Crossville City Council's September work session touched on a number of topics including water levels at Holiday Lake, utility district contracts, health insurance costs, new plans for the Crossville Depot, and more.
Two items on the agenda and were quickly disposed of with no discussion. There are no plans for any changes to the city charter at the current time and the proposal to re-establish an airport committee has been scrapped.
Several waterfront property owners on Holiday Lake came to the council or were represented by two men who addressed their concern about water levels in the lake and the damage they claim fluctuations in the levels are causing to their property. Ron Boadry and Tom Bailey both addressed the council seeking compensation for damage they claim has been done to their property and others whose petitions they brought with them.
Tom Boardy, left, and Tom Bailey, lake front
residents of Holiday Lake address concerns
with lake level fluctations with council.
Boardy claimed several times that the water level has not been maintained at the level of the automatic relief valves in the weir that the city installed in 2008 to better maintain water levels. In addition, the dam improvements allowed better control of the water levels by building a wider weir that meant less fluctuation in the water level. According to the discussion, before the upgrades to the dam, the water level would rise into peoples yards following heavy rain and it took much longer for the level to drop then it does now.
Holiday Hills Lake reservoir
Crossville water supervisor Jerry Kerley told the council that a lake the size of Holiday is not like a bathtub and you can't keep the level constant. Anytime rain fall runs into the lake the level rises. “You can't control mother nature,” said Kerley.
Discussion of the concerns also pointed to boats on the lake creating wakes that also cause erosion to the shore line. Council heard the information from the complaints and will take them under advisement. The topic is not on the regular September agenda.
Council briefly discussed the upcoming renewal of the water sales contract with South Cumberland Utility District. The current contract expires the end of the year and the utility district is seeking no change in the terms of the contract to purchase water.
In addition, the council heard from Ed Anderson, vice chair of the board of the West Cumberland Utility District, as the board is asking to explore the possibility of purchasing water from Crossville. The district currently buys water from the Bondecroft Utility District and has some 7 years left on a 20-year contract but Anderson said that neither side is completely happy with the current contract between them.
Council members advised the utility district to meet with the city manager over a possible contract or merger between the utility district and the city water system as was done with Catoosa several years ago.
Council heard a proposal from the Tennessee Municipal League risk management pool and their program called Tennessee Health Works which is a self-funded health insurance program through the pooling of a number of municipalities. Dawn Crawford, President, and CEO of the TML Pool explained how the program worked to the council and another presentation went over the details of the program and the benefits that the city could see.
Dawn Crawford, right, TML President and CEO talks to
Crossville city council about their health insurance program
The city's insurance renews in January and the TML version of the insurance would have the same benefits for city employees and the cost would increase over the city's current rate by under 2 percent. The city has not received the rate for the coming year from their current carrier yet.
Council discussed the change in operations for the Crossville Depot since the C.A.T.S. Organization is not renewing the lease. The city is looking at running the depot itself and doing some upgrading to the building including new flooring for the meeting area. According to the discussion, Downtown Crossville, Inc. advised the city that they support the project and are willing to assist by providing a new solid wood floor up to $10,000 for the meeting room to look more like the original floor. The room currently is carpeted and the carpet is not good shape after years of use.
Crossville Train Depot
In addition to upgrading the facility, the proposal for the city to operate the depot in the future includes 1 additional full-time and 2 part-time employees. The meeting room would generally be available between 9 AM and 9 PM but additional hours could potentially be arranged. The city would not give out keys to renters but a city staff member would be present to assist the renters whenever an event is being held. Rental of the depot meeting room for 3 hours is recommended to be $105.
The city also plans to operate the gift shop at the depot stocking entirely Tennessee made products and souvenirs. The gift shop would have more hours than it has in the past operating from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM Tuesday through Saturday. The gift shop would also be open during any rental events at the depot as well.
The estimated revenue from rental for the first year of operation is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000 and as a clientele is built up that is expected to rise. In its best year, the Depot peaked at 450 rentals for the year and revenue at that level would be around $48,000.
The city is also seeking to have the depot listed on the National Historic Register.
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