be working with TSEA over the summer to rein in some of the language around contract oversight.

“He doesn’t feel like the transparency he intended is available,” said Stamps.

Even before the procurement act was passed, Haslam had already been in the process of parceling off state responsibilities and services to JLL for years, starting just after he took office in 2011. The first contract signed with JLL was a real-estate-management contract. Relatively small in comparison, it yielded the management of Tennessee’s real estate portfolio to JLL.

The next contract with JLL was inked in 2013 and ceded facilities management of state capitol buildings to the company. That contract was not renewed when it expired in 2016, since those buildings could be covered under the latest outsourcing plan.

Tennessee’s comptroller office found several violations of that contract, however, including JLL’s failure to submit timely building inspection reports.

Bit by bit, Haslam has been transferring power to the real estate management behemoth, in spite of repeated criticism of his previous ties with the company before taking office. Haslam’s current JLL investments are in a blind trust while he is in office, and his holdings pre-election are largely unknown, since, much like President Trump, Haslam has refused to release his tax returns. And Haslam has even signed into law a bill that effectively eliminated any Tennessee politician’s requirement to do so.

JLL: IT WILL ALL BE OKAY

The company that may or may not soon become the employer for thousands of state employees broke its silence on the issue the day the contract went into effect.

In a statement, the company assured Tennesseans that employees who transition to JLL “will have a compensation package, including benefits, equitable to their state compensation.”

Joe Hall of Hall Strategies, the public relations firm representing JLL, insisted that the move to JLL often ends up being more beneficial to the employee than employment with the state.

“Former State of Tennessee employees on the JLL team now earn approximately 38 percent more,” Hall said. He also adds that JLL employees receive additional professional development that furthers their skill sets and marketability.

According to Hall, JLL is able to produce savings not because the company lays off workers and slashes wages, but because they specialize in key areas of cost savings: namely energy savings, purchasing power, and self-performance, erasing the need to contract out any large capital projects.

“We recognize that job security is an extremely important issue; we stress that the jobs at these facilities are secure,” said Hall. “It is a priority to JLL to work collaboratively with college and university leadership to directly engage employees and assure them of that fact and highlight the opportunity available at JLL.

Micaela Watts

 

WAITING ON A SIGN

For all the efforts made by the OCFG and JLL to soothe workers potentially affected, none of it is swaying the contract’s harshest critics.

The state has stuck to the main talking points consistently, and detractors have countered with one argument, essentially, “Show us the proof.”

One thing is certain, though, the contract has been signed, stamped for approval, and is in effect. The rest depends on the state’s universities to opt in or opt out. No doubt, they’ll have UCW in their ears every step of the way until they make a decision.

Thomas Wayne Walker, the spokesperson for the union, says he stopped being shocked by the state’s actions a long time ago. Instead, he and the union will keep insisting the universities take heed and examine every loophole they feel exists in the contract.

“The question is,” said Walker: “Why is Haslam so hell-bent on signing this contract, even though nobody in Tennessee seems to want it?”

Editor’s note: David Roberson, Director of Communications for the Tennessee Department of General Services responds to our story:

I’m writing regarding some factual errors in your story “Outsourcing Tennessee.”

1. “…the state quietly sent out feelers…” – This RFI was posted on the state website, exactly the same way we put out hundreds of RFIs, RFQs, and RFPs each year, and in the same place that our vendors know to look for them. We want maximum response to these requests, so there is no reason we would issue them quietly. We didn’t.

2. “No state has attempted to auction off swaths of campus workers’ jobs.” – The contracting process cannot with any accuracy be called an auction since cost is only one of several elements considered. Also, contracting with external vendors for work formerly done by campus employees is widely practiced, in Tennessee and elsewhere. Many universities in Tennessee already contract out their food service and custodial work, and some contract out their groundskeeping – all of which are jobs formerly held by state employees. The business case for this new procurement, posted on the CFG website for many months now, specifically cites the experience of Texas A&M University in contracting out its facilities management. The National Association of College and University Business Officers even held a conference on outsourcing in 2015 (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/21/institutions-outsource-they-should-keep-their-mission-and-vendor-close). Saying that no state has done this before is not remotely accurate.

