County Clerk and Staff Member Complete Certified County Finance Officer (CCFO) program

April 12, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County Clerk James L.(Jimmy) Poss and one of his employees, Judy Miller-Mcgee are now certified county finance officers after recently completing a course offered by the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service’s County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS)

Poss and Miller-Mcgee were among approximately 150 finance personnel from counties, cities, utility districts, in Tennessee to receive CCFO certifications this month.

The Certified County Finance Officer (CCFO) program, which was started in May 2018, is administered and taught by CTAS staff with support provided by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.

“The CCFO program consists of 11 monthly classes that includes topics such as county budgeting, internal controls, purchasing, governmental accounting I & II, financial reporting I & II, risk management, pensions and other post-employment benefit plans,” said CTAS CCFO training consultant Kelley McNeal. “It is designed to improve the skills of finance personnel and provide an in-depth knowledge of the various topics needed to help better manage county finances. The CCFO program encourages class participants to collaborate more with other departments within their counties and is emphasized with several case studies and group exercises to equip the participants to better understand the various financial issues and problems facing counties,” she said.

County Clerk Poss said he and Mrs. Miller-Mcgee, his deputy clerk and bookkeeper, found the Certified County Finance Officers (CCFO) program to be a great benefit.

“We were glad to be able to participate in this program and to continue to do what we can to better the office whether its in finance or daily operations and customer service. This class was focused more on budgeting and finance and although very challenging it was very beneficial to us. In fact I wish we could involve all of our employees in more of what the state offers us because we want to have additional information so we can stay on top of where we need to be to make our office even more responsive to the people we serve. ” said Poss.

Ben Rodgers, County government consultant for CTAS, congratulated Poss and Miller-Mcgee on this accomplishment.

“I want to commend Jimmy and Judy for their efforts and hard work. I think it speaks highly of them for achieving this certification. It’s a challenging class and a big accomplishment for anyone to go through no matter what position you hold in county government. Participants are put through an extensive 11 class session that teaches them everything about county government finance as much as possible including accounting, budgeting, debt management, internal controls and audits. Its not just one day a month. Its more than that. Its studying outside of work and being responsive in class. Although it is a lot of work the class is very rewarding because it exposes participants like Jimmy and Judy to a side of finance that maybe they were not exposed to before. Its immeasurable what can be learned and applied to better serve the public. Every county official and as many of their employees as they can put through it should experience something like this. Its very educational. Again I say congratulations to Jimmy and Judy. I am proud to be working with them and other fine folks like that in DeKalb County,” said Rodgers.

Two other county employees, Kristie Nokes of the County Mayor’s Office and Kenderly Cripps of the School District ‘s Central Office graduated from the program in 2019 to become certified county finance officers.

April 12, 2021
By: Bill Conger

DeKalb West School today (Monday) announced its Students of the Month for April. Students named to the honor were as follows: Zeke Driver from PreK, Jack Harvey, Deacon Arnold, and Ty Vickers from Kindergarten; Eden Donnell, Shaniya Bates, Kalynn Lattimore from 1st grade, Kenley Griffith, Kayla Sebolt, and Jasen Sandlin from 2nd grade, Kyler Martel and Asheton Ahlgard from 3rd grade, Logan Winfree and Kaden Mullinax from 4th grade, Camille Barton and Pixi Willingham from 5th grade, Wyatt Young and Chloe Howell, 6th grade; McKenna Miller and Korbin Hill, 7th grade, and Jonathan Stanley, and Noah Shoffner, 8th grade.

Students are selected based on academic performance, character, and other traits that make them outstanding students.

April 10, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The new Smithville Police Department building may be operational by August.

Smithville Mayor Josh Miller said Friday that construction is proceeding well and that the outside portion of the building may be completed by around the first of July.

“I spoke with Wayne Oakley of Studio Oakley Architects, Lebanon (city’s architect) this week and they are hoping to have the outside of the building complete by the Jamboree. That doesn’t mean the inside will be finished. Hopefully we will get the officers transferred from the old building to the new one sometime in August,” said Mayor Miller.

The contractor, Boyce Ballard Construction of Murfreesboro, got the bid for construction of the police department building at $2,395,000 but the city issued up to $2.5 million in bonds for the project. After groundbreaking last fall construction ground to a halt after Boyce Ballard Construction encountered unsuitable soils on the site. The city and contractor agreed to split the cost to remedy the problem. The city’s portion was up to $50,000. Since then the city has had a few other add-ons still Mayor Miller said the project is within budget.

“The city budgeted $2.5 million through a bond issue. There has been some add-ons including the soil issue but we are within budget although we will still have to furnish the building but that will be addressed in next year’s budget,” said Mayor Miller.

The facility will have a total roofed area of 12,800 square feet which includes a 1,400 square foot sally port. It is to encompass a front lobby, records clerk office, hallways, three holding cells, armory, conference and training rooms, offices for the chief, captain, detectives, and other officers, rooms for records, evidence, investigations, filing reports, locker room, electrical room, closets, restrooms, and break room.