Crossville council holds special called meeting and work session Tuesday evening

The Crossville city council will meet in a brief special called meeting followed by the monthly March work session Tuesday March 7 in the third floor conference room.

The special called meeting to handle Centennial Park concessions bids will be held at 5:00 PM. The city has received two bids for the operation of the concessions operations at Centennial Park, the Duer Soccer Complex and Garrison Park. Proposals were received from Nick's Italian Ice and W6 concessions.

A committee was appointed by the interim city manager to study the proposals and make a recommendation to the council. Quick action is needed to be ready for a tournament scheduled for March 17-19.

Immediately following the called meeting the council will meet in work session to discuss a number of items expected to be on the regular meeting agenda March 14. Subjects on the work session include rehiring of previously retired employees, the city's annual capital improvement plan and a discussion of the solid waste collection contract.

Previous discussion on the subject of rehiring previously retired city employees has revealed that rules by the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) mean that such actions are more expensive then hiring those who were not previous retirees. Those rehires must be returned to the TCRS retirement program that costs the city some 18 percent of the employee's salary each year versus a retirement cost of between 5 and 8 percent for the program the city uses for new hires similar to a 401K program.

The city Human Resources department is requesting the council to approve a policy on the conditions of any such rehiring. According to the agenda information the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) surveyed some Tennessee cities and of the 14 responses only 2 advised they would rehire a previous retiree in a full time capacity.

The council will be presented with a rough draft of the annual capital improvement plan prepared by finance director Fred Houston. Council will review the document and determine if a work session is necessary to review the plan in more detail and get more information.

As the city gets closer to the deadline for notifying their contractor Cumberland Waste Disposal of the decision on whether to rebid the city's solid waste collection contract or to take the work back in house to be done by city employees. Street department supervisor Kevin Music will be addressing the issues that need addressed as the city moves forward to make that decision.

Also on the council work session are discussion of a telecommunications facility ordinance and a moratorium on new facilities until the city can complete work on the ordinance. The ordinance would govern towers, antennas for cell service, broadband internet and other communications technologies. The ordinance is being developed by a committee of several departments involved and still has finishing touches needed before final approval.

The city is looking at a system to provide city sewer to developed areas out side of the city limits because the new rules on annexations. The city has received requests for sewer service and has been looking at ways they can provide the needed service in a fair way. The policy is being developed and will be presented to council with a request for some decisions for moving forward with the program.