News from the Crossville city council meeting February 2000
Crossville
city council approved moving forward with two road improvement
projects that staff and city officials have been studying since last
year.
The
first project is to help the situation on Elmore Road between Main
Street and West Avenue. The state will take the current four lanes,
mill the asphalt surface and repave the road striped with five lanes
including a center turn lane. The road itself will not be widened,
but the lanes adjusted within the current road width. According to
correspondence from the Tennessee department of transportation, the
two outside lanes will be 11 feet wide while the three remaining
lanes will each be 10 feet wide.
A
state study of the number of wrecks put the road’s accident rate at
almost three times the state average. The short one-third of a mile
stretch has tallied 130 accidents in the last three years, 40 of
those were rear-end type accidents.
The
city’s piece of the project will be to replace the sensor loops in
the road that operate the automatic traffic signals and adjust the
signal heads as necessary. Public Works director Richard Campbell
has estimated the cost to the city at around $5,000.
The
other road improvement project approved by council was to make
Stanley Street and Fourth Street three lanes in the area of
Cumberland County High School. In addition to the road widening
proposed, the city plans to build a one-lane drive from Stanley
Street across the front lawn at CCHS as a quick student drop off or
pick up area. The city has been studying the congestion problems
caused by both the morning and afternoon school traffic rush for
several months at the request of school officials.
The
total estimated cost for the complete package is $75,000. The state
will fund around $45,000 of the project leaving about $30,000 to be
paid for out of the city’s budget. Council members discussed the
fact that their intentions have been to use their portion of the
additional sales tax revenue from last year’s sales tax increase
referendum for road improvements. Sales tax collections from the
holiday shopping season increased dramatically over previous years.
October and December sales tax revenue increased over $100,000 with
November almost that much.
Both
road improvement projects were approved by a unanimous vote of the
council.
Don
Hinch updated the city council on tourism and different ways the
Chamber of Commerce promotes the local area to potential visitors.
In addition to a brochure promoting overall tourism, the chamber has
started promoting a trademarked logo and slogan of Crossville as the
golf vacation capital of Tennessee. According to Hinch an estimated
400,000 rounds of golf were played in Cumberland County last year.
The
Chamber has developed a multi-page golf brochure, the 2000 Lifestyle
magazine and placed ads in the state tourism and golf magazines.
Currently, through a state tourism grant chamber employees man the
two Cumberland County I-40 rest areas during daylight hours. An
estimated 200,000 vehicles stop in at the rest areas while it is
manned and visitors have a chance to ask questions and pick-up
information on area attractions.
Council
also passed a resolution in opposition to action considered by the
state legislature that would balance the state budget by reducing the
so-called state shared taxes returned to Crossville. Currently the
city receives almost $1 million a year from the program and estimates
city property taxes would have to raised by 60 cents per $100 of
value to offset the loss of all that state funding. Currently city
property taxes are 70 cents and the increase would nearly double
property owners’ city tax bill. City taxpayers could also face an
increase in their county property tax bill of nearly 44 cents per 100
value.
In
other action, council:
Commended
public works director Richard Campbell for his “exemplary”
service as interim city manger;
Recognized
Crossville Elementary third grader Barbara Brady as the student of
the month. Teacher Glenn Linebaugh said Barbara was an excellent
student with excellent behavior and helped others;
Directed
city attorney Lanny Colvard to send a letter to Highways, Inc.
requesting payment for the estimated $7,000 to $10,000 still owed to
the city.
Increased
city attorney Colvard’s hourly billing rate from $100 to $125 per
hour.
Deferred
action on a request by the Art Circle Library for further study and
deferred action on establishing Martin Luther King Day as a city
holiday.
