COOKEVILLE – by Susan Niland
A joint investigation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Wartburg Police Department, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department and the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has resulted in the arrest of a Wartburg man on multiple counts of aggravated assault.
At the request of 9th District Attorney General Russell Johnson, on April 29th, TBI Agents responded to a shooting incident at an apartment complex at 519 South Kingston Street in Wartburg. Early Sunday evening, Wartburg officers and Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call at that location. When law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, they found four individuals who had been injured. Two men were treated for their injuries locally and released. Two others were transported to a Knoxville hospital for treatment, and have also since been released. During the course of the investigation, officers developed information that identified Jerry Bell, a resident of that complex and neighbor of the victims, as the individual who was responsible for the shooting.
On Monday, Jerry Bell (DOB 12/23/59) was charged with four counts of Aggravated Assault and one count of Reckless Endangerment. Bell was booked into the Morgan County Jail on a $150,000 bond.
With election day on Tuesday, the Crossville city council will hold their monthly work session a day early on Monday, April 30 and start work in earnest on the 2018-19 fiscal year budget.
The work session starts at 5 PM and will be in the third-floor conference room at Crossville city hall.
The final item on the agenda is the presentation of the budget by city manager Greg Wood. While staff has been working on the document for a number of weeks, where the budget stands currently has not been made public yet.
Crossville City Council Members, City Attorney
and City Manager. L-R Will Ridley, Danny Wyatt
Pamala Harris, Mayor James Mayberry, J.H. Graham
and Greg Wood
Other items for discussion on the work session agenda include contract agreement modifications between the city and the Cumberland County Board of Education (BOE) concerning sewer lines for North, South and Brown Elementary schools. The new agreements would transfer ownership, control and the responsibility for maintenance of the lines to the city. The BOE has requested that the city take over the lines.
Council will also consider a request from the director of schools to help pay for the drainage project for the Cumberland County High School football field and track that has been a problem for many years. The total project is $435,000 and parts of the project including the storm inlet structure and the mainline storm sewer are broken out separately at $10,000 and $133,000.
The city's director of engineering recommends the city reimburse the schools for the inlet structure as the city's pipe connects to one side and the schools to the other side. In addition, it is unclear who owns the current structure that is partly in the right of way and the grate is substandard and would not support a vehicle if one left the roadway and that could be considered a city liability.
Council will also consider a request received to name the Eastern Bluebird as the city bird. A petition has been submitted to the city requesting that the bird be designated as the official bird of the city.
Council will consider the engineering contract for the sealing and striping of the Crossville Memorial Airport runway and taxiway. The cost of the contract is on a TDOT grant with the city's portion fiver percent of the cost.
Council will also consider a grant application to the Department of Justice to fund 50 percent of the cost of police vests for the department.
Council will consider a change to the city's liquor ordinance to allow for sales on Sunday as has been recently approved by the state.
WIth Early voting wrapping up at the close of business today, April 26, 2018, the last chance to vote in the county primary races after today will be election day, May 1, 2018.
Republican Sample Ballot
The only candidate qualifying on the Democratic ballot is incumbent Regester of Deeds Judy Graham Swallows who has no opposition on the Republican ballot.
The election commission office says some 4000 votes have taken advantage of the early voting as of midday. That turnout was described as "light." Most of those ballots were cast were Republican primary voters with only a few hundred voting in the Democratic primary.
The City of Cookeville’s Water Quality Control Director, Ronnie J. Kelly, issued a report this morning noting that citizens may be experiencing discolored water in their water supply (including water utility districts supplied by the City of Cookeville).
“On Tuesday, April 24th, a contractor working on relocating the 30-inch water line at the 5th Interchange had an 8-inch valve separate from the 30-inch water line. This caused a significant increase in velocity in this large water line. As a result, sediment was disturbed along the pipe walls causing a slight tint to the water in certain parts of the system.
This is a very temporary situation and we regret any inconvenience that this may cause our customers. We are taking steps to minimize the disturbance and discoloration to the water system. If you have any questions concerning this matter, please feel free to call our office at 520-5239 between the hours of 7:00 A.M. and 4:30 P.M.”
The continuing massive amounts of rain in middle Tennessee has caused a major landslide that is affecting Highway 68 coming off the plateau below Grandview. The road has been closed and repairs are estimated to take some 6 weeks.