3. “JLL…is about to rake in billions in profits….” The estimated maximum liability for this contract is $1.9 billion, and the vast majority of that (about 96%) will be in pass-throughs and cost recovery. The remaining 4% would constitute JLL’s and the Alliance Partners’ profits (or management fees). Please see attachment F3 of the contract, where you can see details for the cost proposals of specific institutions.

4. Your paragraph describing the history of JLL’s contracts with the state contains several errors. The first contract JLL signed was for a facilities assessment, and it was followed by a second contract for facilities management for properties operated by the Department of General Services. An amendment to that contract required JLL to act as a lease broker for the state. That amendment expired in 2016 and was not renewed. The original contract for facilities management was for five years and is still in effect.

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News News Blog

State of Tennessee Enacts Outsourcing on State Properties

In a move that caught many by surprise, the state of Tennessee has declared its outsourcing contract with Jones Lang La Salle as effective today, Friday, May 26. If all major campuses opt into the contract, roughly 10,000 state worker jobs will be privatized to JLL, a global corporate real estate management company that contracts with properties and institutions all over the world.

Seventeen state representatives had requested individualized economic impact statements the contract would have on their districts. The Department of General Services released one response to all 17. The response was generic, with few specifics. Representative J.R. Clemmons called the lack of specifics “inexcusable.”

In all, there were 45 questions by representatives submitted to the state comptroller regarding the JLL contract. It is unknown at this point whether the comptroller has responded to any of those questions.

State Representative Bo Mitchell said that he has not received any additional information specific to his district and the potential impact of the outsourcing. “This is all about corporate greed,” he said. “We know that privatization doesn’t save the state money.”

More information to come on this story as we learn it.

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News News Blog

Strickland Backs Police on CLERB Decisions

CREDIT: Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Thursday he supports the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) and Memphis Police Department director Mike Rallings’ decisions on internal discipline.

Rallings decided this week to not take any further action in three police brutality complaints, and a request for additional evidence in a First Amendment suppression complaint brought by CLERB.

Here’s what Strickland had to say about the matter in a Thursday statement:

“As a councilman, I supported the reinstatement of CLERB and as mayor, I have fully staffed its office. My office supports the board’s mission to make recommendations to the Memphis Police Department,” said Strickland, who added, “But they are just that—recommendations. I fully support and trust Director Rallings to manage his department and to discipline his staff in a manner that he deems appropriate.  And that gives him the autonomy to accept or decline CLERB’s suggestions in part or in whole.” 

The letters declining further action were made available to the public on Thursday, and at least one complainant, Paul Garner, organizing coordinator for the MidSouth Peace & Justice Center, said Rallings erred in his response. Garner said the response shows him that the MPD doesn’t take CLERB complaints seriously.

Garner complaints says he was arrested outside of Manna House in 2013 and charged with disorderly conduct because he was filming the police arresting another citizen. Those charges were dropped soon after. However, he brought  formal complaint to CLERB that the MPD violated his right to film police in public.

Garner pointed to two errors in Rallings’ letter addressing his sustained complaint — possession of video evidence and the date of the arrest.

In his letter to CLERB administrator Virginia Wilson, Rallings notes that, “Mr. Garner declined to allow investigator’s an opportunity to review video he had in his possession,” and recommended the board release the video to the Internal Services Bureau for additional findings.

“That’s sloppiness,” said Garner. “Go talk to your boys in Internal Affairs, they already have the tape.”

Garner also said his arrest date was listed as December 11, 2011, almost two full years before his arrest on November 21, 2013.

“This kind of inattention to detail when it comes to allegations of police misconduct is disturbing,” said Garner.

CLERB was slated to meet Thursday afternoon, but it is unknown if further discussion regarding the overturned complaints will occur.

This story will be updated with additional information.

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News News Blog

MATA May Restore Part of Crosstown 31

CREDIT: Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is proposing a North Memphis route that partially restores service to an area once covered by the Crosstown 31 Route.

The proposed route, Firestone 31, would restore service to a part of New Chicago weekdays from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.

“MATA is planning several service adjustments of fixed-route bus service in order to provide improved service, simplify routing and increase productivity,” said MATA spokesperson Nicole Lacey. “As for the 31 Firestone, MATA is proposing this route as a result of conversations with customers, the community, and key stakeholders.”

