Crossville city council work session on animal control set for April 16th

The Crossville city council plans to hold a work session on Monday, April 16 at 5:15 PM.

The meeting will be held in the third-floor conference room at Crossville city hall.  The topic of the work session is animal control and a presentation will be made by city manager Greg Wood. 

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Council previously considered a dog tethering ordinance but after some discussion, the council instead felt they would enforce the state law already on the books. A previous discussion also reviewed a so-called community cat program that would catch feral cats, spay or neuter them, vaccinate them and then release them for residents to feed. 

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After 6 months city manager Greg Wood gets strong evaluation and 10 percent raise

Crossville city council approved a ten percent raise for new city manager Greg Wood as part of his first evaluation since taking the position.

City manager Greg Wood

Council member J. H. Graham III moved to increase Wood's salary under the employment contract between the city and Wood to $88,538.80 and to continue Mr. Wood's employment with a very good review. A second to the motion was offered by council member Danny Wyatt.

After very little discussion, the motion was approved unanimously.

Individual council members provided feedback through an evaluation form. The overall score covering 10 areas of work came in with an average score of 4 out of a possible 5 and council also provided additional written comments for Wood as well. One council member praised the good budget process. Wood was described as “easy to work with so far” and “he exhibits great enthusiasm and cooperation with council.” Another comment encouraged Wood to be “a fair but tough city manager for the citizens/tax payers.”

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As of September 5, 2017, Wood will have served in the position for 6 months. The council also discussed future evaluations. Wood said that he and human resource manager Leah Crockett were working on a program to review and evaluate all the city department heads annually. Wood said the plan was for the reviews to take place in a March time frame as that would be a year from when Wood started.

A motion for the council to evaluate Wood annually in January was also approved unanimously.   

August CIty Council agenda includes sidewalks, Chamber, airport committee, city manager and depot.

Crossville city council will take up a number of items at their regular August meeting Tuesday August 8 at Crossville city hall.

Items on the agenda include a public hearing and possible action on a TDOT grant to pay for sidewalk improvements in the downtown area. Council will also consider the contract between the city and the chamber of commerce and the scorecard the chamber has developed to report their work and progress to the city. Other items for discussion include the possible reestablishment of an airport committee, the evaluation of the new city manager Greg Wood's first six months, and a revised street closing policy.

The evening starts with the monthly audit committee meeting at 5 PM followed by a closed executive session concerning legal matters with city attorney Will Ridley. A public hearing on the TDOT transportation alternative program grant takes place at 5:30 and the council meets as the beer board at 5:45. The regualr agenda starts at 6 PM.

Downtown Crossville sidewalks

It seems that the council has talked about downtown sidewalk project for years, and they have. The council has made decisions and changed their mind over and over again. The last decision was to have TDOT come and do the corners they would do and the city would use the street department sidewalk crew to do the rest of repair and patch work over a lengthy period of time. Recently the city discussed a grant now called the transportation alternatives program, a different name but a similar grant that had been part of the downtown redevelopment program canceled about three years ago.

The current grant program will fund 80 percent of the costs of the project with the city paying the remaining 20 percent. The total estimated cost for the sidewalk work is just over $2.6 million. The city's portion would be almost $530,000.

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The project was discussed during the council's recent work session and the time line of environmental work, approvals and bidding pushes the construction completion of project back into the time frame of late 2020 when TDOT plans to repave the downtown area after delays from the previous attempts to complete the sidewalk projects.

The council needs to make a decision as the grant is due to be submitted on October 1 this year but the grant awards are not expected to be announced until October 2018.

A draft of a contract between the city and the Chamber of Commerce will be considered by the council. The contract has been under consideration as part of the city's funding to the chamber. During the recent work session, council member J. H. Graham asked that the contract address the inclusion of the city manager and marketing director in the process of industrial recruiting. Also discussed was the need to have agreements ready to go on property purchase credits for new jobs. This has been used for previous businesses with a lease and a purchase agreement.

Chamber of Commerce office

Council member Scot Shanks has brought up a proposal to reestablish an airport committee after a business that uses the airport brought some concerns to his attention. An airport committee made up of local pilots and airport supporters was abolished by the council in 2007 after some 50 years of existence. Discussion on the matter at the work session did not indicate support for the proposal but Mr. Shanks was unable to attend so the matter will come up on the agenda.

