The city of Crossville sent out an update on the March meeting agenda Monday morning outlining some possible options to the dog tethering ordinance discussed for the last few weeks.
The Historic Palace Theatre on Main Street in Crossville will host the annual Christmas open house sponsored by the City of Crossville on Thursday, December 14. The event runs from 4:00 to 6:00 PM and refreshments will be served.
A variety of entertainment will also be appearing on the Palace stage and Santa Claus will be visiting as well. The public is invited to stop by and chat with Crossville elected officials and city employees.
This event was started by Mayor Will Cox in the 1980's when it was called the Mayor's Open House.
Will the city take over operation of the Depot? Will the city agree to a new contract with South Cumberland Utility District for sale of water? And will the council agree on a price for the industrial property with a pad ready to construct a 200,000 square foot building?
All these questions and more could be answered during the Crossville city council's regular September meeting Tuesday, September 12. The council's busy evening starts with the Audit Committee meeting at 5:15 PM followed by the Beer Board meeting at 5:45 PM. Council will also meet as the solicitation board at 5:55 PM. The regular council agenda starts at 6 PM in Council Chambers at city hall.
Council will consider the renewal of the city's water sales agreement with the South Cumberland Utility District. The district's board has requested that the same terms be continued on a 10-year renewal of the contract.
Council will discuss and consider the future operation of the Crossville Depot. For many years the depot was operated by the local Rotary Foundation and for the last 2 years by the C.A.T.S. Art organization. C.A.T.S. Advised the city they would not renew the lease and the city began looking at options.
Crossville 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 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 would also operate the gift shop and plans to stock only Tennessee made products.
Council will consider a request for sewer service from the Cumberland Homestead Tower Association. Currently, the tower museum does not have public restroom facilities due to septic issues. Sewer service is currently used by the Homestead Elementary School and sewer lines are near the tower.
Council will also consider setting a price per acre for the site being developed in the Interchange industrial park. The land is the location of the 200,000 square foot construction pad funded through a state grant along with the city and the county. $60,000 per acre has been recommended though discussion during the work session indicates that price may change. The property is currently being marketed in anticipation of the site being ready next year.
Council will discuss the proposal for health insurance from the Tennessee Municipal League risk pool program. The city currently participates in the liability portion of the program and the health insurance pool is a newer program. Council members heard a presentation on the program during the work session last week.
Council will go back to first reading in an attempt to remove the monthly report by the Chamber of Commerce from the agenda.
Additional items on the agenda for council are bids and purchases on 10 items including water meters, a street department leaf vac trailer and several trucks. Under the consent agenda Council has the second reading of the telecommunications facilities ordinance, several grant applications, and several event street closings.
Discussions of sidewalks along Fourth
Street and Myrtle Avenue first started some 8 years ago but after a
long and winding road, those sidewalks are partly completed and the
community will get the benefit.
The first discussion by the Crossville
city council of the safe routes to schools grant was in March of 2009
when the application for the grant was approved by action of the
council.
It has taken the intervening 8 years
and numerous council discussions and grant extensions by the
Tennessee Department of Transportation to get the program to where it
is today. Sidewalks along Fourth St. past Cumberland County High
School have been completed and work is currently being done on
sidewalks along Myrtle Avenue. Myrtle Avenue was the most difficult
part of the project because it became necessary for the city to
purchase additional right of way and pay to have utilities moved
before the final design could be approved by TDOT. Several fits and
starts put the funding at risk and TDOT gave two additional
extensions on the program after giving one they called the absolute
final extension.
Sidewalks along Fourth St. have
been completed. This is near the intersection
with Myrtle Ave.
Sidewalks along Myrtle Ave.
are under construction now.
On Friday May 19 kids at Martin
Elementary School participated in bicycle safety training provided as
part of the grant. The kids learned about helmets, how to ride
safely and proper bicycle sizes too.
Martin Elementary 3rd and 4th grade students
learn bicycle safety.
The state TDOT website describes the SRTS program as follows. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a federally-funded program focusing on the benefits of children walking and biking to school. Its programs aim to improve safety for children and the community and provide opportunities to increase physical activity. A model program integrates health, fitness, traffic relief, environmental awareness, and safety under one program. Bringing together a diverse group of people to identify issues and find ways to improve walking and biking conditions is the core of a successful SRTS program.
