News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
State Representative Kelly Keisling stopped by the Byrdstown City Council and Pickett County Board of Education meetings Monday night to invite the members to the General Assembly.
Keisling said every two years, he visits and extends the invitation along with a gift bag with the most recent copy of the Tennessee Blue Book.
“I wish I could get y’all down for the day to be our special House guests during sessions,” Keisling said. “Now that I know that I am returning, and I do appreciate your support for that. The gavel will follow the second Tuesday of January. So, sometime between there and the end of April, I would love to have y’all come down.”
Keisling also brought books about the General Assembly and copies of the state budget. During the city council meeting, Keisling said the state has exceeded the projected revenues this year despite COVID.
“Twenty has been a real crazy year,” Keisling said. “As you all know or most of you know, we gaveled in and then we adjourned. We gaveled in and then we adjourned. We had three different times we went back and finally finished this, of course all due to COVID. It is a $40 billion budget, and of course quickly, I will just tell you our revenue surprisingly even with the COVID, Tennessee is holding its own. Our revenues are still above projections.”
Keisling said the Pickett County day in September at the state museum also had a large turnout. The event highlighted Byrdstown native Cordell Hull’s life and Nobel Peace Prize.
“We have the new Tennessee State Museum, those of you that have not visited it, it is beautiful,” Keisling said. “We just recently had a Pickett County, Byrdstown day down there celebrating Cordell Hull. There was an exhibit there for his Nobel Peace Prize. That went very well.”
Along with the official government manual and budget, the gift bags contained brochures, DVDs and a General Assembly fact book. Mayor Sam Gibson said he plans on taking the representative’s offer.
“Also, inviting us down to visit with him through a session and maybe even taking us out to eat and visiting also the museum,” Gibson said. “This is usually a yearly venture that he has and always comes by and wants to spend a few minutes and see if anybody has questions or comments.”
