County Budget Committee to be Expanded From Five to Seven Members

August 3, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Budget Committee will be expanded from five to seven members in October under a set of policies and procedures adopted last Monday night by the County Commission.

Under Rule 17, the Budget Committee shall be made up of one Commissioner from each of the seven districts to be appointed each October by the County Mayor and approved by a majority of the County Commission. The officers of the Budget Committee shall consist of a Chairman and Vice Chairman to be appointed by the County Mayor.

The commission voted 9 to 5 to adopt Rule 17 Budget Committee procedures along with separate provisions of the new policies and procedures manual. Commissioners voting in favor were Janice Fish Stewart, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Dennis Slager, Bobby Johnson, Jenny Trapp, Julie Young, Scott Little, and Bruce Malone. Those voting against were Commissioners Anita Puckett, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, Jerry Adcock, and Matt Adcock.

The initial proposal under Rule 17 was for the Chairman of the County Commission to make the appointments to the Budget Committee but 1st District Commissioner Dennis Slager offered an amendment to assign that responsibility to the County Mayor. Currently the County Mayor and Chairman of the Commission are one and the same, Tim Stribling. Each September, the County Commission names a Chairman to serve for the ensuing year. Historically the Chairman has been the County Mayor but it can be a member of the County Commission.

“We don’t know who the next Chairman is going to be. It may be Tim (Stribling) or it may not be. I don’t know if he wants to continue to serve (as Chairman). My point is the County Mayor should make the appointments because he is elected from all over the county and he should have the vision to represent all the citizens of every district. If you put one of these people sitting here (County Commissioners) as chairman you are going to put politics in that chairmanship like you have never seen before,” said Slager.

The Commission voted 11 to 3 to approve Slager’s amendment to Rule 17 giving the County Mayor rather than the Chairman of the Commission the budget committee appointment authority.

Commissioners voting in favor of the amendment were Bobby Johnson, Julie Young, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, Janice Fish Stewart, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Anita Puckett, Jenny Trapp, Dennis Slager, and Bruce Malone. Commissioners Scott Little, Matt Adcock, and Jerry Adcock voted against the amendment.

Meanwhile, Fifth District Commissioner and longest serving member of the Budget Committee Jerry Adcock spoke out against expanding its membership from five to seven commissioners saying it could tend to make the members think more in terms of representing their own districts rather than the county’s overall interest and it would cost the county more money.

“If we put one member (on the budget committee) from every district, every district is going to be competing. If you put five members on the committee like the law says it’s going to say you are working for the whole county and not for your district. A case in point if there was an industry that came in here and wanted to set up either in Alexandria or Smithville and the budget committee voted with five people on top of the hill and only two under the hill, where do you think it would go? It would also increase the price of budget committee meetings to the county by $150 per meeting with seven rather than five members,” said Adcock.

Each budget committee member is paid $75.00 per meeting. Because of its importance, the budget committee meets several times during the spring and summer and probably more than any other committee. With five members, the county pays a total of $375 per meeting. That would increase to $525 total per meeting with the budget committee’s expansion to seven members.

Second District Commissioner Myron Rhody took issue with Adcock’s comments saying that seven budget committee members could represent the county just as well as five. Rhody also pointed out that two of the five members on the budget committee right now are from the same district (5th District).

“This is the most important committee we have and every district needs to be represented. Yes, we are a DeKalb County Commission but we are also elected by our districts and if five can do that (represent county on budget committee) seven can also. On the money issue, with this being the most important committee I feel like, if you are talking about (small amount of money paid to budget committee members) versus millions in the budget, I don’t think we need to be squabbling over that,” added Rhody.

The budget committee currently consists of five members appointed by the County Mayor including Commissioners Sabrina Farler from the 2nd district, Dr. Scott Little from the 4th district, Jerry Adcock and Anita Puckett both from the 5th district, and Jeff Barnes from the 6th district.

Under Rule 17, one of the 5th district commissioners will be forced off the budget committee in October since only one commissioner from each district may serve.

Rule 17 further spells out the duties of the Budget Committee.

“The purpose of the Budget Committee shall be the study of all fiscal matters concerning DeKalb County government and make recommendations to the County Commission concerning the annual budget. (TCA 5-9-402, TCA 5-9-404)”

“Items under the jurisdiction of this committee may include but are not limited to”

*A review of DeKalb County budget with the Chairman of the Commission, the County Mayor, and other county officials.

*Holding necessary public hearings prior to establishment of the budget

*A study of the ways and means of financing the county program

*A study of the recommendation on the DeKalb County tax rate

*A review of the investment of available county funds

*To study and make recommendations on any other fiscal matters with which the citizens and the government of DeKalb County should be concerned.”

August 1, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Almost 1,500 people cast ballots during the 14 day early voting period which ended Saturday for the August 6 elections in DeKalb County.

At 1,488, the total number of early voters and absentees (July 17- August 1) eclipses the total early voting/absentee turnout of 1,123 for the August election four years ago. In August, 2016 a total of 2,525 voted in the election including 1,402 on election day and 1,123 by absentee or during early voting.

According to the DeKalb County Election Commission Office, 122 people cast ballots Saturday including 109 in person and 13 absentees. Of that number 93 voted in the Tennessee Republican Primary, 22 in the State Democratic Primary, and 7 voted only in the DeKalb County General Election without voting in either state primary.

The City of Smithville vote stands at 480 total through Saturday including in-person, absentee ballots, and 58 property rights voters. Forty seven people voted in the city election Saturday.

During the two week early voting period a total of 996 voted in the Tennessee GOP primary, 437 in the Tennessee Democratic Primary, and 55 voted only in the DeKalb County General Election without voting in either state primary.

Election day voting at all 15 precincts will be from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, August 6.

August 1, 2020
By:

The DeKalb County Fire Department has been contacted by Congressman John Rose’s office notifying Chief Donny Green that the department’s 2019 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) application, in the amount of $427,360, has been awarded. The AFG Program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The funding award will be used to purchase Self-contained Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA’s) and associated equipment to serve all 12 of the department’s stations across the county. The Federal share of this award is $407,009.52 and the local matching share, to be provided by the DeKalb County Government, is $20,350.48.

Chief Green says that the firefighting equipment to be purchased with these grant funds will have a huge impact on the department’s daily operations. “We are really fortunate to be able to get federal funding to pay for this essential and expensive equipment. Our grant application aligned perfectly with AFG’s purpose of the grant—‘to protect the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related hazards’—and our county will soon be getting the benefit of $427,360 for a cost to our local government of only $20,350,” said Chief Green. Using a competitive process, grants are awarded to applicants whose requests best address the priorities of the AFG Program.

Congressman John Rose was in Smithville today and personally congratulated Chief Green and the DeKalb County Fire Department on their grant award. “Our firefighters at DeKalb County Fire Department put themselves on the front lines every single day to protect our community and I am proud to fight for the resources they need to safely do their jobs. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our first responders have been there to answer the call and I will continue to have their backs in Washington.”, said Congressman Rose.

The DeKalb County Fire Department wishes to express its sincere thanks to County Mayor Tim Stribling, the DeKalb County Commission, Congressman John Rose, and the Department of Homeland Security for their loyal support of the department’s application for this grant.

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