September City Council meeting may decide Depot future, water sales contract and industrial property price.

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.

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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.

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.