City manager Wood has been in his position for 6 months now and individual council members have provided feedback through an evaluation. The overall score covering 10 areas of work came in with an average score of 4 out of a possible 5 and council has provided additional written suggestions as well. The council could consider a salary increase.

Council will consider a change to a recently adopted street closing policy. Those changes could include no charge for joint or community events and a possible change in the location for cruise ins next year to the road behind the courthouse instead of Main Street.

With the C.A.T.S. Organization relinquishing the lease to operate the Crossville Depot there are two possible scenarios the city is looking at. One would let the local Crossville Model Railroad Club use the facility for their model train exhibit but that would not allow use of the facility for meetings. The other option is for the Palace Theatre to oversee the depot operation.  

Crossville Depot

Crossville council to consider reestablishing airport committee, Chamber contract and other items during Tuesday work session

After abolishing the Crossville Airport Committee ten years ago the Crossville city council will discuss bringing it back during the upcoming council work session Tuesday August 1st at 5:00 PM.

The Crossville Memorial Airport opened in 1934 and the first airport committee, made up mainly of local pilots was formed in the 1950's. The year 2007 saw a number of changes at the airport including the ending of the airport committee because the airport had an airport manager. The reestablishment of the airport committee discussion will be lead by city manager Greg Wood.

Crossville Memorial Airport building

Other topics on the work session include the contract between the city and the Chamber of Commerce in exchange for their funding as well as stopping the monthly report by the chamber to the council during their regular meeting.

The contract covers services that that the chamber will provide including industrial recruitment, retiree recruitment, tourism attraction, existing industry programming, leadership development, and downtown development. The chamber would receive $77,400 in exchange for the services provided. One of the things the chamber has been working on is a score card covering the services that it would provide to the city monthly that includes all the topics listed as well as work on workforce development and chamber membership numbers.

Chamber of Commerce building

For sometime, chamber director Brad Allamong has been reporting to the council during their regular meeting and the item for discussion suggests that the report could be provided with the city manager's report to save time during the council meeting and save Allamong a trip to the council meeting.

With the current lessee of the Crossville depot not interested in continuing the lease after it expires at the end of August, the city is considering operating the attraction itself in connection with the Palace Theatre. City manager Wood will be discussing the possibility with the council during the work session.

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Council will also revisit a proposal to charge for street closings based on the expenses to the city for street department and law enforcement personnel needed. Council had approved a policy earlier this year then approved a motion last month not to charge for any street closings. The policy also included references to 5K runs and static displays such as the cruise ins so the council will consider the adoption of a revised version.

Council will discuss the transportation alternative program or TDOT-TAP grant again for possible improvements to downtown sidewalks. The grant is an 80/20 grant with the city providing a 20 percent of the total funding as a match. The council had suggested using a second grant for work on the Crossville depot but because the depot is not on the historic register, it is not eligible.

The total estimated cost for the sidewalk work is just over $2.6 million. The city's portion would be almost $530,000.

City manager Wood has been in his position for 6 months now and council members have provided feedback through an evaluation. The overall score covering 10 areas of work came in as 4 out of a possible 5 and council has provided additional written suggestions as well. The council could consider a salary increase.

Crossville city manager Greg Wood

Council will also discuss a possible purchase of the remainder of the old handle mill property on Webb Avenue. Ronnie Webb is interested in selling the property along with another small lot across the street. The two properties total 2.85 acres. Webb is asking $597,000 for the properties. The state appraisals total $193,500. Webb has said he would accept the middle of three commercial appraisals and the city has priced that process at $9000.

The properties the city is looking at include the blue lot at the top

and the property across 5th St. at the bottom 

of the photo with structures.

   

Sidewalks continue to plague council. Blind citizen tells council of difficulties he faces.

Discussion of sidewalks continue to take up a lot of the Crossville city council's time as they continue to try and figure out how to economically improve downtown Crossville sidewalks.