The road was closed Tuesday afternoon about 3 PM and according to TDOT is not expected to reopen until May 31, 2018. At last report, at least half of one lane was gone and cracks had formed on either side of the fall. The slide is between Firetower Rd. and Gilliam Rd. All traffic is being diverted to alternate routes.
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has a new addition to its ‘Top 10 Most Wanted’ list, Travis Reinking.
Reinking (DOB 2-1-89) is wanted by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and the TBI to face charges, including three counts of Criminal Homicide, in connection to a shooting that occurred at a Waffle House in Antioch early this morning. The shooting incident remains under investigation by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Reinking should be considered armed and dangerous.
Early voting continues through Thursday, April 26 for the upcoming May First Republican and Democratic Primaries at the County Election Commission office in the Milo Lemmert building, the old Post Office on Main Street.
Votes must choose either the Republican or the Democratic primary to vote in. Most of the candidates appear on the Republican ballot including 7 candidates for County Mayor, 3 for Road Superintendent and 2 for Circuit Court Clerk. Sample ballots are below.
Most races will be decided by the primary voting and several have already been decided since only one candidate qualified. Those with no competition include incumbent Sheriff Casey Cox, County Clerk Jule Bryson, and County Trustee Kim Tollet Wyatt.
Races decided by the primary include Circuit Court Clerk race and the Road Superintendent Race.
The winner of the Republican primary for County Mayor will face independent candidate Sandra Davis in the August County General Election.
The Democrat ballot only includes one race for the Registrar of Deeds with only incumbent Judy Graham Swallows on the ballot and she will retain her office with no other candidate qualifying.
Voters are required to have a government-issued photo ID to be able to vote.
Crossville city council voted unanimously to move forward with seeking a possible merger between the city's water department and South Cumberland Utility District.
The city has previously merged with the Catoosa Utility District and that appears to have been a successful and the SCUD merger is expected to be similar. The city is promising a $10 reduction in the bill to each water meter initially and eventually, the water bills would match the outside city water rates.
If the proposal is agreed to then it would create the South Cumberland Utility District of the City of Crossville. The benefits of the merger according to information distributed with the agenda include a reduction of water rates and a decrease in redundant capital for both SCUD and the city.
Under the proposal, the management and employees would remain the same. Directors would become an advisory board and continue to be appointed by the County Mayor. The proposal includes a decrease of $10.00 per meter per month and returning some $46,000 a month to customers for a total of $552,000 per year.
The city is proposing to pay off the debts of the operation and save approximately $100,000 per year. Synergies of operation would include cross training of employees, convert software and convert retirement plans and health insurance.
Council member J. H. Graham, who also serves on the Lake Tansi POA board made the motion to begin merger talks with the city manager, city attorney and Graham involved in those talks. The motion received a second from council member Danny Wyatt.
The Crossville city council once again looked at some possible changes in rules on tethering dogs inside the city limits but a consensus remains elusive.
The city had formed a task force on animal improvements with several local animal welfare groups and had looked at an ordinance that would disallow tethering of dogs between 7 PM and 7 AM and during the day for no longer than 8 hours at a time but failed to get enough votes to pass it. Instead, during the March council meeting, the council decided to enforce the state laws that prohibit injuring an animal with tethering.
Dogs at the animal shelter (file photo)
The additional work session on the topic was requested by council member Pamala Harris to give the council a chance to discuss animal control issues like tethering a bit more and general humane treatment of pets. Said Harris, “We can set a good example for the community by improving our ordinances without being too restrictive.”
In addition to the current state law, a new regulation has been added that will not allow tethering dogs when the temperature is under 32 or over 90 degrees.
The Crossville Police Department's animal control officer Wiley Potter said there were concerns about tethering and he said the biggest problem that he saw was when the animal got tangled up on a tether and couldn't reach their food, water or shelter. Potter, who said he had not been involved in the initial task force meetings, pointed out that dogs have lived outside for 10,000 years and that some people did not want an inside dog.
In addition, Potter pointed out that they have been asking people to keep their dogs up in compliance with the leash law adding, “Tethering is how they do it. What are we going to tell them now?”
Another problem Potter said he sees is that that chain or wire can be too big or too small for the animal being tied. “Use common sense on tethering.” In other words, Potter explained, “Don't put a chihuahua on a heavy chain or a pit bull on a light wire.”
Potter explained that the state law requires that all dogs have food, water, and shelter. “I try to educate people and work with people,” Potter explained, “and if they don't do what I ask them to do, I cite them to court. You try to work with people, but sometimes they just don't understand.” Potter added that he looks at his job as education but he writes citations when he has to.