Martin Elementary School Fifth grader Corbin Seiber was recognized as the student of the month at the April Crossville city council meeting.
Corbin was recognized for the character trait of citizenship and recognized by his teacher Kim Smith because " he sets a fine example, handles the responsibility of raising the flag and lowering it each day and is always mannerly."
Crossville Mayor James Mayberry, left, presents April
student of the month Corbin Seiber, right, with his award.
After spending over 2 hours on the city's 20017-18 budget last week, they will continue those discussions Tuesday April 25 at 5 PM.
The initial budget was over $2.4 million in the red and council heard about some of the changes and item in the current budget. Employees would get a 2.5% raise if council leaves the money for that in the budget. In addition, time was spent discussing the fire department's budget that is requesting 3 new employees for medical response but again puts off a new fire station proposed for Sparta Highway.
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.
Another one of the city manager candidate finalists picked by city council has removed his name from consideration for the position.
Mark Reeter of Bristol Tennessee Informed HR manager Leah Crockett that he was taking another position and no longer wanted to be considered for the position.
Of the original 6 candidates chosen as finalists only 3 remain in the running. Two candidates were interviewed Monday night and the final candidate Greg Wood will be interviewed Tuesday evening at 5 PM.
Members of the Crossville city council interview Steve Foote, candidate for
The Crossville city council met in a
work session to discuss the proposed shooting sports park proposed to
be located on the city's Dorton landfill property with construction
expected to take place in 2017.
The program was brought to the city
some 18 months ago by county mayor Ken Carey who said that the TWRA
would fund the construction and the land form the city was needed to
locate the park on. The work session brought some additional details
on the program and the need for the city to be willing to lease the
land needed for the project to a non-profit group that is currently
being established.
Cumberland County mayor Kenneth Carey, left, talks about plans for the
Shooting Sports Park while city council members Danny Wyatt, center,
and Pamala Harris, left, listen
Carey started the meeting stating that
he and the council were there to “take the old landfill site and
make it a tourist destination.” Carey said the matter had been
brought to the council several times and council had given their
blessing. According to Carey, the funding agencies for the the
$2.2 million including federal and state funds have decided that they
would be more comfortable with a lease by the city to the non-profit
entity that would revert to the city should the park cease to
operate.
The funds for the project come from
federal Pittman-Robertson funding generate by excise tax on
ammunition and granted to states for conservation efforts, hunter's
education and shooting projects and programs.
Preliminary plan for local Shooting Sports Park.
Council member Pam Harris asked about
potential liability if the city retains ownership of the property and
leases it. City attorney Will Ridley said they have discussed
putting an indemnification clause in the lease requiring them to
maintain a certain amount of insurance.
Councilman J. H, Graham asked about the
budget for the non-profit operation and details on the kind of market
they would be attempting to reach. Carey said that the budget would
be determined once the facility was up and going. The market would
include shooting sports such as trap shooting, skeet shooting,
sporting clays and pistol competitions.
A large turnout for the city work session on the Shooting Sports Park plans
According to Carey the local facility
is being modeled after a similar facility in Carroll County that has
pistol teams come from as far away as Texas and Florida. The facility
would also allow the hosting of regional and state competitions
because of the size of the facility. Carey added that the teams here
travel as far as Illinois and Ohio for competitions.
The facility would also benefit local
law enforcement. Interim police chief Mark Rosser said that the city
has a facility at Meadow Park Lake but they have not spent any money
there lately based on the possibility of the new facility. Rosser
said the facility includes a paved area and range house but any
additions have been put off.
Questions on funding and staffing
remain somewhat of a question. Carey said they would determine if a
full time position was needed or if all employees would be part-time.
The grant requires that the facility be open at least 20 hours a
week. According to Carey the plan is for the range to be open more
then that and open to the public. He added it is not a membership
type facility and that anyone can come a shoot.
Carey said that local shooters have
done well in competition and some has aspirations to be on the
Olympic team. He pointed out that some of the shooters have to go as
far as Nashville to practice one type of discipline now and the
practice required make that kind of travel difficult.
According to city attorney Ridley, the
plan is for a draft of the agreement to be on the agenda for the
January council meeting.
