Alexandria Mayor Appoints Interim Police Chief

March 25, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

It’ll have to wait!

The hiring of the new Alexandria Police Chief has temporarily been put on pause after only three of the six aldermen showed up for the regular monthly Alexandria town council meeting Tuesday night at city hall.

Officer Vincent Turocy, appointed by Mayor Beth Tripp, is currently serving as interim chief.

Those present for the meeting were Mayor Tripp and Aldermen Jonathon Tripp, Sherry Tubbs, and Jeff Ford. Those absent were Aldermen Luke Prichard, Bobby Simpson, and Tiffany Robinson.

Although Mayor Tripp announced that no city business could be transacted, she allowed department heads and the city auditor to make reports to the aldermen. She also announced that City Attorney Matt Boss, who was appointed to the position only four months ago, has resigned.

Interim Chief Turocy was also permitted to formally ask that he be hired by the board as the new chief

According to the Alexandria city charter “A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum, and the presence of the Mayor and three (3) Aldermen, and in the absence of the Mayor, the presence of the Vice-Mayor and three (3) Aldermen shall constitute a majority. The Mayor shall preside at meetings of the Board and is authorized to vote in the event of a tie vote of the Board. She shall have veto power over any legislative actions of the Board”.

Turocy, who came to Alexandria from Hendersonville last September, has a law enforcement background spanning more than 27 years. He is a retired lieutenant with the Tennessee Highway Patrol (Nashville District).

“I am here today to ask if I could serve you and the citizens of Alexandria as your next police chief. It would be my goal to provide our community with professional and a reliable police force. I will be involved in our community and its events and I plan to create some of my own,” he said.

“I started my career in public service in 1993 when I joined the United States Army Military Intelligence Corps after graduating from high school,” said Officer Turocy.” I served three years before leaving to pursue my career in law enforcement. I am a graduate of Bethel University with an associate and a bachelor’s degree in emergency services management with a 4.0 GPA. In 1999 I joined the Tennessee Highway Patrol as a communications dispatcher and then I became a reserve police officer in 2000 with the Burns Police Department and I was subsequently hired by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in the spring of 2000 while still being a THP dispatcher. In 2014 I was promoted to sergeant over the state capital protection unit where I supervised 22 state troopers and oversaw the protection of the state capital complex in Nashville. I returned to the road in 2015 as the Robertson County midnight sergeant and in 2017 I was made the full-time supervisor in that area. I later transferred to Sumner County as road sergeant where I supervised Sumner and Wilson County troopers. In 2022 I was promoted to lieutenant over the Nashville District in special events for the THP in Davidson County. I was honored to receive THP Trooper of the Year in 2001 and 2003. Additionally, I received District THP Trooper of the Year in 2001, 2012, and 2013. Throughout my career I have also received also numerous commendations. In July 2024 I retired from the state of Tennessee,” said Officer Turocy.

Meanwhile Nathaniel (Nate) Lombard of Sparta, a former White County officer, addressed the board asking that he be hired by the board as a full-time officer. He is married to Veronica Dodge who had two brief stints as an Alexandria Police Officer before recently leaving to join the Smithville Police Department.

“I joined the military in 1998 and did six years as a combat medic and got EMT certified,” said Lombard. “I grew up in Lake City Florida. After getting out of the military I worked as an EMT in San Antonio for about five years. In 2007 I decided I wanted to do law enforcement, so I went to the San Antonio College Law Enforcement Training Academy. I graduated from there. I got my first police officer job in 2008 with a county hospital police department and worked there for 10 years. While there I became certified as a field training officer and had numerous experiences running shifts. I actually helped them develop and wrote the policies for a tactical medic program because they didn’t have one. We came to Tennessee in 2018 to be closer to family and I did a short stint with Murfreesboro. In 2021 I got hired on with the White County Sheriff’s Office. I worked there for about three and a half years. While there I again worked as an FTO. I was a patrol sergeant and ran one of the night shifts for a couple of months,” said Lombard.

Other members of the Alexandria Police Department are part timers Jon Jenkins and Stephen Wassman.

March 25, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

Going through tolls is a routine part of driving for millions across the U.S. E-ZPass makes toll paying fast and convenient – as easy as driving through dedicated lanes. But some scammers are exploiting E-ZPass’s popularity to scam drivers through a phony “outstanding toll” text.

This widespread scam sends an unsolicited SMS message claiming the recipient has unpaid E-ZPass tolls. To avoid penalties, it tells them to click a link to settle the debt. However, it’s a sneaky fraud meant to steal your money and identity. However, the texts do not originate from any official E-ZPass agency or toll road authority. They are fraudulent messages sent by scammers to deceive the public and capture personal information and money.

March 25, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

A step closer?

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, March 31, the county commission may be poised to make a decision on the most preferred site for new jail construction

The commission held its monthly workshop last night (March 24) and identified two other potential locations for a jail which had not been previously discussed including 33 acres owned by Steven Cantrell on West Main Street and 71.5 acres owned by Tim Staley known as Smith Road properties on Smith Road. Both locations are in the city limits of Smithville with utilities either available or easily accessible.

