Local state rep's bills propose to speed up Savannah government, slash public notice in Knox County

March 31– Savannah residents interested in following city government will need to give more prompt attention to public notices if a bill proposed by state Rep. Vance Dennis is approved.

Dennis (R-Savannah) today formally introduced legislation to amend the city of Savannah’s charter to allow the City Commission to approve ordinances in two readings.

The charter currently requires three readings.

Because city commissioners hold business meetings once a month, it typically takes around 60 days for an ordinance to be approved. The Hardin County Commission can approve similar actions in just one reading.

The city’s current charter does, however, allow for the Savannah City Commission to call special meetings to speed things up when desired.

The charter now states three readings of an ordinance can be held within the span of a week, with the ordinance becoming effective 15 days after approval on first reading. In addition, an "emergency" ordinance can go into effect from the day of its final approval.

In practice, the city ordinarily takes at least 30 days to approve ordinances, sandwiching a special called meeting between the regular monthly meetings.

But 30 days will become the new normal in Savannah if the bill informally requested by the City Commission is approved by the state legislature and then ratified locally. City ordinances will also go into effect immediately upon passage on second and final reading.

Dennis is also sponsoring a bill to allow Knox County to post its public notices on the county’s official website on a trial basis instead of publishing them in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.

Doing so is estimated to save Knox County taxpayers $40,000 the first year.

The proposed pilot project is drawing fire from both media and public interest groups contending Internet access is still limited, and that because so few people regularly visit government websites, the Constitutional requirement of providing adequate notice to the public of important pending action would not be met.

The elderly stand to be most impacted, with only 28 percent of those 65 and older using the Internet, according to a recent survey.

A printed notice is part of the price of democracy and provides a permanent record not subject to elimination or change at the press of a button, defenders of the current law say.

Most newspapers, including The Courier, make public notices available on their websites.

As a public service, the Tennessee Press Association also maintains a website where this paper and many others post their public notices.

The address is www.publicnoticeads.com/TN/.