Mayor Carey said in addition to
attracting tourists and having a place for locals to enjoy that his
ultimate goal is to hopefully attract a gun related industry to
locate near the shooting sports park such as a firearms manufacturer.
The City Attorney will be holding a closed executive session to discuss pending litigation at 12:00 on Wednesday, December 21, that will last about 10 minutes. Following the closed session, the work session on the shooting sports park will be held.
Property owners on the north side of Dunn Avenue have requested the city to construct a side walk for the three commercial lots between Walmart and Interstate Drive.
The request letter goes back to 2014 when the proposal was made for the property owners dentist Johnny Shanks, David Rose and Bruce Wyatt to pay half the cost of material for sidewalks, curb and gutter with the city paying the other half and the labor. The previous requests have been discussed but no action ever taken, One city manager suggested the property owners pay all the material costs and the project be ranked with other sidewalk projects.
Request letter from property owners on Dunn Ave.
The city of Crossville has numerous sidewalk projects in its capital improvement plan that appear to have priority over the Dunn Ave project. As late as a June 2016 work session, the project was again reviewed and then deferred.
Dunn Ave. on the right, behind East Tn Dodge--Walmart is in the distance and
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So
far there are 15 candidates who have expressed an interest in the
position of Crossville city manager. Two are from Crossville. The
deadline to contact the city about interest is September 30, 2016.
Terence
Arrington of Greenville SC whose last job is county
administrator for Darlignton Co. South Carolina. Arrignton served in
that position from 1-2015 through 8-2016. Arrington has a Masters of
Public Administration and is working toward and MBA. He has
government experience since 2011 including deputy city administrator
of Salisbury MD from 1-2014 to 1-2015.
Wayne
R. Bodie of Orlando Florida currently serves as a captain in
the Orange Co. fire and rescue department. He has worked for the
department since 2005. Bodie holds an MBA and also works as a fire
instructor. He has previous experience in financial services.
Robert
G. Bray, Jr. of Pinellas Park Florida is seeking the position
after retiring as the Community Planning Director for Pinellas Park
Florida between 1995 and 2016. Prior to that Bray had
additional planning experience from 1985-95. He also has a
Masters of Public Adminsitration.
Steve
Foote of Dunwoody Georgia serves that community as the
Director of Economic and Community Development. He has served in that
capacity as the employee of a contractor starting in 2014 and now as
a direct employee of the city. Previously Foote served as director of
planning for Mt. Juliet Tennessee from 2009 to 2014. Foote's
education includes a BS in Geography and Biology and graduate work
toward an Masters in Geography.
Bobby
Goney of Crossville is a registered nurse that has worked in
intensive care for the last several years, curently in Sparta and
prior for Cumberland Medical Center. He holds an MBA in healthcare
administration. In addition, Goney has previous experience in banking
and accounting.
Jason
Hall of Lyons Georgia where he has served as the current
city manager since april of 2013. His previous experience includes
serving as city administrator of Varnell Georgia between 2011 and
2013 and a codes enforcement officer for Ringgold Georgia from 2004
to 2011. Hall has an associates degree in education and additional
course work in business management
Frank
Horvath of Crossville whose resume lists his current position as
business and project manager of Crossville Smiles since January 2013.
Mr. Horvath holds an MBA from University of Indianapolis and
previously worked as project manager for SciSaves, LLC
Daron
E. Jordan of Madisonville Kentucky serves as that city's
community development director, a position he has held since 2005. He
holds a masters degree in organizational management, is a certified
economic developer and also operates a consulting firm that
specializes in grant writing and administration.
Catrina
Maxwell of Milwaukee Wisconsin currently serves as the
deputy clerk of the court for Milwaukee county. Ms. Maxwell holds a
Master's degree in public service with a specialization in criminal
justice administration.
Allen
May of Urbanville IA last held the position of city
administrator of Coal Valley Illinois. He started serving in that
position in 2014. Prior to that position, May has zoning and planning
experience back to 1974.
Louis
A. Ogaard of West Valley City Utah holds a PhD in Botany and
has 20 years experience with the state of North Dokota where he
manage and environmental restoration program. His latest position was
providing environmental support at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.
Adam
R. Rabe of Marengo Iowa. Mr. Rabe has served as director of
the Iowa Co. Iowa EMS since 2008. Part of his tenure was as a
hospital employee then the EMS service became part of the county
operation. In addition, Rabe served 8 years on the Marengo city
council, currently serves on the local 911 board and holds a BS in
public administration.
