There are 189 article(s) tagged Tami Sawyer:
In a world with ever-increasing access to news and information, Americans find it more difficult to trust in core institutions, such as government, business and media, and in each other. But perhaps on the local level, there is more hope. Opinion: Reporters and readers have a shared responsibility to pursue truthRelated story:
The $7 million expansion of the youth farm includes a new programming center for girls ages 5 to 18.
George “K-Rack” Johnson, 46, was booked in the Shelby County jail Wednesday and charged with misdemeanor assault.
An incident at Health Sciences Park goes beyond one opportunistic racist hothead with more Confederate flags than he has sense. It’s emblematic of the growing white resentment to America’s reckoning with race.
Police issued an arrest warrant Friday, June 4, on a charge of assault against the crew worker who berated and threatened Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer Tuesday in Health Sciences Park.
The Monday, June 7, session of the County Commission could mark the end of the 2021 budget season with a series of final votes on a $1.4 billion consolidated budget and a county property tax rate considered stable if it drops from the current $4.05 to $3.45.
The process of relocating the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife began Tuesday at Health Sciences Park. The scene quickly became tense after workers put up Confederate flags around the site and began dumping debris on the letters of a Black Lives Matter mural around the monument.
Shelby County commissioner Tami Sawyer says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast she backs a quick budget passage next month and a second look at the budget in the fall once federal American Rescue Plan funding is in play.
The commission delayed two earlier votes on moving to an every-other-year cycle for property reappraisals from the current four-year cycle.
Proposals by Memphis City Council members and Shelby County commissioners emerged during a second joint meeting Thursday of the two bodies. But other elected officials expressed concern that just talking about changes in economic development incentives could put the city and county at a disadvantage.
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.