Grand Jury Issues Brief Statement After Touring Jail Monday (View PDF of Report Here)

July 23, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

After touring the sheriff’s department and jail Monday, members of the DeKalb County Grand Jury issued a statement on “a lack of correctional officer to prisoner ratio” there.

Grand Jury Report (pdf)

The Grand Jury’s report states that” the DeKalb County Grand Jury met on July 22, 2019. We toured the jail and found it satisfactory other than lack of correctional officer to prisoner ratio. The sheriff has asked for additional funds to hire needed help but was denied.”

On an unrelated matter, the Grand Jury stated that “ DeKalb County Clerk Jimmy Poss came and discussed county surety bonds with us. We heard from various law enforcement agencies regarding different criminal issues,” the report concluded.

During a budget committee meeting of the county commission in March, Sheriff Patrick Ray asked that funds be included in the new budget (2019-20) for five new positions including one extra court officer, two extra shift supervisor positions for the sheriff’s department operation, and two extra shift supervisors for the jail. That proposal was later determined to be too costly and the committee voted 3 to 2 to reject it.

In May, the budget committee reached a compromise with the sheriff in providing more manpower to meet the demands of courtroom security and other needs

The committee voted to fund in the 2019-20 budget two new officer positions solely from a proposed new litigation tax through the General Sessions Court budget. One other new deputy position will be created and funded by the county through the sheriff’s department budget. And while no new positions will be added to the jail budget, the sheriff plans to promote two existing correctional officers to the rank of corporal as jail supervisors. Each one will get a $2,000 increase in pay under the existing wage scale for sheriff’s department employees for a total of $4,000. The move keeps the sheriff’s department compliant with standards for around the clock jail supervision under standards of the Tennessee Corrections Institute.

The county commission Monday night adopted the new 2019-20 consolidated budget for all county departments and a 29 cent property tax increase to help fund it.

July 22, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County property owners will see an increase in their tax bills this fall.

By the slimmest of margins, the county commission Monday night voted 8 to 6 to raise the county property tax rate by 29 cents per $100 of assessed value as recommended by the budget committee. The new rate, with passage of the 2019-20 fiscal year budget, now goes to $2.12, up from $1.83 per $100 of assessed value.

(View PDF of 2019-20 County Budget Here)

Dekalb 2020 Budget Final .pdf

The eight commissioners voting in favor of the tax hike were Sabrina Farler, Jenny Trapp, Dr. Scott Little, Janice Fish-Stewart, Anita Puckett, Matt Adcock, Jeff Barnes, and Beth Pafford.

The six commissioners voting against it were Jerry Adcock, Bruce Malone, Bobby Johnson, Julie Young, Myron Rhody, and Dennis Slager.

The new tax rate will be divided among the funds as follows:

*County General: $1.21.35 cents, up by 25 cents from the current rate of 0.9635 cents

*Highway/Public Works: 0.04 cents, up by 1 cent from the current rate of 0.03 cents

*General Capital Projects: 0.9 cents, down by 1 cent from the current rate of 0.10 cents

*Debt Service: 0.13 cents

*General Purpose Schools: 0.65 cents, up by 4 cents from the current rate of 0.61 cents.

Following the vote on the tax levy, the commissioners approved the 2019-20 appropriations resolution on the consolidated budget totaling $45,697,589. All voted yes except for Bruce Malone, Myron Rhody, and Dennis Slager.

The commissioners then voted 12 to 2 to fund various non-profit organizations. All voted in favor except for Bruce Malone and Bobby Johnson

Highlights of new spending in the 2019-20 consolidated budget are as follows:

*Board of Education: The school board will fund a local pay raise for the district’s 225 teachers by $1,200 each and that coupled with a state raise of $800 per teacher will put their overall increase at $2,000 for the coming year. The 200 non-certified staff members will each get a $600 local pay raise

*Circuit Court Clerk: New deputy clerk position to be funded. (Office currently has 3 deputy clerks). According to the wage scale for county general employees, a new worker with one year of service is paid $26,786 plus benefits The budget cuts a total of $7,000 in the clerk’s line items for part time and other salaries.