The Memphis Bus Riders Union has been persistent in their efforts to raise awareness of the fallout on multiple fronts — employment, food, and social access to name a few — following MATA’s decision to eliminate the route in 2013.

“It’s a start,” said MBRU organizer Cynthia Bailey, of the possibility of restoring part of the route. “We still have a lot left to fight for until the Crosstown route is brought back fully, but this is a good start.”

After this year’s public hearing for the proposed budget allotment for MATA, MBRU will present the full city council with a petition with more than 2,000 signatures from Memphians in support of restoring the old route, gathered from volunteers canvassing neighborhoods directly affected by the cut.

Lacey did not indicate that the proposed Firestone 31 route was a direct result of MBRU’s campaigning, but acknowledged the broader theme of citizen input wielded direct influence in MATA’s proposed route.

Both MATA and MBRU are encouraging citizens to show up to the public hearing about the proposed routes on May 31 at the Benjamin Hooks Library from 5:00p.m. until 7:00p.m.

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News The Fly-By

Friends of the Fairgrounds Have a Vision

CREDIT: Friends of the Fairgrounds

A grassroots group will work with the city’s Memphis 3.0 initiative to help craft a plan for the Mid-South Fairgrounds and will kick it off with a rally next week.

“The Fairgrounds should be the beating heart of the city,” said John Minervini, co-founder of Friends of the Fairgrounds (FOTF). “It should pump vitality out to the farthest reaches of Memphis and the region.”

FOTF was co-founded by Minervini and Marvin Stockwell in October 2015. The two share a passion for these 168 acres rooted in early experiences like Libertyland, the Mid-South Fair, and concerts at the Mid-South Coliseum.

Since 2015, the pair have worked with an alliance of over 200 community stakeholders — representatives of nearby neighborhoods, businesses, schools, and nonprofit organizations — who run the gamut of age, gender, race, class and socioeconomic status. The group is united by core values like inclusivity and fairness and by a common vision for the future of the Fairgrounds.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity in this land, and we are determined not to miss it,” said Minervini. “We believe that Fairgrounds can and should be a place where Memphians come together across lines that have traditionally divided us to learn, connect, grow, explore, and play.”

Ultimately, FOTF hopes to partner with the city of Memphis to reimagine and redevelop the land. To that end, they have teamed up with Memphis 3.0, the city’s comprehensive planning effort, to host a community rally on Thursday, May 18th. The event is family-friendly, and all are welcome.

Friends of the Fairgrounds

A meeting of the Friends of the Fairgrounds

The purpose of the gathering is threefold. First, FOTF will give an update on their progress and share a vision document, “Heart of the City.” Second, they will introduce their stakeholders to Memphis 3.0 and explain how the two efforts fit together. Finally, the two groups will conduct a joint exercise, setting priorities for the next stage of the planning process.

The event will feature short presentations by Ashley Cash, adminstratior of Memphis 3.0 and Justin Entzminger, director of Innovate Memphis. Additionally, FOTF will serve a light supper and walking tours of the still-under-construction Grand Carousel Pavilion at the Children’s Museum of Memphis.

“Memphis is a city with amazing assets and deep, unmet needs,” says Minervini. “What sets our project apart from past efforts is that we are putting the community in the driver’s seat, letting their dreams and their needs drive the conversation.”

The past seven years have seen significant developments at the Fairgrounds, including the Salvation Army Kroc Center, Tiger Lane, and the Libertyland Disc Golf Course. Although the future of the project remains uncertain, Minervini and Stockwell credit a visionary city government for creating a civic environment where bold ideas can flourish.

“We’re living through an exciting time in the history of our city,” says Minervini.

“The ultimate goal is to reimagine this space and figure out a way to reactivate the fairgrounds that brings people together across lines that have traditionally divided us and meet all community needs.

“We think of the fairgrounds as an asset not just for the neighborhoods and the city, but for the region as well,” Minervini continued. “We truly believe that this can also be a heart for the region. That said, the most pressing need that has surfaced from some of these meetings, is economic opportunity. We have amazing assests in our neighborhoods, but we also have deep unmet needs like transit, health and wellness, educational outcomes, economic opporutnity … you can try and address these things individually, but we think of those as symptoms of a larger problem, and one way to address them all at once is to get some money flowing back into these neighborhoods, to give them some juice.”

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News News Blog

Memphis Colleges Mostly Silent On Privatization Contract

University of Memphis President David M. Rudd

Following the premature signing of an outsourcing deal between the state of Tennessee and commercial real estate management company Jones Lang La Salle (JLL), higher education institutions in Memphis are remaining mostly silent on whether or not they are considering opting in to the grounds and facility maintenance management contract.

Numbers provided by the union representing facility public university workers, United Campus Workers say 765 campus employees in Memphis stand to be affected the by the controversial contract that would affect Memphis’ three largest higher education institutions — The University of Memphis, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and Southwest Tennessee Community College.

So far, UTHSC is the only Memphis university to weigh in on the outsourcing contract through David Miller, the entire University of Tennessee system’s chief financial officer.

“Each campus within the University of Tennessee will meet with the proposed contractor and receive information to help determine whether contracted services would be in the best interest of the campus,” said Miller.

According to Miller, leadership from each campus will present their decision to the UT’s Board of Trustee’s at a later point this year.

U of M president David Rudd has declined to comment on the matter, and Southwest has not returned a request for comment.

Though public universities and community colleges are most heavily impacted by the outsourcing contract in terms of numbers, the scope of the contract includes all grounds and maintenance workers in nearly every state-run institution.

Since smaller districts stand to be disproportionately impacted by the privatization of state parks and prisons, bipartisan pushback against the contract has been on the rise.

Initially 41 of the the General Assembly’s 132 members signed a letter presented to Terry Cowles, the director of the Office of Customer Focused Government, calling for a halt in the process until more information could be presented about the financial impact of the contract.

That number jumped to 75 within a week.

Central to the opposition to the contract is hazy language that contains potential loopholes about the protection of state workers’ jobs, wages, and benefits — though Haslam’s administration has insisted repeatedly that all of those elements will be protected.

Before taking office, Haslam — the second wealthiest politician after President Donald Trump, valued at $2.6 billion according to Forbes — had a reportedly significant investment in JLL, which he placed in a blind trust upon taking office.

The value of Haslam’s investment in JLL remains unknown as, like the sitting president, Haslam refused to release his tax returns before and since taking office in 2011.

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News News Blog

MIM: Please Don’t Buy Your Tickets From Street Vendors

Memphis in May officials are warning attendees of any of the month’s major festivals and events not to purchase tickets through street vendors, following multiple cases of fraudulent tickets sold last year that left would-be event goers surprised and turned away at the gate.

The nonprofit organization said that since switching to their online vendor, Ticketfly.com, the response has been mostly positive. However, the option for tickets purchased online to be printed at home has, by default, left consumers vulnerable to purchasing fraudulent print-at-home tickets from street vendors, as well as actual tickets that have already been scanned.

MIM is urging anyone planning to go to any of the month’s events, including Beale Street Music Festival and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, to only use their authorized ticket vendor or purchase tickets from the event gates.

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News News Blog

Women’s Health Organizations Across the State React to Passage of 20-Week Abortion Ban

CREDIT: Healthy and Free Tennessee

Healthy and Free Tennessee

A bill called the “Tennessee Infant Protections Act” that will enact a 20-week abortion ban in the state of Tennessee is on it’s way to Governor Bill Haslam’s desk, though Tennessee’s own attorney general called the bill “constitutionally infirm”, and added that some provisions in the bill run contrary to the U.S. Supreme Court’s precedent.

Across the state, reactions to the bill’s passage from organizations that advocate for women’s healthcare mirror one another — dismayed, but not shocked.

Healthy and Free Tennessee (HFTN), a state-wide coalition that advocates for women’s sexual health and reproductive autonomy asserts that the bill is the latest example of legislators targeting abortion for pure political points.

“Tennessee has so many real issues that we as residents want our legislators to be working on, such as providing healthcare to the hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans who cannot access the care they need,” said HFTN Co-director Anna Carella.

Carella maintains this the bill will only create new burdens for women in an already vulnerable position.

“We expect our legislators to stand up against extreme political agendas and address real problems, not create new ones,” she added.

National data released by Planned Parenthood states that 99 percent of abortions are performed before the 20 week mark. Anecdotal contributions to HFTN add context to that data: At 20 weeks, if a woman is need of an abortion, it’s because she is in danger, or her child is.

