Gas Prices Continue to Drop in Smithville

December 29, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

All of the convenience stores in and around Smithville are selling regular gas for well below $2 a gallon right now. As of early Monday morning, December 31 the lowest price for a gallon of regular gas according to their signage was $1.79 at Jewel’s Market on South Congress Boulevard. Four other businesses were selling regular gas at $1.85 per gallon. Two businesses had it priced at $1.89 per gallon and one location regular gas was $1.80 per gallon.

AAA reported Friday morning that gas prices nationally are expected to have their lowest start to the New Year in three years.

Since mid-October, AAA reports the national average has gone down by 61 cents to $2.29 a gallon.

The average prices for a gallon of regular in Tennessee is now $2.03. On New Year’s Day of 2018, the average price in Tennessee was at $2.13 a gallon.

“Prices at the pump declined as AAA projected last week, largely due to weakness in the stock market and concerns about global crude oversupply,” said AAA Spokesman Mark Jenkins, in a news release. “Although oil and gasoline futures have been on a rollercoaster ride this week, wholesale gas prices have held steady. Unless oil prices suddenly spike, prices at the pump should remain low through the end of the year.”

December 28, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has identified the man who died in White County while in police custody.

Police identified the man as 34-year-old Mauris Crespos.

TBI says a car crashed and rolled over in DeKalb County Thursday. A passenger from the vehicle was found just over the White County line.

Agents said when White County deputies tried to detain the man, identified as Crespos, he started assaulting officers and a taser was deployed. He was then handcuffed and taken to jail.

According to TBI spokesperson Susan Niland, when the deputy arrived at the jail, Crespos was unresponsive. He was transported to White County hospital where he was pronounced dead

December 28, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville plans to apply for a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant to upgrade sewer lines.

For years the city has had issues with excessive surface water entering the waste water treatment plant through porous sewer lines especially during heavy rains.

City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson addressed the issue with the Mayor and Aldermen during their last monthly meeting.

“We are eligible again to apply for a Community Development Block Grant. The last one we had about two years ago was for our sewer plant in which we got a $525,000 grant and updated the sewer plant. We reapplied last year for another grant but fell just a little bit short with the state the way they score them. We were a few points shy of qualifying. Now that our sewer plant has been updated we can try again but we might need to ask for less than before in order to get a better score. We have spoken with our engineer, Greg Davenport of Wauford Engineering and with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and UCDD so we plan to apply for a $400,000 grant this year. That will help our chances. It just depends on what other cities and utility districts put in for. We don’t have to apply until February. This will be for sewer line rehabilitation,” said City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson.

In the meantime, Wauford intends to prepare an engineering report to be submitted with the grant application to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The Upper Cumberland Development District will be the grant administrator.

In correspondence with city officials, Davenport suggested making application for a $400,000 grant instead of a larger one.

“You are aware that the application for a $525,000 grant last year was not funded for various reasons which we will address in this year’s application with the help of Upper Cumberland Development District.  One important factor to consider is how much grant funding to apply for since the less money you request, the less your cost per person rating and therefore the higher chances you will be funded.  This is a balancing act in which you try to apply for as much funding as you think you can get funded although the pool of competition changes each year so there is no set formula for determining the appropriate amount.  If we reduce the requested grant amount going forth, the number you and I discussed was applying for $400,000 in lieu of $525,000,” said Davenport.

“We must also consider what problem are we trying solve, i.e. the scope of the sewer rehabilitation project.  Based on my discussions with you and Kevin over the last few times I have been to Smithville, I believe the City should consider a larger project whch would remedy several of the problem areas in the City and save future operation and maintenance costs.  The deadline for grant applications is early February and we expect them to be announced in the fall of 2019 which results in a construction project in the summer 2020,” said Davenport.

Work was completed in 2017 on a $2.8 million upgrade at the Smithville Waste Water Treatment Plant.

The project included a new headworks and pump station, a new electrical building to power the system, a new bar screen used to remove large objects, such as rags and other debris from wastewater, and a new grit classifier that separates rock, sand, and grit from screened wastewater and a new SCADA automation and monitoring system which the operators use to help maintain efficiency of the system.

“The new headworks is designed to hold 8 million gallons a day to run through it. We’re operating an average of 1 to 1.2 million gallons a day so we have a lot of room for growth,” said Anthony Hasemann, one of the sewer plant operators.

To help pay for the cost of the project, the City of Smithville was awarded a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $525,000 from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Although the grant funded part of the costs, the bulk of the funding to pay for it was appropriated from the city’s water and sewer fund surplus.

On another issue, the city is discontinuing the outsourcing of custodial services at city hall to a professional cleaning company. The service has been provided for three days per week. Instead  the aldermen have voted to hire a janitor/maintenance worker for approximately 25 hours per week at $12.50 per hour.

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