Council worksession touches on Holiday Lake levels, utility district contracts, health insurance and Depot operations

Crossville City Council's September work session touched on a number of topics including water levels at Holiday Lake, utility district contracts, health insurance costs, new plans for the Crossville Depot, and more.

Two items on the agenda and were quickly disposed of with no discussion. There are no plans for any changes to the city charter at the current time and the proposal to re-establish an airport committee has been scrapped.

Several waterfront property owners on Holiday Lake came to the council or were represented by two men who addressed their concern about water levels in the lake and the damage they claim fluctuations in the levels are causing to their property. Ron Boadry and Tom Bailey both addressed the council seeking compensation for damage they claim has been done to their property and others whose petitions they brought with them.

Tom Boardy, left, and Tom Bailey, lake front

residents of Holiday Lake address concerns

with lake level fluctations with council.

Boardy claimed several times that the water level has not been maintained at the level of the automatic relief valves in the weir that the city installed in 2008 to better maintain water levels. In addition, the dam improvements allowed better control of the water levels by building a wider weir that meant less fluctuation in the water level. According to the discussion, before the upgrades to the dam, the water level would rise into peoples yards following heavy rain and it took much longer for the level to drop then it does now.

Holiday Hills Lake reservoir 

Crossville water supervisor Jerry Kerley told the council that a lake the size of Holiday is not like a bathtub and you can't keep the level constant. Anytime rain fall runs into the lake the level rises. “You can't control mother nature,” said Kerley.

Discussion of the concerns also pointed to boats on the lake creating wakes that also cause erosion to the shore line. Council heard the information from the complaints and will take them under advisement. The topic is not on the regular September agenda.

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Council briefly discussed the upcoming renewal of the water sales contract with South Cumberland Utility District. The current contract expires the end of the year and the utility district is seeking no change in the terms of the contract to purchase water.

In addition, the council heard from Ed Anderson, vice chair of the board of the West Cumberland Utility District, as the board is asking to explore the possibility of purchasing water from Crossville. The district currently buys water from the Bondecroft Utility District and has some 7 years left on a 20-year contract but Anderson said that neither side is completely happy with the current contract between them.

Council members advised the utility district to meet with the city manager over a possible contract or merger between the utility district and the city water system as was done with Catoosa several years ago.

Council heard a proposal from the Tennessee Municipal League risk management pool and their program called Tennessee Health Works which is a self-funded health insurance program through the pooling of a number of municipalities. Dawn Crawford, President, and CEO of the TML Pool explained how the program worked to the council and another presentation went over the details of the program and the benefits that the city could see.

Dawn Crawford, right, TML President and CEO talks to

Crossville city council about their health insurance program

The city's insurance renews in January and the TML version of the insurance would have the same benefits for city employees and the cost would increase over the city's current rate by under 2 percent. The city has not received the rate for the coming year from their current carrier yet.

Council discussed the change in operations for the Crossville Depot since the C.A.T.S. Organization is not renewing the lease. The city is looking at running the depot itself and doing some upgrading to the building including new flooring for the meeting area. According to the discussion, Downtown Crossville, Inc. advised the city that they support the project and are willing to assist by providing a new solid wood floor up to $10,000 for the meeting room to look more like the original floor. The room currently is carpeted and the carpet is not good shape after years of use.

Crossville Train 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 potentially 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 also plans to operate the gift shop at the depot stocking entirely Tennessee made products and souvenirs. The gift shop would have more hours than it has in the past operating from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM Tuesday through Saturday. The gift shop would also be open during any rental events at the depot as well.

The estimated revenue from rental for the first year of operation is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000 and as a clientele is built up that is expected to rise. In its best year, the Depot peaked at 450 rentals for the year and revenue at that level would be around $48,000.

The city is also seeking to have the depot listed on the National Historic Register.

Tuesday Council work session covers Holiday Lake levels, charter changes, water contracts and much more

Crossville city council faces a lengthy agenda for their monthly work session in preparation for the September regular meeting. The council will meet Tuesday August 5 at 5 PM in conference room 317 at Crossville city hall.

Crossville City Hall

Among the topics on the agenda is the level of Holiday Hills Lake. In 2008 the city rebuilt the dam weir and for a time the water level was higher then previous levels and after much discussion the city decided to maintain the lake at the original level after looking into what would be required to maintain the higher water level.

Work on Holiday Hills dam in 2008

Ron Bodary, a resident of Waterview Drive will be at the work session to discuss the lake's water levels. Even through the city has said they left the level at the original height, Mr. Bodary and others claim the lake level has remained high and the automatic relief valves are not being used by the city often causing the water to flow over the spill way that is nine inches above the level the city said it would maintain.

Mr. Bodary and several other residents are petitioning the city for restitution for the alleged damage to their property for the city's failure to maintain the water level approved by the council in 2010.

County Property Assessor David Simcox will address the council on issues with income based tax assessment/appraisals for subsidized housing properties. Council will also hear a presentation from the Tennessee Municipal League Risk Management Pool on their self insured health insurance program that they offer.

The possibility of changes to the city charter will come back before the council after being briefly discussed during the June council work session. Councilman Danny Wyatt will lead the discussion.

