Manager Working to Get More Grants for Airport Improvements

September 12, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Municipal Airport has made significant improvements in recent years and more are planned.

Airport Manager Joe Johnson addressed the mayor and aldermen Monday night asking for a commitment of local matching funding for grants the city is seeking to acquire property for the eventual development of a parallel taxiway, for the cutting of trees on private property in the glide path of the airport to meet the federal 20:1 requirement, and to correct a drainage problem at the airport. The aldermen gave their approval.

The city would need to purchase land from three property owners if it should ever move forward to develop a parallel taxiway. The total cost for the land acquisition is estimated at $150,000 but if the city should be approved for a grant, the cost to the municipality would be only $11,844. The rest would be funded with federal and state money.

According to Johnson, the city has already obtained and made use of a grant for work to be done in preparation for acquiring the land.

“If we ever build a parallel taxiway, we have to buy the land. We got a grant for $54, 100 to do the survey work, environmental work, and review appraisal of all three properties. We have done that to get ready to buy it. Now we are making offers to buy the property and getting contracts. I have to go before the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Tennessee Aeronautical Commission and present this (new) grant (application) to them,” said Johnson.

The airport manager is also seeking a grant to help pay for the cutting and removal of trees on private property near the airport to meet the 20:1 federal requirement for keeping the glide paths clear as aircraft approach the runway. The first phase of the project is estimated to cost $118,516 but if the city should acquire a grant, the local cost would only be $5,925.80.

According to Johnson, this project would affect 11-15 property owners. Plans call for the city to identify the trees to be cut and to obtain permanent easements from the property owners for the work to be done now and again in the future.

A second phase would have to be funded and implemented later to meet the federal 34:1 requirement to remove obstructions further from the airport. That project would affect about 30 property owners.

The aldermen also voted to accept a bid from the John T. Hall Construction Company to correct a drainage problem at the airport. The cost of the project comes to $77,018 including $67,918 from the contractor and $9,804 for professional services.

Johnson explained that he had already secured a grant for the project in the amount of $75,000 with the city’s local match of $3,750 but that the low bid exceeded the grant amount by $2,722. Johnson has since  filed an amendment to the grant seeking an additional $3,000 to cover the project costs with an additional local grant match of $150.

In addition to accepting the bid for the drainage improvement  the aldermen also approved filing the grant amendment and to commit local funding for the project.

Plans call for the demolition and replacement of an 18 inch reinforced concrete pipe and headwalls under the taxiway to the t-hangars. The work also includes a 10-foot wide asphalt patch across the taxilane, as well as the widening of asphalt pavement in front of one box hangar. The project further consists of regrading the upstream and downstream ditch from the concrete pipe and lining the bottom of the ditches with concrete pavement.

September 11, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

A woman indicted last year for Tenn Care Fraud in an undercover drug investigation was sentenced Monday in DeKalb County Criminal Court

52 year old Debra Ann Grimmett entered a plea to Tenn Care Fraud and Sale of a Schedule II drug (Hydrocodone). She received a six year sentence in the Hydrocodone case and four years for Tenn Care Fraud to run concurrently as one six year term. She is on TDOC probation after serving 45 days in the DeKalb County Jail. She was fined $2,000 and must make restitution of $75.13 to the Office of the Tenn Care Inspector General. She was given 45 days of jail credit from July 26 to September 10, 2018.

Grimmett was one of 40 persons named in sealed indictments returned by a special session of the DeKalb County Grand Jury during the summer of 2017

Sheriff Patrick Ray said at the time that officers of his department appeared before the Grand Jury and presented cases against each offender as the result of an undercover investigation. “A variety of drugs were bought during this operation including Xanax, Hydrocodone, Marijuana, Methamphetamine, Subutex, and others,” he said.

“We tried to focus this operation on methamphetamine. We had received information that methamphetamine had been coming up here from Georgia and not only into our county but also other places in the state,” Sheriff Ray continued.

“Some of the indictments were for sale and delivery in a drug free zone which is an area 1,000 feet of a school, park, library, and daycare,” he added.

September 11, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

A man who broke into an Alexandria church in June appeared for sentencing in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday.

Judge Gary McKenzie presided.

21 year old Isaiah Sutherland entered a plea to one count of burglary and received a two year sentence to serve in the Tennessee Department of Correction. The sentence is to run concurrently with another DeKalb County sentence he is serving. He was given jail credit from June 26 through September 10, 2018. Sutherland is under a retraining order to keep away from the West Main Baptist Church in Alexandria.

Sutherland broke into the church on June 24 but didn’t take anything except for maybe a soft drink and caused some vandalism.

According to Chief Chris Russell the Alexandria Police Department conducted an investigation and identified Sutherland as a suspect. He was arrested the day following the break-in. Chief Russell said Sutherland had broken into the same church before in 2015.

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