The local animal welfare organizations including A Time for Paws and FOCCAS have programs that can help low-income citizens with getting a kennel to keep animals off of a tether. People can call the organizations and request assistance or referrals are made through animal control.
Council member Harris said, “There are strong opinions on either side of this issue. We have to take baby steps.” She felt the first baby step could be to address how an animal is tethered and make the ordinance something that can be enforced.
At least one citizen who attended the meeting spoke out complaining about the city telling her how to care for her animal.
While further discussion on a number of issues took place, additional study of the current situation and some local statistics were requested by the council.
Ms. Harris summed up her feelings saying, “I want to see what is good for our community."
Crossville city council has held a number of meetings in April and will hold both a special called meeting and a work session on animal control Monday, April 16 starting at 5 PM in the third-floor conference room.
The main topic for the special called meeting is wastewater treatment plant emergency work. The city staff is working with the engineer on receiving quotes for sludge removal of two basins taken offline while the previous contractor worked on the expansion project. Earlier this month the city ended work by that contractor that was not satisfactory.
In addition, city staff is reviewing a proposal from the second low bidder to complete mechanical work at the plant. Recommendations on both items will be available at the meeting for Council to consider.
In addition, a short consent agenda includes two items, one on allowing drive-through windows at liquor stores and also a budget amendment for additional testing required at the Dorton Landfill.
The work session to follow will discuss animal control issues and a presentation by city manager Greg Wood.
During the April Crossville City Council meeting, members heard an update on the progress made by the firm the city hired to try and recruit additional retail and restaurants to Crossville.
According to the report given by City Manager Greg Wood, the company has been working with a North Carolina developer on a piece of property along 127-N. This is the same property that was optioned 18-24 months ago for a development that never went forward. The new proposal may require the participation of the city in support of new retail development and council approved a motion to offer “reasonable support” to facilitate the project.
Map showing the location of the proposed site of new
retail development by Carolina Holdings, Inc. (From CHI website)
According to Wood, some letters of intent have been signed on the new proposed development but nothing is final yet.
Preliminary design of shopping development
on 127-N. (From CHI website)
The company was known as r360 but has since changed their name to NextSite. Wood explained that the firm had been attending conferences on the city's part and have met with developers and tenant representatives and retailers. They are also visiting developers at their offices on a continuing basis.
“One of the proposals/developers they have brought to us is a group called Carolina Holdings, Inc.” Wood told the council. “They have an option on the property just north of the Chevrolet dealership. They are very successful and developed the project at Mt. Juliet.”
Wood added that they have recruited some retail firms that he couldn't discuss yet, “but one thing they wanted me to relay was this is a kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity, the group of retailers they have brought together, if we don't come together on this deal, the likelihood of them returning again to look at Crossville is somewhat slim.”
“There are some capital needs for this and we've been in consultation with some specialized attorneys as far as TIF funding.” TIF is Tax Increment Funding that earmarks future tax revenues to pay back funds borrowed for development.
Wood added the city has also been looking at some possible Rural Development funding as well as TDOT funding for intersection development.
“We just need to show them that the city is committed to this development as the city attorney, myself and the Mayor meet with the various attorneys that specialize we will bring back to you a recommendation how best to potentially make an offer on behalf of the city as far as partnering with this retail group,” Wood explained.
Property for the proposed retail site is currently
listed as owned by Woodmere Properties III.
Wood told the council, “I realize this sets a bit of a precedent as retail is not something typically done but to enhance our economic development in other areas. The new CEO of Crossville Inc. lives in Knoxville mainly because we don't have the amenities that his wife was asking for here so he commutes from Knoxville every day.”
“We need to bring in retail establishments to enhance our capabilities for the industrial jobs we want as well. Plus we have a leakage situation where we have people shopping in Cookeville instead of here and that solves our tax dollars going to Cookeville,” concluded Wood.
Wood described the project as a good prospect and a good location being close to I-40 and will pick off people from outside the county as well.
Councilman J. H. Graham moved that the council go on record as supporting the project saying, “I believe it is important that the city of Crossville show these developers that we are well versed in dealing with developers and using incentives for manufacturers and now we are looking toward providing incentives for developers of retail shopping areas.”
Graham's motion was to continue negotiations with the full intent of providing a reasonable incentive program for them to improve the retail growth in this community. Council member Pamala Harris supported the motion and it was passed unanimously.