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Council will also discuss a renewal of their water sales contract with the South Cumberland Utility District. The current ten year contract expires at the end of the year and SCUD is expected to be requesting a renewal under the same terms as the current contract.

In addition, the West Cumberland Utility District (formerly Pleasant Hill Utility district) has approached the city about their willingness to provide water to them in the future. City staff is seeking guidance from the council on how to respond to the request. Also, the Homestead Tower Association is requesting to connect to city sewer as their septic system has failed. The tower property is just outside of the Crossville city limits.

A proposal to reestablish an airport committee to consult on the airport's operation will come back before the council. The proposal, made by council member Scot Shanks does not appear to have a great deal of support from some council members and was deferred from the August council meeting.

Council will consider closing and abandoning Municipal Avenue, the road that crosses between the current police department and fire department buildings. The road closing is being requested by the Crossville Fire Department to allow the construction of an enclosed garage and for safety reasons when the department must respond to emergency calls and doing maintenance on official vehicles.

Map showing proposed Municipal Ave. closing

The cost of property in the city's industrial park could be set by council. The property where the city is working to create a building pad is already being marketed and the city manager is asking council to confirm the $60,000 per acre asking price as the pad is expected to be available next year.

Council will discuss a request from Downtown Crossville Inc. to continue their lease of the historic Snodgrass building and the future of the operation of the Crossville Depot. The CATS art group is relinquishing the lease on the building and possibilities include the city taking over the operation or the Crossville Model Train group currently in the Crossville Outlet Mall might mover to the depot.

In addition, council will discuss several upcoming street closing and contracts that will be up for consideration.

CROSSVILLE FLASHBACK: Council works on Holiday Lake Dam problem

(Editor's note: This project came out of a state dam inspection that required work on the dam.  As the work moved forward the city ran into problems with the additional water in the lake and if that was a "taking" of land.  It was discovered that different deeds described the lake water line boundary in different ways and eventually the city left the dam at the level it was but with better control of the water levels. The project was finally completed in 2009)

Council works on its dam problem (July 2002)

The Crossville city council looked at options last Thursday for work required to bring the Holiday Hills Lake dam up to standards required by the Safe Dams Act while also improving the city’s control of the lake’s water level.

Council approved the option recommended by engineer Scott Christian of ECE Services at an estimated cost of $350,000 for work on the dam plus an additional cost for work on the bridge that crosses the dam’s spillway. Based on the council’s action, ECE will have a final report to present to the council at their regular meeting on August 13 with more detailed cost estimates on the project.

Once the final proposed plan is approved by the council in August it will be submitted to the state for their initial approval. When the full plans are prepared, the state must again approve the plan before the project can be put out for bids.

Engineer Scot Christian with ECE explains the plan

to the city council.

The plan chosen would widen the spillway over the dam from the current 32 feet to 150 feet and armor the dam using heavy riprap and rocks. The armor is to maintain the integrity of the dam should water ever flow over the top of it in the event of a super rain event. The spillway includes an upgraded weir system to control the actual water level in the lake. A weir is a gate like device that can be raised or lowered from the bottom.

One side benefit of the proposed dam improvement project is that it will raise the level of the lake by some 9 inches. This means the lake will hold more water increasing the capacity of the lake.

Just over a year ago the city received a notification from the state that the Holiday Lake dam was in apparent violation of the Safe Dams Act. At the time, the city was looking at making improvements to the Holiday Lake dam spillway and weir to better control the level of the lake for the city’s water plant intake.

That 2001 letter indicated that the Holiday Hills dam appeared to violate the Safe Dams Act based on a very unlikely Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) rainfall event of 29.85 inches of rain in a six-hour period. Based on calculations prepared by the state, such a PMP rain event would cause the water behind the Holiday Lake dam to rise more than two feet above the top of the dam and should the dam fail, it would threaten several houses and bridges below the dam.

During the council’s meeting in June of 2001, council approved amending ECE Services contract to include a study and report on improvements to bring the dam into compliance. ECE was already working on the spillway and weir project at the time.

At last week’s meeting, Christian explained to the council the reason for the state’s 2001 classification. He said that because the dam could be topped and potentially fail in such a PMP rain event that the ensuing flood would threaten 4 houses along with several bridges and roads downstream from the dam. Because loss of human life could result from such a dam failure is the reason for the states classification change in 2001.

The bridge across the spillway portion of the dam is currently is classified as one of the worst bridges in Cumberland County and is at the top of the list for state funds to improve it according to Christian. If the city receives funding form the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) 70 percent of the replacement bridge’s cost would be covered by state funds. The cost of a new longer bridge is estimated at $225,000. The city’s 30 percent share would be $67,500.

Crossville Mayor J. H. Graham III commented, “We have to look at both the dam and the bridge situation at the same time.”

Other potential options studied by ECE Services including substantially lowering the current spillway that would have had detrimental effects on the water plant intake. Also, an expensive series of smaller lakes above the dam could have held more water in the event of a large rainfall. Also studied was purchasing the downstream houses and demolishing them. Because of the bridge and roads involved though, human life could have still been threatened and the problem would not have been solved.