In addition the council heard from a Crossville resident who does a lot of walking but is blind and shared the difficulties that he has in trying to walk in the community. Ed Daszkiewicz lives just off of Cook Road and said as a blind person it was very difficult to walk to town as there are no sidewalks at all along Cook Road.

“I don't like to walk in the street, but I have no option,” Daszkiewicz told the council members during the April work session. He also told them that another problem with the sidewalks when he did get to them was some of the sidewalks are old and weathered. In addition, he said it was difficult to navigate downtown because there are no pedestrian lights with audio signals.

Downtown Crossville sidewalk

Because some of the corners are not up to ADA standards Daszkiewicz said he has found himself out in the traffic walking because he can not tell where he is. He said has has been trained by the Veterans Administration in techniques of walking blind but he said it was still very difficult here in Crossville. He also said that while most people don't think about it, the signs put out by downtown businesses are obstacles as well as trees and some sign posts set in the sidewalk as he has to walk toward the out side of the sidewalk where many of these items are.

Council members listen to Ed Daszkiewicz explain

the difficulties he has getting around on foot in

Crossville as a blind person.

Daszkiewicz said he walks between 4 and 7 miles a day and he had walked to attend the council work session that afternoon.

Councilman Scot Shanks has been walking with Mr. Daszkiewicz and said, “Downtown sidewalks can be very busy and it is very different walking with Ed.” Daszkiewicz said that the trees and garbage cans and benches at the courthouse are all hazards that he has to deal with when he walks. He added that the trees have branches that hang down and cause him trouble and he has occasionally removed lower limbs that have poked him in the face.

When asked if the proposed sidewalk ADA improvements would help him, Daszkiewicz said they would greatly help because that gives a consistent way for a blind person to line up to cross the street and he added that those improvements are also needed for people in wheelchairs.

A short time later in the meeting, council again discussed downtown sidewalks at the request of councilman Shanks who said he just didn't feel good about how the council left the sidewalk matter at the last meeting. Shanks said he understood that using city employees to do the sidewalk project would take quite a bit longer then if the work was bid out to a contractor. Bidding out the work would take about 9 months and the city employees could be up to 3 years.

Shanks said that while the city is working downtown there could be no other such projects done by the city and it would disrupt downtown for a very long time. Shanks said he would rather see the project bid out.

Council woman Pamala Harris said the city seem to be “always sitting on stall” when it comes to the sidewalk project. Council,man Shanks said, “I just want to see us move forward.”

Councilman Danny Wyatt suggested the sidewalk project be done using an abutment project that would require the downtown property owners to help pay for the sidewalks.

Shanks said that in order to attract industry and other business, “The perception of Crossville is downtown. If it looks good then we look good.”

With council at a stalemate, city manager Greg Wood said that he and city engineer Tim Begley would be meeting soon with TDOT and they would find out which of the corners TDOT would bring up to ADA standards and the city will do the other corners that TDOT doesn't plan to do.

Wyatt said that was good and asked, “Why should city taxpayers pay to fix corners that TDOT will fix?” Shanks added that he agreed with that.

The matter is on the city's Tuesday regular meeting agenda for discussion and possible action.  

Crossville council approves policy making hiring previous retirees more difficult.

Crossville city council approved a policy concerning the rehiring of previously retired city employees based on several meetings of discussion and input and recommendations from new city manager Greg Wood.

Mayor James Mayberry moved to approve the policy presented at the council previous meeting. Action on that policy was delayed pending additional information. A second to the motion came from councilman Scot Shanks.

The recommendation from Mr. Wood is that as a rule to not allow these employees to return unless there were extraordinary circumstances necessitating their return. In those cases, if they received a retirement buyout, that buyout would have to be paid back over whatever period of time they had to serve to reach the 30 year threshold or five (5) years, whichever is greater. Any other retirement non-buyout incentives received would be deducted from incentives received upon the subsequent separation.

City manager Greg Wood and members of the city council

discuss policy on rehiring previous retirees.

Additionally, their pay should be reduced by 5% to put them on equal footing with other employees who now have to pay in 5% to ICMA when the retirees would not be paying that amount. This is the only way I can see to keep the employee from “double dipping” and maintaining some equity with

employees now under ICMA. Employees of Police or Fire could have knowledge based testing waived but would still need to pass the physical testing requirements of new hires.