*Sheriff’s Department and Jail: Two new officer positions to be funded solely from a proposed new litigation tax through the General Sessions Court budget. One other new deputy position will be created and funded by the county through the sheriff’s department budget. And while no new positions will be added to the jail budget, the sheriff plans to promote two existing correctional officers to the rank of corporal as jail supervisors. Each one will get a $2,000 increase in pay under the existing wage scale for sheriff’s department employees for a total of $4,000. The move keeps the sheriff’s department compliant with standards for around the clock jail supervision under standards of the Tennessee Corrections Institute.

*Sheriff’s Department: Three patrol cars to be funded at a cost of $100,000 from the capital projects fund. Sheriff Ray had requested the purchase of five cars.

*DeKalb Fire Department: Two shared firefighter positions to be funded at 20 hours each per week at $10 per hour for a total of $20,800. No two specific individuals will get the jobs. Available firefighters, who are trained and certified, will rotate in and out of the positions as needed. The two fire fighters will be assigned to work out of the main station on King Ridge Road, which serves as the hub of the county fire department.

*DeKalb Fire Department: Fire department spending for maintenance to be increased from $7,500 this year to $20,000 in the new budget. The difference, $12,500 will be taken from the capital projects fund to upgrade and add restrooms to three existing fire halls at Johnson Chapel, Blue Springs, and Keltonburg. Unisex restrooms will be added including a sink and toilet in each of these fire halls.

*DeKalb Fire Department: Funding of $36,100 budgeted to meet a 5% local match for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant which if approved will fund the purchase of another fire truck and related firefighting equipment.

*DeKalb Emergency Management Agency: Funding to pay the EMA Director Charlie Parker a salary of $5,200 for the new year. Parker plans to apply for a federal grant through TEMA which if approved will provide matching funds for the local operation. But in order to get the grant the county must have a paid EMA director. If approved, Parker said an Emergency Management Performance Grant will reimburse the county up to 50% of its costs for EMA operations which will be $13,800 including the director’s salary under the 2019-20 proposed budget. The budget to fund the EMA Director position is conditional upon the grant being funded and Parker’s willingness to accept being the county’s flood plain director, a responsibility he once volunteered to do but later gave up.

*Clerk & Master: Funding of $10,400 for part time employee (Office currently has one deputy clerk)

*Alexandria Senior Citizens: Funding to pay the salary of a full time director of the center at $21,291 as a first year employee plus benefits for a total budget impact to the county of $28,051.

*DeKalb EMS: Funding for director pay raise of $3,000. However request to reinstate the ambulance service day truck crew on weekends was denied by the budget committee. In an effort to streamline costs, the county last summer decided to stop the day truck shifts on Saturdays and Sundays from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. while still providing the county coverage with the two other around the clock crews over the weekends. Director Hoyte Hale said there is a need to bring back the day truck. The additional costs to staff it with full time personnel would have been $61,000 per year to the county. The expense would have been less if Hale had used part time staff.

*Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad: The Rescue Squad asked the county to up its contribution from $22, 821 to $34, 821 with the proposed $12,000 increase to be allocated for fuel reimbursement to its member volunteers to recoup some of their personal expense. The budget funds only an increase of $3,279.

*Juvenile Court Youth Service Officer: Current salary of $34,275 to be increased to $36,000. The overall cost is partly offset by a $9,000 grant the county receives for the program.

*County Clerk Office:  The clerk requested the budget committee for additional assistance funding for line items of office supplies & other charges. Currently these line items total $3,500 for an entire year. His request to increase it by $3,000 was denied. In October County Commission funded a new deputy clerk for the office in the current budget year and going forward (Office now has four employees)

July 22, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville has been awarded a $25,000 grant for the development of a dog park thanks to the Boyd Foundation and the efforts of Alderman Gayla Hendrix in making application for the funding.

Plans are for the dog park to be located on property owned by the City of Smithville near the animal shelter behind Tenneco Automotive.

“I am excited. This is something I have been wanting us to have for a long time. I had actually looked at a dog park in Knoxville and found out that Randy and Jenny Boyd of the Boyd Foundation provided the funding for that one through the Tennessee Dog Park Dash program so in the spring I applied for funding through this Foundation to build a dog park here in our community and we just found out Wednesday that we would be awarded a grant for $25,000” said Alderman Hendrix.

Although no local matching funds were required for the grant, Hendrix said the foundation does expect some things from the city government.