Commissioner Larry Green, who serves as the jail committee chairman, said members of the DeKalb County commission toured the Smith County Jail and Justice Center last Tuesday with Bob Bass, former Deputy Director of the Tennessee Corrections Institute, who now serves as a county correction partnership consultant. Prior to the trip, Green said he and Bass along with County Commissioner Tony Luna looked at the Cantrell and Staley properties and both sites according to Bass, measured up equally in terms of suitability with the Peggy Hayes property near Walmart.

“The Steven Cantrell property on West Main Street is 33 acres and the asking price is $1.7 million. Bob (Bass) rated all the different properties as far as availability to sewer, water, how it lays, residential (proximity), what we do with it. He (Bass) rated this property and found it equal to the Hayes property. It has less residential area around it. It drains good. It has sewer, electricity, water and as far as lay of the land, it would be a good place for us to build. It would fit on it,” said Green.

“The second property we looked at is Smith Road properties. Its on Smith Road. When you turn off East Main Street go past the subdivision (Estes Street), it’s the big field on the right, across from the (Steve) Colvert property. Its 71.5 acres and the asking price is $3 million. It is already annexed in the city. It has water and sewer. It has less residential area around it for us to be concerned about and we would probably get less feedback from residences than from anywhere else. We could set it back far enough that we could isolate it from everything else. Bob (Bass) rated it equal to the Cantrell and Hayes properties as far as building. It does not have three phase power there yet, but Smithville Electric System has said this would not be a concern because it could be extended from East Main Street to the property and the cost to do that would be minimal,” he said.

With 71.5 acres, Green added that the Staley property offers more potential future county land uses. “We have room out there for doing anything with it. Five or ten years down the road we could add courtrooms, or maybe an EMS building, 911 building, ball fields, etc. Its all out there,” he said.

Meanwhile, Green said a revised offer has come in on the Hayes property. “The entire Hayes property including 38 acres is now priced at $3.6 million. They would also sell just 34 acres of the property now zoned R1- and R-2 residential for $2.7 million but they would keep the road frontage on West Broad Street. There are two properties there rated commercial. They would keep those. But we would get an easement. The first one is 100 feet wide on the west side of the C-1 property facing Highway 70 providing an entrance to the county. This easement would run parallel to residential housing and the Hayes C-1 property connecting to the R-1, R-2 property. The other easement would be 50 feet wide coming from the corner of Wade and Short Street providing a second entrance into the property,” said Green.

At one time the Hayes property seemed to be the most favored by some commissioners except for the price, but now a few members have expressed concerns about putting a jail there with it being near a residential neighborhood. Commissioner Luna said in his opinion the Hayes property would be better suited for commercial purposes.

“I have never been a fan of that property just because of the location. That’s a much better place to put a retail business. I’d rather have the taxes from the retail business than to put a justice center or jail there that we are never going to make taxes off of,” said Commissioner Luna.

Speaking about the Staley property, Commissioner Greg Matthews said he would like for the county to have the site appraised.

“I think we should get it appraised. At least we could see what the difference is between the appraisal and what they are asking. We may have to pay a little more than what it appraises but I think the 71.5 acres does offer a whole lot of future growth,” said Matthews.

Green said another site, belonging to Jerry Dwayne Foster on Allen’s Ferry Road had also been considered but it would perhaps be less desirable because the 57.59-acre site is not in the city limits and doesn’t have sewer service.

“We had looked at the Foster property, which is behind the middle school, but the sewer line is in front of the middle school and to go from the middle school you would have to go down Tiger Drive. There are two water lines beside Tiger Drive, and we would have to stay 10 feet inside that which would put us going through the middle school softball field. And according to an engineer, it would cost between $750,000 and one million dollars just to put the sewer back there. In my mind that basically eliminated that property. Plus, it’s not annexed in the city,” said Green.

Although Bass was not present during Monday night’s workshop, he has previously advised against building a new jail on the existing downtown site.

“I have never been a proponent of doing that. It’s a site that is not going to work. You could tear it down and start over and it wouldn’t work. That property will not support that size of a footprint of a jail they need today. It (jail annex) was set up as a dormitory facility with no isolation cells. They (DeKalb Jail) don’t have a cell up there to put just one person in. Refitting it (jail annex) would be so expensive, and you would lose square footage you have now,” Bass explained at January’s Jail Committee meeting.

Wherever the jail is built, Green said officials in Smith County advised that a sewer grinder pump be installed to keep the sewage from clogging up from Un flushable objects.

“Although the cost would be up to perhaps a quarter of a million dollars, Smith County strongly advised us to put in a grinder pump to help prevent things getting stopped up in the sewer. They said you could put a brick down the commode and if it flushes it will grind it,” he said.

Green said he had not negotiated with any landowner on price but believes the county commission should make a decision soon.

“I would like to see us Monday night take a vote. We are at the point now where we have pretty well identified every property that’s available. I think once we decide where we are going to build it, I think the rest of it will go pretty quickly. That’s my opinion,” said Green.

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