Medical contract for county prisoners, detainees extended again
Short-term extensions to the Wellpath contract have been a constant for the current commission since the group began their current term in September of 2018.
There are 229 article(s) tagged Tami Sawyer:
Short-term extensions to the Wellpath contract have been a constant for the current commission since the group began their current term in September of 2018.
The four-hour online joint meeting of the two legislative bodies Thursday, March 25, was mostly questions and answers. The group agreed to start talking about proposals to change incentives at the second April 15 session with plans for a third joint meeting.
The Monday, March 22, meeting also featured the defeat of a resolution calling for federal officials to reconsider a nationwide permit for the pipeline project granted in February by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On “Behind the Headlines,” Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer and Memphis City Council member Martavius Jones discussed their hopes for joint sessions on economic development reform. The two meetings come with a lot of advance planning.
Council member Chase Carlisle was sharply critical of health officials, the County Commission and county Mayor Lee Harris. The wording was later amended after a lengthy council debate.
Before Shelby County Commissioners and Memphis City Council members get together to talk about changing the most used tax incentive in local economic development, they want to do more than watch PowerPoint presentations on PILOTs – payments in lieu of taxes.
The ordinance allows the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency and Homeland Security to acquire some surplus military hardware for protection and natural disasters. But most military hardware offered by the federal government requires a majority vote of the commission.
The Monday County Commission meeting includes a possible six-month moratorium on new PILOTs. And there is a compromise with Sheriff Floyd Bonner that would rewrite the ordinance requiring him to get approval from the commission to acquire surplus military hardware from the federal government.
The resolutions were discussed as commissioners watched the presidential inauguration while working through committee agendas. The full commission votes on the matters Monday.
Sawyer wants to examine the ground rules for awarding the most-used tax incentive in Memphis economic development and the results of past or ongoing PILOTs.
In a free, virtual series, actors will perform speeches by Booker T. Washington, Shirley Chisholm, Dick Gregory and John Lewis. They’ll be introduced by Shelby County Commission members present and past and a Rhodes College professor, among others. 
A proposal by Commissioner Tami Sawyer to require County Commission approval for any sheriff to acquire surplus federal military equipment was postponed.
Republican commissioners said their “no” votes were because of concerns about the use of county reserves to create the $2.5 million fund. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is asking Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to reimburse the county funding with state money.
Harris took the proposal for grants of $1,000 per qualified worker to commission committee sessions Wednesday, Jan. 6.
Shelby County commissioners voted Monday, Dec. 21, to support a health department directive announced earlier in the day and, in a separate vote, to give the health department the authority to cite and fine business owners for violating the directive.
A new health directive is looming – one that could significantly tighten restrictions for the upcoming holidays.
Shelby County commissioners called on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Monday, Dec. 7, to enact a statewide mask mandate, but the vote wasn’t unanimous. It was among a series of COVID-related measures. 
They seldom agree, just like a couple of United States Supreme Court justices you might remember. But Shelby County commissioners Tami Sawyer and Mick Wright share a healthy respect for one another.
Political and cultural division in Memphis, the state of Tennessee and the country, is real. But as polarized as Americans might be, it has been worse and it can get better.
A variety of community voices spoke out on police reform during two discussions last week. 
A resolution by Edmund Ford Jr. on setting deadlines and milestones for the county budget season is on the County Commission’s agenda for Monday, Nov. 9. 
Shelby County commissioners voted down an ordinance that would have required the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to decertify deputies who use excessive force and to keep a record of officers who are fired or resign because of an excessive-force complaint. 
Ordinances that address use of force, the purchase of military equipment and the use of tear gas will go to the full commission without a second reading committee vote.
The trio of ordinances affecting the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and corrections officers advanced automatically in Monday’s first of three votes on the measures. A second reading will be held in two weeks and a third is tentatively set in October. 
The three ordinances are scheduled for the first of three votes on Monday. And still to weigh in on the proposals is Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner.