The Crossville city council meets for their regular March work session Tuesday, March 6 at 5 PM in the third floor conference room at city hall and will take up topics including merger discussions with South Cumberland Utility District, renewal of contract with Crossville Areo as fixed base operator and airport manager, and discussion on the purchase of the old handle mill property.
Crossville Airport Terminal Building
The discussion on a merger between the city water department and South Cumberland would be similar to the agreement that merged the Catoosa Utility district into the Catoosa Utility Department. 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. Synergies of operation would include cross training of employees, convert software and convert retirement plans and health insurance.
The city has also discussed a similar merger offer to the West Cumberland Utility District.
The current contract renewal of Crossville Aero expires in April and includes 2 additional 2-year renewals on the contract. Chris Bennett has requested the renewal Council will also discuss a previously proposed amendment to the airport contract.
Council will also discuss the status of the proposed purchase of the property on Webb Ave that is the remaining property that was the longtime handle mill. Included in the possible purchase is property owned by the railroad company. The city is seeking help from the county for the purchase of the property and would fund the development of parking and other amenities by itself.
Other items on the agenda include discussion of a utility use analysis of facilities and infrastructure the city operates, the city manager performance evaluation, purchases of the splash pad and playground for Garrison Park and scoreboards for Warner Complex and Centennial Park. Also up for discussion is an ordinance prohibiting the tethering of dogs at certain times and during certain conditions.
Crossville city council approved
changes to the contract between the city and Crossville Aero, the
fixed base operator of the Crossville airport.
The contract changes brought up some
discussion by council members and caught Crossville Aero's Chris
Bennett off guard as he was unaware the item was on the council
agenda though he was at the meeting.
Crossville Airport building
The item was originally under the
council's consent agenda but was pulled out for separate discussion
and action by councilwoman Pamala Harris. Ms. Harris asked city
attorney Will Ridley if he was given an opportunity to review the
agreement? Mr. Ridley said he saw it when the council did as part of
the previous weeks work session but said he did not have a hand in
drafting the document.
Council discusses airport contract changes
Harris said she felt that anytime an
agreement of that nature the city attorney should be involved in
drafting it. In addition Harris added that she would like the
administration to share the document with the attorney.
Harris asked Ridley if he was OK with
the agreement and Ridley said he was.
Crossville city manager Greg wood, left, and
city council members
Mayor James Mayberry moved to approve
the item and a second was given by councilman Danny Wyatt. Mayberry
asked if the new city manager Greg Wood had negotiated the items of
the agreement and Wood said that the agreement memorializes the
agreements that had previously been made. Those agreements included
an increase in the flow fee for fuel sales from 5 to 10 cents per
gallon and an additional $200 a month rental fee for the use of the
new hanger and paying for the hanger's utilities.
Councilman Wyatt asked Mr. Bennett if
he was good with the changes? Bennett said he was fine but had not
seen the agreement and did not know it was on the agenda. Bennett
added that he knew the changes had been talked about so they were not
a surprise to him.
Wyatt added that he agreed with Ms.
Harris that the city attorney should review the documents. Manager
Wood said he had been educated on the issue and would see to it in
the future,
The council voted unanimously to
approve the contract amendment.
Crossville city council meets for the
regular June meeting on Tuesday June 13 and will hold a public
hearing on the city's upcoming 2017-18 fiscal year budget as well as
consider the second reading of the three required to approve it.
The meetings get underway with the
audit committee meeting at 5:00 PM with the budget public hearing to
follow at 5:30 PM and the regular meeting starting at 6 :00 PM.
Most of the council agenda is routine
with even the budget and tax rate ordinance approvals in the consent
agenda. The third and final reading on the 2017-18 budget and tax rate is expected later in June with the new budget year starting July 1, 2016
Other consent agenda items include a budget amendment for
Garrison Park renovations, changes to the tree removal ordinance and
an amendment to the agreement between the city and Crossville Aero on
the airport operation.
The changes to the airport agreement
increase the fuel flow fee from 5 cents a gallon to 10 cents per
gallon and add the lease on the new hanger to the agreement. An
additional 20 annual bid approvals for a year of purchases are also
expected to be approved with the consent agenda.