With no additional discussion, Mayberry called for a vote. Councilman J. H. Graham voted in favor reiterating that extraordinary circumstances could bring a decision back to the council. Councilman Danny Wyatt voted no saying he did not want to tie the city manager's hands. Councilwoman Pamala Harris also voted yes saying she felt as Mr. Graham did. Mr. Shanks and Mr Mayberry voted yes.

The motion was approved with a four to one vote.  

Council discusses rehiring retirees but delays action to special called meeting March 21 at 5 PM.

Crossville city council put off action on a policy on rehiring previous city retirees, including those who took an early retirement buyout some two years ago.

The matter will come back up again at a special called meeting set for Tuesday March 21 that will be followed by a work session on the city's capital improvement plan. The special called meeting is set for 5 PM and will be immediately followed by the work session.

Greg Wood wrote a memo of his take on the issue during his first week on the job, “It would be my recommendation as a rule to not allow these employees to return unless there were extraordinary circumstances necessitating their return. In those cases, if they received a retirement buyout, that buyout would have to be paid back over whatever period of time they had to serve to reach the 30 year threshold or five (5) years, whichever is greater. Any other retirement non-buyout incentives received would be deducted from incentives received upon the subsequent separation.

Additionally, their pay should be reduced by 5% to put them on equal footing with other employees who now have to pay in 5% to ICMA (International City/Co Management Association) when the retirees would not be paying that amount. This is the only way I can see to keep the employee from “double dipping” and maintaining some equity with employees now under ICMA. Employees of Police or Fire could have knowledge based testing waived, but would still need to pass the physical testing requirements of new hires.”

“This is a rather sticky wicket for 2 reasons,” said Wood at the start of the discussion during council's regular March meeting. The first thing is people who participated in the buyout program and addressing that issue and possible payback if they come back to work as the program was designed to reduce payroll and now they are coming back. The other issue is coming back into the TCRS (Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System) and the difference between 5 percent expense to current employees and the TCRS expense of 18 percent.

Wood added that these were policy questions for the council to address.

Council member J. H. Graham said he did not want to discriminate against those who took the buyout saying, “if they are good employees and the manager wants them back, I think we should give him a policy that will let him do that.” Graham suggested a formula that the city manager could work from such as an agreement that any buyout employees would agree to not have a cost of living increase for at least 3 years and they would not receive the usual 5 percent increase after 6 months for a period of 2 years.

Graham moved to use his suggestion and as calculations were thrown out Mayor James Mayberry said he would like to have the calculations on paper and the motion was withdrawn to be moved to March 21 at a special called meeting.

Other items on the work session include third reading on the updated public records ordinance along with second reading of an ordinance on excavation and cuts in public right of ways that disallows masonry structures taller then 6 inches on public right of way and second reading of the ordinance on telecommunications.   

Shooting Sports Park, hiring retirees and masonry mailbox holders and more to be discussed at city council

The proposed Shooting Sports Park on Albert Frye Road returns to the Crossville city council's agenda for Tuesday evening after complaints came from residents near the proposed site at last weeks council work session.

The project, brought to the city council some 18 months ago by Cumberland Co. Mayor Kenneth Carey will be built using over $2 million from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on land the city is selling to the non-profit corporation that will operate the facility. At last months meeting the council agreed to the sale of the property under what city attorney Will Ridley described as a binding contract. The sale is to take place by April 1 under that contract.

During city council's work session last week, discussion on the

proposed Shooting Sports Park came up as neighbors expressed

concern for noise and property values.  City Engineer Time Begley

explained a diagram of the property to council. 

Several property owners in the area of the old city landfill property are now opposing the project due to noise and property value concerns. It is unclear what action the council can take at the March meeting.

The council's evening starts with the monthly audit committee meeting at 5:30 PM and the regular council meeting gets underway at 6:00 PM.

Council will also discuss and consider action on the matter of rehiring previous city retirees. Such rehiring will be more costly then the other hires as they would have to be place back under the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS). New city manager Gary Wood has given his recommendation on such hirings in the future.

