Dear Neighbor & fellow citizens in Decherd, Tennessee:

This petition is made on behalf of citizens in the City of Decherd, Tennessee who desire an effective and functioning municipal government for our City.

The citizens deserve to have a leader that serves to balance the interests of all citizens and who will work collaboratively with others for the greater good of our community.

Our city's governance has been severely compromised under the leadership of Mayor Mary Nell Hess. Her refusal to work collaboratively with all members of the City's Board of Aldermen has resulted in an ineffective local government that fails to serve its citizens effectively.

Mayor Hess has taken actions that undermine our democratic processes. She blocked the telephone number of a duly elected member of the Board of Aldermen. This action prevented open communication, deliberately disrupted the collaborative efforts between all of the Board of Aldermen & Mayor members for the City, and the ability to have a fully functioning governance Board because Mayor Hess was purposefully excluding the particular Aldermen.

Moreover, she made decisions concerning our City's affairs without fully communicating information and/or properly seeking approval from the entire Board of Aldermen (and through the proper formal processes required by Statute for municipal government) prior to the implementation of decisions and/or actions that have been undertaken; many of which have not been done in a transparent manner.

We all should be deeply concerned by the numerous inappropriate sidebar conversations that have been occurring, and the decisions that are not undergoing the proper legal processes and that have not been done within the light of the intended public forum and required transparency with our local government that the voters approved when Mayor Hess and the Aldermen were duly elected. We elected representation to provide governance and proper governmental process.

The abuses of power recently displayed by Mayor Hess are inappropriate and counter to the charge provided by the citizens of Decherd. The people elected a Board of Aldermen and Mayor with the intent of having a Board & Mayor-Administrator form of local governance for the City of Decherd.

Furthermore, our City's governance structure was improperly changed in December 2023 by eliminating the position of City Administrator -- a move that further centralizes power and reduces checks and balances within our local government. Mayor Hess was elected to be the Mayor -- not to appoint herself as the City's sole administrative officer.

The Board of Aldermen & Mayor-Administrator form of government should not be changed without a formal ballot approval by the citizens of the City of Decherd.

Mayor Hess declined to grant an interview to a very well-qualified candidate for the City Administrator position that had made a formal expression of interest for the position.

The applicant possessed more than 12 years of prior municipal public administration experience and also had extensive grant writing and grant administration experience. The candidate had successfully handling project management and grant reporting duties for over $10 million dollars worth of federal & state grant-funded projects – with zero audit findings – for a small municipal government in another state that was slightly bigger than the City of Decherd.

Mayor Hess did not inform the Board of Aldermen that an expression of interest for the City Administrator position had been made by the candidate.

The Ordinance that was passed in December 2023 declared that there were no qualified candidates available for the City Administrator position, which created an "emergency", as justification for changing the City of Decherd's governance structure to eliminate the City Administrator position and to make Mayor Hess the City's sole administrative officer. This statement was untrue and therefore, no such local emergency exists.

There are qualified candidates available for the City Administrator position, and one such candidate is also a current resident of the City of Decherd. Mayor Hess solely decided not to interview a qualified City Administrator candidate for some very self-serving and nefarious reasons, contrary to what was in the best interests of the City of Decherd and its citizens.

Clearly, Mayor Hess had intended to seize the power and to appoint herself as the City's sole administrative officer, or the candidate would have at least received the professional courtesy of an interview.

The action of changing our form of governance and refusing to work collaboratively, and to include all of the Aldermen in the decision making process for our City, is not only undemocratic but is also against what we stand for as residents of the City of Decherd, Tennessee.

We believe in transparent governance where all elected officials work together for the betterment of our local community. Government only works when it is transparent and when our elected officials work in accordance with all relative laws, such as the Sunshine Act, and when proper financial controls are in place.

The public trust has been significantly breached. The City of Decherd has continually received audit findings from the State Controller because we have not had a City Administrator with sufficient public administration experience within the role. Our City's credibility and reputation is continually impacted because we do not have a functional and collaborative local government for our City.

Our Mayor is certainly not an appropriate person to have in the City Administrator position. It completely usurps all of the checks and balances designed to protect our City and its financial resources. As well as it is counter to the wishes of the electorate who voted for Mary Nell Hess to fulfill the role of the Mayor of the City of Decherd.

It is no secret that we have a real mess at City Hall -- what has been described by some as a dumpster fire -- with our municipal government's financial accounting & operations.

Mayor Hess has been making things worse by not allowing the collaborative process of local governance to occur. The Mayor's deliberate failure to work with the complete Board of Aldermen and by usurping many of the checks and balances designed for an effective municipal government to exist by seizing all administrative control are issues that are deeply troubling and concerns that must be addressed by the citizens of the City of Decherd.

If Mayor Hess wants to be the City Administrator, then she should resign as Mayor and apply for the job.

We demand an immediate recall election for Mayor Mary Nell Hess due to her ineffective leadership and disregard for democratic principles.

Please sign this petition if you are a resident of the City of Decherd, Tennessee and believe in fair representation & effective governance at the local level.

15% (225) of the City of Decherd's registered voters (1,500) are required to sign this recall petition and be verified by the Franklin County Board of Elections as a registered voter in Decherd in order to file a Recall Petition Request to initiate an election to recall Decherd Mayor Mary Nell Hess for ineffective governance.

The person must sign the petition, print their name as it is registered with the Franklin County Board of Elections, and also provide their registered address located within the City of Decherd, Tennessee.

A minimum of 225 verified signatures are required to move forward with the recall process.

Please join us in holding our elected officials accountable and to demand a functional local governance for our City.