Francine Hunt, the executive director of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood has referred to the bill as cruel, and explained that women facing a decision about terminating a wanted pregnancy are endangered most by this bill.

“Women in that situation are usually in a state of grief,” said Hunt.

Should the bill be signed into law, an added hardship will fall on the physicians providing abortion services.

Physicians who perform an abortion after 20 weeks will be at risk for misdemeanor and felony charges, should it be proven that the women needing an abortion was not at risk for her life, and her fetus could have been viable.

“These are situations where medical experts need every available resource at their disposal, not the distraction and fear of lawsuits and jail,” said Carella.


Additionally, a second physician must confirm the first physicians findings, which means that women who are in need of an abortion will have to hear that their fetus is not viable, twice.

Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region President and CEO Ashley Coffield has also weighed in, stating that the women’s healthcare organization is also “disappointed but not surprised”.

Also referring to the taxpayers’ vulnerability to costly lawsuits, Coffield refers to the bill as another decision by Tennessee lawmakers to “prioritize politics over women’s health”, and Tennessee taxpayers in this particular case.

“We’re calling on Governor Haslam to veto this abortion ban bill that if enacted into law will make Tennessee one of the most restrictive states in the nation for women’s reproductive rights,” said Coffield.

Govenor Haslam has indicated to the press that he will consider the advisement of the attorney general before either vetoing the bill or letting it pass without his signature.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Contract Controversy

CREDIT: Micaela Watts

In Memphis alone, 765 state employees employed through public higher education institutions now face uncertainty about their employment status, wages, and benefits following the signing of a controversial outsourcing contract between the state of Tennessee and commercial real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

The outsourcing plan would turn over maintenance and custodial staffing of all state-owned buildings to for-profit company JLL. Public college campuses would comprise the vast majority of privatizing public jobs.

With 507 campus facility personnel, the University of Memphis employs the majority of the state workers in Memphis. At this point it’s unclear whether or not the university intends to sign on to the outsourcing services with JLL.

The student-led organization Progressive Student Alliance has been following the development of the outsourcing plan closely for two years and met with U of M president David Rudd recently to gauge whether or not campus workers will wake up to privatized jobs.

“Rudd has told us that he’s personally against the contract, but ultimately, it is something the university board must approve,” said PSA organizer Lindsey Smith.

Smith added that some details about the legal mechanisms are unknown.

“Not knowing any of the specifics around opting out leaves workers here feeling unsafe,” said Smith.

Micaela Watts

Organizer Jayanni Webster

In an email, FedEx CFO and executive vice president Alan Graf, who serves as the chairman of the university’s newly established independent school board, said that the board hasn’t discussed the matter and the next public meeting would take place on June 6th.

Provided the contract is approved by the state’s comptroller office, it would take effect by May 5th. Though Governor Bill Haslam and the Office of Customer Focused Government (OCFG) have repeatedly stressed that universities have the option not to sign on for JLL services, a full month before the U of M board would even publicly discuss the outsourcing plan would be a departure from the state’s own acceleration of the contract approval process.

The contract was signed three days earlier than it was scheduled to be presented to JLL, in a decision that the Department of General Services official David Roberson dismissed as nothing unusual.

“Those dates are just estimates,” Roberson said, referring to the timeline made available to the public.

The state’s own request for proposals says Tennessee officials must inform institutions included in the scope of the contract. It’s unclear if any were.

At last count, 42 legislators signed a letter sent to the OCFG urging for a halt in the contract until the economic implications can be further explored.

At least 17 legislators have asked for economic impact statements specific to their district, but as of press time, none have been released through the state’s general services department, though they are constitutionally bound to do so.

Smaller districts stand to be disproportionately affected by outsourcing should job losses occur, many of which rely on state-run parks as significant contributors to the local economy.

Both Haslam and the OCFG have repeatedly and adamantly stuck by several points of assurance for the outsourcing plan: Jobs will be protected, benefits will be matched, the state could save upwards of $35 million a year with full participation, and every public institution has the discretion whether or not to sign on.

But as specifics from the contract emerge, many of the administration’s talking points are coming into question, and opposing parties point to hazy language such as “total equitable compensation”, “similar essential value,” and “appropriate insurance coverage” as feeble reassurance.

The Flyer has issued a request for comment to Rudd.