Wrote Wood, “It would be my recommendation as a rule to not allow these employees to return unless there were extraordinary circumstances necessitating their return. In those cases, if they received a retirement buyout, that buyout would have to be paid back over whatever period of time they had to serve to reach the 30 year threshold or five (5) years, whichever is greater. Any other retirement non-buyout incentives received would be deducted from incentives received upon the subsequent separation.

Additionally, their pay should be reduced by 5% to put them on equal footing with other employees who now have to pay in 5% to ICMA (International City/Co Management Association) when the retirees would not be paying that amount. This is the only way I can see to keep the employee from “double dipping” and maintaining some equity with employees now under ICMA. Employees of Police or Fire could have knowledge based testing waived, but would still need to pass the physical testing requirements of new hires.”

Wood spoke during the work session and said that the city had hiried back the former city police chief David Beaty and that people seemed happy about that. Wood added that he felt the city needed guidance from the council for future decisions.

Wood also wrote about the bridge insurance that was offered to those who took early retirement and that it was less of a problem but still needed a ruling by the council.

Another somewhat controversial discussion was an ordinance that would not allow masonry structures to be built on the city's right of way that were higher then 6 inches. This would create a problem for the anyone who wanted to construct a stone or concrete mailbox enclosure. City engineer Tim Begley said there were several potential problems with those including traffic hazards, blocking the city ability to access their water and sewer lines.

Any such structures that currently exist would be grandfathered but new ones would not be allowed. They would have to be built on the owners property with a way for the mailman to access them.

The city is working on an ordinance to help control new cell phone and other communication towers as new technology changes. The city staff is requesting the council approve a temporary moratorium on such new construction and begin the process of approving a new ordinance.

Council will also consider adding a new full time position at the Palace Theatre. Currently there is one full time and 3 part-time positions. One of the part time positions would become a full time position due to the very busy schedule at the theatre and the need for additional help.

Work continues on the city's solid waste contract renewal. The matter was discussed at the council's work session with much of that on the difference between residential and commercial waste pickup. The matter has been discussed by council before without a resolution. It is something that needs to be addressed before the city continues toward a decision on taking back over waste collections or putting out a contract bid.  

New city manager sworn in

Crossville's new city manager Greg Wood was sworn in by mayor James Mayberry this morning and has started his new position.  Greg Wood, who has many years of governmental management experience was hired from some 40 applicants seeking the position.

Crossville mayor James Maybery, right, administers the oath of office

to incoming Crossville city manager Greg Wood. (City of Crossville photo)

New Crossville city manager Greg Wood expected to start Monday

It has been a bumpy ride for the city of Crossville in the 11 months since Crossville had a professional government manager at the helm of the city.  The last one, city manager David Rutherford was voted out in a special called meeting April 5, 2016 and Woods first day in office will be March 6, 2017.

New Crossville city manager Greg Wood

In addition to a lawsuit filed by the former interim police chief Rod Shoap over his treatment, grievances filed by one city employee against an interim city manager that lead to his dismissal as well as the dismissal of a department secretary and a written reprimand placed against the city's marketing director, a councilman and a city department head both faced criminal charges over alleged actions, and reports of serious employee morale problems in several departments have been discussed by council and the community.

We asked Mr Wood for his thoughts on what he felt his first steps must be as he begins his new responsibilities as city manager.  His comments follow.

Greg Wood statement: Someone wiser than me once said, “you need to figure out where you are, before you can figure out where you are going.” The first thing I need to do is a lot of listening. I need to build relationships and trust. I need to understand the personality of the new Council makeup and what direction they want to take the City. I need to faithfully communicate that vision to the employees and make them feel they are a valuable part of a team with a vision. The bottom line as an individual I will accomplish little without an effective team.

There are some specific areas I would like to pursue, especially in the area of economic development, but again, that is not a solo act, it takes a team and a vision from elected officials from both Crossville and Cumberland County, as well as stakeholders in the private sector. I am not of the mindset that the government holds all the answers, but I also remember that I work directly for the five Council members elected by the citizens. Finally, I will endeavor to instill the employees with the values of stewardship and accountability I feel are a vital part of public service.  

New Crossville city manager expected to start March 6, already working on city budget.