Christian
Saxe currently holds the position of assistant public works
director at Spring Hill Tennessee, a position he's held since October
of 2015. From 2008 to 2015 Saxe was deputy director of public works
for the city of Orange California. He holds a bachelors degree in
public administration.
W.
Jordan Shaw has been the assistant director of information
technology for Franklin Tennessee since February 2015. Shaw holds a
Doctorate of Business Administration from Argosy University.
Tina
Tuggle of Kingston Tennessee is currently a municipal
finance trainer and previously served as the city manager of Oliver
Springs Tennessee from June 2012 to November 2014. She also served as
Oliver Springs' city recorder from 2010 to 2012. She holds an
associate degree in legal science.
A church sign spotted along 127-N near I-40 offers prayer for Crossville mayor James Mayberry and the city. This sign is a far cry from some of the political opinion signs that have been directed at the city elected officials recently.
The majority of the Crossville city
council agreed to downsize work on the downtown sidewalks project one
more time moving to a plan that will repair much of the area and
replace about 30 to 35 percent.
The outcome might have been different
if all the council members had been present. The called meeting was
set earlier in the week and councilman Pete Souza had informed the
other council members that he was not available for a called meeting
during the week. The meeting was held anyway.
The matter was put on the agenda by
councilman Danny Wyatt and the council had been waiting for a report
on the costs of some alternatives to hiring a contractor to come in
and replace all the sidewalks over a time frame of about 6 months.
Said Wyatt, “This has been talked
about a long time and I feel like it is time to make a decision and
stick with it.” Wyatt said he really didn't care what the decision
was and he didn't have much fight left in him, but he didn't see
spending millions of dollars when it can be repaired for $450,000.
Wyatt moved that the sidewalks be
repaired where needed and hire an engineering firm to tell the city
what is needed to bring the sidewalks up to ADA standards. The
motion would also add a two man crew to the city staff and implement
a 10 year sidewalk plan when Main Street is finished. Wyatt added
that the city should turn Tennessee Department of Transportation
(TDOT) loose to pave Main Street right away. Councilman Jesse Kerley
supported Wyatt's motion.
Council member Pamala Harris spoke
saying that she had spent the last week walking Main Street, looking
at the sidewalks and talking to people as well. Ms. Harris said she
had talked to 19 people and 4 were in favor of the full project to
replace all the sidewalks, 4 were non-committal and 11 were in favor
of the repair process proposed by Mr. Wyatt.
Mayor James Mayberry said the project
had been under consideration for many years and millions had been
spent on the project plus $3.5 million in grants and funding that was
returned. Mr. Mayberry reminded the council that economic
development consultants had said how important a vibrant downtown is
to a community. “I think this patching up is totally different
then what the plan is,” said Mayberry.
A question on how to proceed with the
motion was asked to the city attorney Will Ridley. The last motion
on the project was made in May of 2015 to move forward with the full
project using contractors and install new light poles with the
current metal downtown poles to be used at Centennial Park. The
following month a contract was approved with engineers to designe the
project for bidding at a cost of some $100,000.
Ridely said, “This motion would be
essentially amending that one and so it would need a three fourths
vote of the members present so with this council today it would take
three votes.”
Had all five council members been
present the vote would have required 4 votes to pass.
Mr. Wyatt had some questions for city
engineer Tim Begley about the alternative plan to repair the sidewalk
corners to ADA compliance and replace sidewalks that need replaced.
Mr Begley said that he estimated that some 35 percent of the
sidewalks would need to be replaced but he stressed that that was
only an estimate. Begley added that the time line for the repair
project would be between 6 and 12 months. Because the changes
proposed will require TDOT approval and Begley estimated it could be
up to a year before the city could start on such a project.
Crossville city engineer Tim Begley
One complication is the intersection of
Main Street at Lantana Road because of problems with the placement of
the poles holding the street lights. According to Begley, the staff
has been waiting for direction from the council on how to deal with
the situation. The funds could be pulled from planned work on the
West Avenue and Fourth Street intersection work or left out of the
plans. It was also mentioned that the city needed to provide a
decision to TDOT on the intersection by the end of September. Mr.
