Don’t Have a Job? Maybe You Just Need to Make Friends with the Mayor

I feel like I should give you some kind of warning, especially if you are unemployed or under-employed, that what I am about to tell you is kind of disgusting.

The city has hired Jim Fyke, the former Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation commissioner, to work part-time for the city, doing some stuff they haven’t quite decided on yet, for $60,000 a year.

Part-time. $60,000 a year. To do some stuff they haven’t made up yet.

I’ll remember that the next time I go to review a park with knee-high grass because there’s not enough money to pay people to mow them.

7 Responses

  1. My old neighbor in W. Nashville mowed the grass for Metro Parks. After 10 years, he was making around $11 an hour.

    Maybe Fyke knows how to run the weed whacker, too.

  2. Earlier this week, the mayor asked all departments to submit plans for how to cut by 3%.

    And then his administration hired a part-time guy to do some things they haven’t figured out yet for $60,000 a year.

    A guy who’s also still collecting his pension.

  3. Oh, hell. First, I’m completely outraged on behalf of things like public libraries, which actually know what they’re supposed to do and need more money. Second, given the mention of parks and green space in the article, I’m automatically suspicious – fairly or not – that he’s been brought on in part just to push the Mayor’s agenda on the Fairgrounds space.

  4. (I know, it’s a stretch to connect the two, but the mentions of parks and green space just pinged something in my brain)

  5. [...] completely focused on health or reproductive rights, but this story brought to my attention via B’s blog is an important one, I think, for people who care about how government is run and appropriate [...]

  6. He is a dedicated, career public servant with extraordinary experience in Finance. I mean parks and green space (we do most of that work in Finance Dept.) We are lucky he was still willing to serve <20hrs/week for $60K while still drawing his pension. It's a bargain for taxpayers. We will have more announcements to come in the coming days regarding former Bredesen aides. Stay tuned. Signed, Karl & Rich

  7. Well, we didn’t really announce this new hire, did we? We usually issue press releases for things we celebrate. We were kind of hoping this would slide by, but Joey at the City Paper caught us red-handed. Signed, Karl & Rich

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