Two bids that are not under the consent
agenda is the proposed special city census. The low bidder has
recently performed a census for the city of Farragut and is the low
bidder with an estimate of just under $21,500. The only other bid
received came in at $92,000. The city had budgeted $50,000. Catoosa
Utility district is seek to purchase 204 water meters with funds left
in their budget. The cost would be $29,360.
At the end of the agenda is an item on
the development of the industrial site for which the city has
received a state grant. In addition to approval of the grant
contract, an agreement has been worked out between the city and the
county for the joint funding of the matching funds that is on the
agenda for approval. Cumberland County has already approved and
County Mayor Ken Carey has signed the document.
The Crossville city council approved a
plan discussed during the council's earlier work session on how to
handle operation of the new corporate hanger at the Crossville
Memorial Airport.
The new hanger is now complete and
council also approved the final change order on the construction that
reduced the cost of the total project by $13,296. The total cost of
the hanger is around $1 million and with a grant, the city's portion
of the cost was 5 percent or around $50,000.
Crossville Memorial Airport
There was a short discussion at the
work session on the operation of the hanger. The city does not yet
know what the average utilities cost will be for the operation nor
what kind of demand the hanger will generate and rental revenue. The
discussion from airport manager Chris Bennett of Crossville Areo included some typical
rental charges for use of hangers at other airports in the area that
Bennett researched.
Word for word: Airport hanger discussion
The discussion turned to allowing
Bennett to rent the entire hanger from the city allowing him to
operate the facility, paying for the utilities and a monthly rental
charge while allowing Bennett to keep any fees generated by the use
of the hanger.
At the regular meeting, Mayor James
Mayberry explained that the city would accept $200 a month rent from
Bennett for the use of the hanger. Mayberry moved to approve the
agreement that would be amended to the rental agreement the city
already has with the fixed base operator.
The motion was supported by councilman
Danny Wyatt and with no further discussion, the motion was
unanimously approved by all four council members present. Councilman
J. H. Graham was unable to attend the meeting.
The morning of September 30 has already
lead to theft charges against two people with connections to the city
of Crossville. Crossville water resources director Jerry Kerley and
William Harwell, identified as his accomplice in the alleged theft of
political signs from a yard at Mockingbird Drive and Iris Circle both
face misdemeanor theft charges with an initial court date of October
31.
According to airport manager Chris
Bennett, William Harwell works at the Crossville Memorial Airport.
Jerry Kerley and William Harwell were
established as suspects by the district attorney general's office in
the theft of political signs criticizing Crossville city councilman
Jesse Kerley after a neighbor captured part of the incident on video
with his cell phone. The neighbor then followed the truck until he
could get a license number and the truck turned out to be registered
to Jerry Kerley, a white 2008 crew cab pickup.
Security videos from the Crossville
memorial airport show some surprising activities and it appears the
two men left from the airport just after 9 AM and drove toward
Crossville. The truck returned to the airport about 16 minutes later
and drove out on the tarmac in front of the large hanger and out of
range of the security cameras. The truck returned to the camera view
after about 4 minutes and parked beside the airport terminal building
and you can see Mr. Kerley get out of the truck and walk toward the
building. Kerley's truck remains parked next to the terminal until at
least 10 AM.
District Attorney General Bryant
Dunaway has confirmed that the stolen signs from Blankenship's yard
were recovered at the airport in what Dunaway described as a storage
building.
The security videos also show
interesting activity prior to the two men leaving the airport then
returning. At 8:48 according to the video's time stamp, two pickup
trucks drove into the airport from the direction of Crossville, the
white pickup that belong to Jerry Kerley and a gray Dodge Ram pickup
that is owned by airport manager and fixed base operator Chris
Bennett. Bennett's truck drives around the corner of the airport
terminal building then out on the tarmac while Kerley's truck parks
in front of the terminal and he goes inside.
After a little over 20 minutes, Kerley
and the same man shown in the video made by the neighbor based on the
charges filed, appears to be William Harwell wearing the same clothes
and white ball cap come out the front door of the terminal building,
get into Kerley's white truck and they leave the airport and the
truck turns toward Crossville.