Crossville's new manager Greg Wood is expected to officially start March 6 but has already received information on the city's upcoming budget preparation and is reviewing the data so he'll be up to date when he starts.

After ten months since the last professional city manager David Rutherford was removed from the position, Crossville has seen two two interim city managers and several employee morale issues.

The council has been searching for a manager for nearly 6 months and received some 40 applications. The council narrowed the list down to 6 and during the interview process three of those candidates dropped out of the running before the city selected Wood of Baker Florida for the position.

Council initially made the offer to Wood in a special called meeting February 7 and approved the draft of an employment contract during the regular council meeting February 14. The motion to approve the contract was unanimous with four votes in favor. Councilman J. H. Graham was absent as he continues to recover from recent surgery.

Council approves new city manager contract

In addition to the two year contract at a salary of $80,211 with a possible 10 percent raise in 6 months, the agreement includes a 6 month severance deal if Wood is not fired for cause. The effective date of the employment is March 6th and Wood will receive up to a $2500 moving allowance. Wood also receives health, disability and life insurance, a vehicle to drive and a $50 a month cell phone allowance.

During the interview, Greg Wood was asked for a series of words to describe himself and he responded that he was “genuine, a simple man, compassionate, logical, not taking himself too seriously and a team player.”

When asked about his impressions of Crossville, Mr. Wood said that “Crossville was a great place to live.” He said he had looked around and found out some things adding, “None of it scared me off.”

Greg Wood currently lives in Baker Florida. He holds a masters of public administration from the University of West Florida. From 2013 to 2016 Mr. Wood served as the county administrator of Harris County Georgia. From 2010 to 2012 he served as the county manager for Jasper County Georgia and from 2007 to 2009 as the county administrator of Holmes Co. Florida and similar experience back to 1984 along with a time in the military.

Wood did receive one of the highest ratings from the UT Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) consultants who ranked the initial list of candidates last November based on their experience.

The search for a city manager got underway in August last year with an initial deadline set for applications at the end of September and that deadline was extended twice because of a November election and new council members taking seats in December.   

Mr. Wood's resume is below:

City manager candidate Greg Wood has taken council's offer--final approval could come Tuesday night.

It appears that the City of Crossville's new city manager will be Greg Wood and final approval could come as soon as Tuesday's council meeting.

According to Mayor James Mayberry, tasked with negotiating with candidate Greg Wood who was selected in a special called meeting last Tuesday, Wood has accepted the offer and agreed to the terms of a 2 year contract proposed. The only contingency remaining is a background check though Mayberry said Wood had held a high level of clearance when he was in the military and it is hoped the results of that check will be available by Tuesday night.

Council makes offer to Greg Wood for city manager

A draft contract is up for review by the council though sources say Wood has already agreed to the terms and signed the contract. Mayberry said Wood had a few loose end to tie up before he would come to Crossville but information on the city's budget will be forwarded to him and he will start reviewing the budget right away.

In addition to the two year contract at a salary of $80,211 with a possible 10 percent raise in 6 months, the agreement includes a 6 month severance deal if Wood is not fired for cause. The effective date of the employment is March 6th and Wood will receive up to a $2500 moving allowance. Wood also receives health, disability and life insurance, a vehicle to drive and a $50 a month cell phone allowance.  Wood's resume is below.

Tuesday night's meeting schedule starts with the Audit Committee meeting starting at 4:45 followed by a closed executive session with the attorney at 5:15. The executive session could last up to 30 minutes and a beer board meeting will be held at 5:45 with the regular meeting to begin at 6:00 PM.

The council's agenda will take up operations of the new corporate hanger at the Crossville Memorial Airport. The hanger has been in use for a period of time but no discussion of fees, utilities and operational concerns have been addressed. Council is also expected to approve a final change order on the project, a reduction of $13,000 in the final cost.

Councilwoman Pamala Harris is expected to be appointed to a vacancy on the City Lake Commission and council is expected to handle two requests for sewer service out side the city limits.

Other agenda items council will consider:

• Changes to the public records ordinance and policy,
• Third reading on the property tax freeze,
• Loan agreement on Air Force jet Miss Nettie,
• Street closings for monthly cruise-ins,
• Property transfer for Shooting Sports Park,
• Quail Hollow airport property.