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.

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 city council called meeting on June 29 agenda includes budget, tax rate and more.

Crossville city council will meet in a special called meeting June 29 with the third and final approval of the city's new fiscal year budget and tax rate on the agenda. The meeting is set for 5 PM and will be followed by a work session.  The work session agenda will be released next week. 

The new tax rate, certified by the state following the countywide reappraisal is $0.5905 per $100 of assessed value. The new rate is a 4 cent drop from the previous year's tax rate of $0.63.

Crossville City Hall

In addition to approving the final version of the 2017-18 budget with a $1.9 million deficit that will be covered by the city's large rainy day general fund balance, city employees will see a 2.5 percent raise. Council will also approve the list of non-profit donations.

Other ordinances on third reading that are part of the consent agenda will include the third and final reading of the budget amendment for the current year's funding of the Garrison Park redevelopment, the city's amended tree removal ordinance and the year end budget adjustments.

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Council will also consider second reading of the ordinance regarding sewer extensions outside the city limits but in existing developments.

The final item on the agenda covers discussion and action on helping replace an HVAC unit at the Fair Park Senior Center. One of the current units has failed and will cost $12,000 to replace. Council,man Danny Wyatt is proposing that the city split the cost with the county to replace it.

A work session for the July regular council meeting on July11 follows the special called meeting
More on the work session at this link.

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