Busy Tuesday for council. Discussions incldude sidewalks, Garrison Park and new animal shelter.

Crossville city council holds their regular May meeting Tuesday May 9 with a series of meetings starting at 5 PM.

Crossville city hall

The council will meet as the audit committee at 5 PM in the third floor conference room followed by a public hearing on the city's capital improvement plan at 5:30. Meetings starting with the public hearing will be held in the council chambers on the second floor at city hall. The council will meet as the Beer Board at 5:45 PM and a public hearing at 5:50 PM on the annexation of 6.3 acres at the Gardens. The regular council meeting starts at 6 PM.

Topics up for discussion on the council agenda include another run at the downtown sidewalk project following a lengthy discussion at their work session last week. (Link to story) In addition, council will take up the improvements planned for Garrison Park. The park redevelopment does include the removal of the old grandstand at the park as it does not meet ADA requirements and has other issues.

Vancienetta Wisdom discusses Garrison Park during

city council work session

The redevelopment decision has become a bit controversial and there are some in the community that would like to see the structure saved. Vancienetta Wisdom addressed the issue at council work session last week and talked about the history of the park seeking to convince the council to not tear down the grandstand. Crossville has received a grant to pay for the first phase of the redevelopment and the city has already signed the grant contract for the LPRF (Local Parks and Recreation Fund) money and it could be a problem for the city with future grants if they change their mind on the deal at this late date.

Garrison Park and grandstand

Contracts for the grant administrator and the engineering work must be approved for the grant to move forward.

The city continues to pursue a fuel truck for the Crossville Memorial Airport. The grant would cover half the $35,000 cost with the remainder coming from funds budgeted for the airport.

And council will discuss the request from county mayor Kenny Carey on the new animal shelter building. Carey is asking for the city to waive permit fees and to install sewer line to the location of the new building as well as providing a grinder pump to the project's contractor. The city has previously committed $90,000 toward the project and the cost of the material will come from that amount.