“As part of the grant requirements, the funds cannot be used to buy land. The government entity has to provide that so we (city) agreed to donate some acreage over by the animal shelter and that is where we are looking to put it. There are about 3-4 acres over there and it’s a good area because it is non residential and there are lots of shade trees there already. Hopefully by having the dog park near the shelter it will attract more animal lovers and maybe inspire them to foster or adopt some pets or become a shelter volunteer,” Alderman Hendrix continued.

The park will give local dog owners and others a place to bring their canines to run and play.

“Dogs need to play and run and a lot of folks with pets in the community have been going to Cookeville, Lebanon and other surrounding areas where they have dog parks to let them play. One of the things I included when writing the grant was that this is a tourist community with lots of people passing through because of Center Hill Lake and the Fiddlers Jamboree. We have a lot of pet owners who come to the lake and the craft fairs and events we have but we don’t really have anything for their pets. Our only big park here right now is Green Brook and pets are not allowed there so the only real opportunity dog owners have is to walk them in their neighborhoods or on sidewalks,” she said.

Hendrix added that a dog park is something the community really can take pride in.

“There are a lot of benefits to having a dog park in a community. They can help people with health problems. They encourage you to exercise by walking your dogs and petting a dog helps to lower blood pressure. Dog Parks also help promote healthier and happier pets because you can give them a large area to roam and run free and stay protected from traffic and anything that can harm them. It further helps bring communities together. Studies have shown that people in communities who have dog parks visit with one another more. It brings pet lovers together,” she said.

Now that the grant has been awarded, Alderman Hendrix said the next step is to create a design for the park.

“A basic park is divided into two sections, an area for smaller animals usually under 30 pounds and an area for larger animals so they will all be in the same enclosed area but divided by a fence. We need a water source so there can be a water fountain for the pet owners and the dogs as well as shade trees, benches, and maybe some agility equipment for the dogs to play on  such as jumping over hurdles, digging in sand pits and things like that. There are lots of different ways for the park to be designed. I have already started looking at ideas on the Internet. So that is the next process, to look at designs and decide what we want to do and how we want our dog park to be laid out. Once we design it and develop our budget, we can get started and then once its built the city will have to maintain it,” said Hendrix.

Before it opens, rules will be established for the dog park. “There will be a list of rules that will be posted. The owners must stay with their dogs at all times while in the park. The dogs must be on a leash when they are brought in and when they are taken out. Once you’re in the park designated for your  pet, you may unleash your dogs and play with them,” she said.

Alderman Hendrix said she is thankful to the community for the support shown toward this effort. “I want to say a big thank you to the veterinarians especially DeKalb Animal Clinic. I know the techs there were really good about submitting photos and social media supports, likes, and things like that and other people did too. The more community support you show I think the better chances you have of getting selected for a grant,” she added.

Smithville was among more than two dozen communities across Tennessee awarded grants this year totaling $900,000 for dog parks.

The Tennessee Dog Park Dash is a multi-year initiative aimed at making Tennessee the most pet-friendly state in the country.

“Jenny and I are amazed at the hard work and dedication of the people in our state to make life better for their pets and their neighbors. We are proud to support them in their work,” said Randy Boyd, founder of PetSafe and co-founder of The Boyd Foundation. “We are passionate about bringing people and pets together to create stronger communities, and we’ve found one of the best ways to do that is at a local dog park. We cannot wait to see how these communities use their grants to create local parks for Tennesseans and their pets to enjoy for decades to come.”

Two communities – Columbia and Cookeville- who went above and beyond the requirements – will each receive the $100,000 grand prize grant as two of the “Most Dog-Friendly” cities in Tennessee.

Tennessee Dog Park Dash received nearly 50 applications, from a variety of Tennessee towns, with only a few thousand residents to some of our state’s larger cities.

The full list of winning communities for the 2019 Tennessee Dog Park Dash grants includes:

EAST TENNESSEE: Baneberry, Clinton, Collegedale, Crossville (Fairfield Glade), Elizabethton, Etowah, Louisville, Madisonville, New Tazewell, Rhea County, Signal Mountain/ Walden

MIDDLE TENNESSEE: Cookeville, Columbia, Dickson, Fayetteville, La Vergne, Pulaski, Smithville, Springfield, Wartrace.

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