Wyatt called that intersection one of the worst and it would be
difficult to convert to ADA accessible corners.
The repair project as proposed would
not include replacement of street light poles and according to
Begley's memo, the repair project would only make the corners ADA and
it would not make entrances to some of the businesses ADA accessible
and he added during the discussion that some of the sidewalks were
so slanted left to right that they were not ADA acceptable. In
addition, there are trip hazards where the sections are not quite the
same height. Begley wrote in his memo that the incomplete work to
upgrade to full ADA compliance could cause problems for the city down
the road.
Ms. Harris commented that several
people had mentioned to her the need to repaint crosswalks and curbs
since those had been left alone while waiting for the project to get
underway.
Mayor James Mayberry said he was in
favor of biting the bullet and doing the sidewalk project as
previously agreed to.
Ms. Harris asked of the project was
equivalent to about a 4 cent tax increase to pay for the more
expensive work? Mr. Mayberry responded, “Actually you've got money
in the bank. You could just cut a check and pay for it.” Mayberry
said the city had $7.5 million in the rainy day fund and another $4.5
million in other funds adding the city could get pretty good interest
rates to borrow the funds.
Clarification of the motion included
the hiring of two full time employees at a cost of $90,000 a year,
two part time employees at $35,000 a year along with necessary
equipment and a truck at a cost of some $80,000 and $40,000 for
concrete and rock.
The vote included yes votes from
council members Wyatt, Harris and Kerley. Mayor Mayberry voted no
and the motion was approved.
Jerry T. Brownstead has taken out a petition to qualify for having his name put on the November ballot for a seat on the Crossville city coincil.
Brownstead is the 9th to take out papers for the 2 available seats on the council. The two seats are currently held by Pete Souza and Jesse Kerley.
Brownstead is an entertainer who also goes by Jerry J. Thomas. As of July 15 he had not returned the petition with the necessary signatures but the deadline is still over a month away.
The Crossville city council has their
regular June meeting scheduled for Thursday June 9 and agenda items
include the council's standing rules once again, public comment and
first amendment rights as well as a discussion on the Apex wind farm
proposed for Crab Orchard.
In addition, a public hearing is
scheduled for 5:30 pm prior to the regular meeting as well as the
second readings of the budget and tax rate ordinances leaving one
final reading for final approval expected to come later in the month.
The schedule for the evening includes
5:00 pm Audit committee meeting
5:30 pm Public hearing on proposed
2016-17 city budget.
5:50 pm Public hearing on annexation of
103 Meadowview Ln.
6:00 pm Regular Council meeting
The consent agenda includes the
readings of the budget and tax rate unless a council member requests
that they be pulled out for either discussion or separate vote. A
long list of annual bids on supplies purchased for the upcoming year
is expected to be a consent list as well and bids on several items
including the infrared FLIR camera for the police department's drone
are on the agenda.
For the third month in a row,
councilman Pete Souza is asking the council to consider rescinding
the council standing rules adopted March 10 this year that abolished
the monthly work sessions and public comment except at the end of the
council's meetings. The previous two times have been unsuccessful.
Another item requested for the agenda
by Mr. Souza is titled “Discussion and possible action on failure
to comply with the standard rules and Robert's Rules during the May
12, 2016 regular scheduled meeting, and violation of first amendment
rights." When asked about the item, Mr. Souza said it was about “the
right for people to speak without being interrupted and the right of
an individual to criticize public officials without abusive behavior.
To be told that they couldn't say anything derogatory about elected
officials is incorrect.” Souza continued by saying, “The council
does not have the right to just blurt in and take over the council
chambers without being recognized.”
Councilman Danny Wyatt has requested to
discuss the impact of the Apex wind farm on Crossville. Wyatt also
wants to discuss the proposed Crossville Memorial Airport Aviation
Hall of Fame and recognizing former councilman, the late Boyd Wyatt,
Sr. for his service and support of the airport.
Other agenda items include a presentation by Hospice, the city manager and city attorney reports, the marketing report and the final reading to approve the budget amendment to pay the severance package to former city manager David Rutherford.
The video of the incident Thursday night just outside of Crossville city hall that involved tow city council members is a bit difficult to see and with no other angle available, several have noted it is easier to follow in slow motion.
This is the slow motion version of the tape obtained exclusively.
