The Municipal Technical Advisory Service
(MTAS), an agency of The University of Tennessee
Institute for Public Service, provides technical assistance to 350 cities and
towns across the state.
Its mission - to meet
the challenge of providing timely, valuable information, and assistance to
Tennessee cities to build better communities.
Simple enough - but to
know it is to know that it is much, much more.
With municipal
management professionals with expertise in all municipal functions, MTAS exists for the sole purpose of helping cities - and help they do. MTAS annually completes more than 1,000 major
municipal management projects and provides an average of 6,000 other services
each year - including many of them here for us in Bristol.
All a city has to do is
ask - and a consultant is available to assist in the development of practical
and individualized solutions.
And the cost - zip,
zero, nada. Almost all of MTAS's services are free due to the vision and wisdom
of the Tennessee General Assembly that provides a direct state appropriation
and a portion of the local share of the statewide sales tax to fund it -
something it has done now since 1949.
MTAS is a jewel and the
envy of other states - and it is my distinct pleasure to join its ranks as a
management consultant late in June.
Perhaps the 35 years of municipal management experience gained in five
cities in three states will be useful to the 40 cities in Middle Tennessee that
I will directly support. I suspect it
will.