Other questions that remain include that based on Jerry Kerley's time sheet for the week all this activity was done on city time. His time sheet shows 8 hours or a full day of work on September 30. Between 8:45 and at least 10 AM, Kerley is at the airport or caught on video at the Mockingbird Drive house.
Jerry Kerley's time sheet for the date in question
To date no disciplinary action of any kind has been taken against Mr. Kerley by the city manager.
Timeline of airport security video (The
time stamp is 5 minutes fast so each time stamp is five minutes off.
8:48 is actually 8:43 AM)
8:48 AM: Jerry Kerley's truck turns
into the airport from the direction of Crossville followed by the
gray Dodge truck owned by Crossville airport manager and FBO Chris
Bennett. Kerley parks in front of the terminal building and goes
inside while Bennett's truck goes toward the main hanger at the
airport.
Kerley's and Bennett's trucks arrive at the airport
Jerry Kerley and Chris Bennett arrive at the airport
8:49 AM: Kerley goes in the front door of the terminal while Chris Bennett and William Harwell come in the door from the tarmac where Bennet parked. It appears the two men rode together.
Bennett's truck drives toward tarmac
Bennett's truck enters secure area tarmac
Bennett and Harwell enter terminal a short time later
9:12 AM: Jerry Kerley and the other
suspect William Harwell come out of the front door of the terminal
and go to Kerley's truck and get in.
Kerley and Harwell get in Kerley's truck
9:13 AM: Kerley's white truck drives
down the drive way and turns toward Crossville.
Kerley's truck heads out of the airport
Not time stamped, but sometime shortly after 9 AM suspects are caught on tape preparing to leave the property at Mockingbird Drive.
9:29 AM: Kerley's truck returns to the
airport from the direction of Crossville, drives in front of the
terminal building, around the corner and through the open gate onto
the tarmac. The truck turns in front of the hanger and goes out of
camera view.
Kerley's truck returns to the airport
Kerley's truck turns at side of terminal
Kerley's truck enters secure area tarmac.
9:33 AM: The truck drives out of the
secure area of the airport and parks on the side of the terminal.
Jerry Kerley gets out of the truck and goes inside the side door of
the terminal.
Door of Kerley's truck as he gets out
Kerley walks to Terminal
10:00 AM: Kerley's truck remains parked
in the space on the side of the terminal building.
The video ends here
Eye witness video shot of Kerley's truck at Mockingbird Drive house.
Raw security videos from the Crossville airport:
Security cam in front of terminal
Close up shot of airport parking lot entrance at end of driveway.
Airport security cam at corner of terminal building.
Security camera at entrance to airport secure area
As the final months of two councilmen's
terms head toward conclusion, a rash of final information requests
and reports are coming out.
Councilman Pete Souza has written a
letter he delivered at the end of last weeks audit committee meeting
addressed to the auditors Maultin and Jenkins, CPA/LLC who have
started their work on the city books requesting that they look into 4
items at his request and make the responses part of their audit
report for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
Those 4 items listed in his letter
include:
“The use of a city vehicle for
personal use by interim city manager Steve Hill, whose authorization
was not part of his contract, or authorized by a quorum of the City
Council in a public meeting advertised or recorded. (City personnel
ordinance paragraph 1-707, 2 and paragraph 1-708 and the city
charter germane.
The execution of administrative
action by interim city manager Steve Hill to grant himself and other
members (selectively) to recreate (play golf) during normal work
hours without authority granted in an open meeting, advertised and
proper announced by the City council.
Review the policy of the city or
the lack of policy by the City that (since 2007) Crossville Aero
(fixed base operator), management supervisory for Crossville
Airport, airport manager Crossville Aero be allowed under an honor
system to pay fuel fees to the City. This even though at public
meeting evidence was presented of conflicts with fuel payments and
fuel delivery numbers. The determination that the difference of
$2000 is insufficient to warrant auditing.
To review the City policy to allow
Crossville Aero the use of a City vehicle and City tractor in
conflict with the current contract and a legal opinion from the City
attorney and the City charter.”
The audit is expected to be completed
near the end of this year.
When councilman Jesse Kerley saw the list at the audit committee meeting he said it was "trash."
